Through word of mouth, Bessie contacted me. She had a huge desire to publish a children’s book. Actually not one but a whole series. Whether I could and wanted to help her with that. During a short but very effective Zoom meeting, I was immediately enthusiastic.
The first book would be called Jellyfish Hugs and would be published not only in English but also in Dutch and Spanish. I made the illustrations for the books, did the design and the translation of the Dutch book. The entire project took a number of months, but the books turned out really fun!
Do you also have an idea for a children’s book? Feel free to contact me!
From Concept to Creation
It’s a strange process when writing a children’s book that you envision being illustrated. In your head as you keep working through concepts and edits you get this picture in your mind of the story. Literally. What the characters, setting, colors, you name it, will look like.
It brings tremendous joy….and fear! Why fear? Oh, that wee little realization that one who is the writer is not in fact an illustrator.
For many children’s book authors they are also illustrators – but not me.
Bringing a story visually to life is an enormous task. And, you need to take someone else’s words, inspirations, dreams and integrate all of that into something that they can feel content with.
I got bizarrely lucky with meeting Mireille van Yperen. From the get-go she took on my wild ramblings about underwater worlds and creatures and the book series stories I saw in my head and POOF there it was. Naturally, it came together for her in a minute. HAHA 😜 I jest! Not at all the case. Countless hours and iterations from sketches to colors to tiny details to big moments (like when the Jellyfish all of a sudden had a bowtie!) brought this book to life.
So, this post is for her. To highlight her tremendous abilities and to share with everyone who takes a read to know that this is a skill beyond measure and she is a talent beyond a dream. ✏️🎨🖌️
Ah, wee side note – those people I mentioned up above who both write AND illustrate, yep, you guessed it – Mireille is one of them so don’t forget to look her up. 📚
P.S. Should you be looking for an illustrator you need to fight me for her time. I jest again, not really 😉
