"Designing books is my life – I love it." • Ness Wood

Behind the scenes with acclaimed book designer, Ness Wood. In this guest blog post, Ness looks at the processes involved in designing Sam Boughton's debut picture book, The Extraordinary Gardener, which has recently been shortlisted for the 2019 Klaus Flugge Prize.

The Extraordinary Gardener by Sam Boughton (Tate Publishing, 2018)

Hi! I am Ness Wood, a freelance book designer working for various publishers. Holly Tonks (then at Tate Publishing) contacted me to see if I wanted to work on Sam Boughton’s book. I knew Sam’s work as I collaborate with Cambridge School of Art, providing lectures and presenting the students work at the Bologna Book Fair. I love Sam’s illustration and I am aware of how hard she worked for her final show and, after it, continually developing her style to what it looks like today.

Holly sent me the text and I did initial layouts as a starting point. Prior to this, Sam and Holly had been working on the story and flow of the book.

I usually do a few examples of typefaces that I think could be used, to see how different styles of font ‘feel’ with the text and images – it’s is about complimenting the images and story; the typeface could be contrasting or it could be sympathetic to the style of illustration.

The editor and designer and author/illustrator come to an agreement about which to use and then Sam does roughs for the book. Sam had already roughed the book out, but after doing some tweaks to some of the spreads and pacing, she sends me the roughs digitally. I position them in InDesign, considering the text and the image placement in order to get balance across the spread. Some of the spreads may be double-page spreads and some may be singles or have vignettes – at this point the layout is still ‘up in the air.’

Sam Boughton's roughs, a double-page spread from The Extraordinary Gardener

There is lots of to-ing and fro-ing as a designer – sending layouts by pdf to the editor and then doing the amends and then consulting with Sam to see if she thinks certain layouts/amends to her original layouts will work. It is a collaborative process.

Another rough and early layout from inside Sam Boughton's The Extraordinary Gardener

After the roughs and layouts are okayed Sam starts the artwork. After Sam has done one piece of artwork, the Tate get a test proof done – this is a proof which will show Sam how all her colours will be reproduced when printed. As Sam works digitally this will show her what she needs to do to amend any of the colours in photoshop to achieve the colour she desires.

It is at this stage that I start doing cover designs – I have the roughs so I can use those in order to start some initial ideas. Covers are often needed early for catalogues/sale material.

I send cover ideas to Holly and she will discuss them with her team. Usually the editor will come back to me with feedback and then I will amend the ideas and they present them again. I will share them with Sam to see what she thinks and then we will discuss further.

Above and below are early versions of the cover design.

The design is tweaked until finally we have final cover, front and back (shown below)

Sam will have been doing the artwork for the insides. Her artwork is all done by hand using ink pastel and paint, which she then scans in and puts the elements together in photoshop. So when she has finished the illustrations, she will send it to me digitally, rather than as physical pieces of actual artwork, and I will position the files and then send a pdf with my comments to the editor. We will collate our comments and then send them to Sam. There may be some pieces of artwork Sam needs to amend, though hopefully not, as any issues should have been sorted out at the rough stage. No illustrator really wants to start amending artwork after they have finished the book, but it does happen. The cover is also finalised too at this stage and the type, colours and the back cover copy is also checked. The whole book is then once more checked over, for any typos or sentences that do not quite work or any images that have been cropped wrongly or need repositioning.

The book is then sent to be proofed and then usually the editor and illustrator and designer go through the proofs together. It is very exciting to see the proofs: Sam’s illustrations actually on paper.

No one book is the same, so other projects may have other stages, and more complex issues. Sam’s book is an amazing début and I am very proud to have worked on it.

Many thanks to Ness Wood for her great insight into the design process behind children's picture books. For more information on Ness, book design and illustration, including courses (via Orange Beak Studio), please visit: nesswood.co.uk

The Extraordinary Gardener by Sam Boughton is one of six books by outstanding debut picture-book illustators, shortlisted for the 2019 Klaus Flugge Prize.The winning book will be announced 11 Sept 2019.

Dioramas and 3D illustration in children’s picture books, by Paeony Lewis

For centuries, dolls’ houses have encouraged children’s imaginations and story telling. Toy farmyards, zoos, soldiers and train sets, even Playmobil and Lego, can also be used to create miniature imaginative worlds. Children’s television was once full of 3D models: Thomas the Tank, Fireman Sam, Clangers, etc. So I am surprised there aren’t more children’s fiction picture books that use dioramas and 3D illustration, and I thought I’d investigate.

From a dolls’ house exhibition (my own dolls’ house was nothing like this!).

Traditional illustrations create imaginary worlds, but there is something about a miniature 3D scene that draws me in and makes me smile. I am sure I’m not alone (am I?) and I wonder if some children could relate better to a photographic 3D image as it’s so similar to what they see on screens. Or is there a hidden reluctance amongst adults and publishers towards books that look more like television, unless they are already a television series? Alternatively, perhaps most 3D artists/illustrators already work with moving images for the screen, rather than books?

The television world of the Clangers

Another explanation for the scarcity of 3D models and dioramas in picture books might be that they are very time consuming to create and require photography and model making or papercraft skills, in addition to illustration. For example, Antje Damm, who has created several lovely diorama picture books, commented online: “I am not a very good photographer, and this was my main problem while creating this book.” Whilst Lauren Child used a professional photographer, Polly Borland, for her two delightful 3D diorama books, and the first, The Princess and the Pea, took almost two years to complete, compared to the usual three-six months for her picture books. When it came to her second 3D book, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, this time a set designer was also used, Emily Jenkins. Lauren Child comments on her website: “As much as I enjoyed designing and building sets and styling scenes, I must say I was relieved that this time it wasn’t my job.”

Whatever the reason for the scarcity of fiction picture books that use 3D dioramas, I thought I'd share some delightful examples. I'll begin with an appealing American one I’ve only just discovered, that is aimed at younger children: Hank Finds An Egg by Rebecca Dudley (with a name like Hank, I doubt I needed to mention it’s American!).

Hank Finds an Egg by Rebecca Dudley (Peter Pauper Press Inc, USA, 2013)

This was Rebecca's first picture book and as an architect she was familiar with working in 3D. It's wordless and the theme of kindness and perseverance shines through the simple-to-follow visual story about a monkey who tries to return an egg to a nest. Rebecca also trained in graphic design, and the uncluttered layout and quiet natural colour palette add to the book. There are many more images on Rebecca's blog.

From Hank Finds An Egg       Everything is handmade, including all those leaves, and then photographed. 

The same US publisher, Peter Pauper Press Inc, is behind a further 3D book, this time creating 3D paper-cut dioramas. Published in March 2019, I haven't yet seen Little Things by Nick Dyer, illustrated by Kelly Pousette. Years ago, the illustrator was given a book on paper cut and says she became fascinated by the process. She is particularly interested in the shadows and lighting that are possible from photographing the scenes.

Kelly Pousette in her studio (from Letstalkbooks blog post)

The next American 3D book is another I haven't seen, Viva Frida by Mexican-born illustrator Yuyi Morales. There are few words, though perhaps this should be classified loosely as non-fiction as it is about the creativity of artist, Frida Kahlo. This vibrant award-winning book appears to be Yuyi Morales' only book that uses 3D models, as her other books are traditionally illustrated. In this video she talks about how time consuming it was to create a book from models and scenes. Interestingly, like Lauren Child, Yuyi Morales used a photographer for her 3D scenes (Peter O'Shea).

Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales (Roaring Book Press, USA, 2014)

Inside Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales

Moving across the ocean to the UK, as mentioned earlier, Children's Laureate, Lauren Child, is behind two gorgeous 3D picture books. In the first, The Princess and the Pea, Lauren Child both wrote and created the scenes, ready to be photographed professionally by Polly Borland. The figures are painted 2D cut-outs and the backdrops are 3D dolls' house furniture or specially commissioned items. Many of the panelled rooms started life as cornflake packets. Not everything is to scale, as happens in a real doll's house, and Lauren Child feels this creates a stranger, more childlike world. In the book, she writes: "I love the paintings of Vermeer, his detail and the way he allows you a glimpse into someone else's world." This, and her passion for dolls' houses and use of collage in her books, must all inspire the dioramas in Lauren's quirky retelling of The Princess and the Pea.

The Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child,
photographs by Polly Borland (Puffin 2006)

Creating a scene, from The Princess and the Pea

Lauren Child's personal doll's house, that took thirty years to create.  More here.

From inside The Princess and the Pea

When Lauren Child and Polly Borland partnered again on their second 3D book, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, they decided to use dolls and teddy bears because Polly Borland's favourite book as a child was the American photographic picture book, The Lonely Doll by Dare Wright. Since it's publication in 1957, it has caused controversy because of the bear's worrying penchant for smacking, but it remains an iconic book and he published many others using the same realistic photographic 3D techniques.

From The Lonely Doll by Dare Wright (Houghton Mifflin 1998 reprint of 1957 original)

Again, Lauren Child twisted the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but this time she didn't personally produce the time-consuming hand-built sets, and instead passed this to Emily Jenkins. Polly Borland remained the photographer. The three bears and Goldilocks were created by doll-maker, John Wright, and Goldilocks stands 30cm tall. Personally, I adore studying the fantastical, intricate photographic 3D illustrations.

From inside Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Lauren Child and many others (Puffin, 2008)

This photograph from the making of the book gives a sense of scale.
In reality the trees are young.

Another illustrator I really enjoy who produces dioramas is the German illustrator, Antje Damm. I've even bought one of her books that hasn't been translated into English, which is slightly daft as I don't read German - here it is (can anyone translate the title for me?!). Looking through a book when you can't read the language reminded me what it must be like to be a child faced with a mass of alien words, trying to create a story from just the images.

Like Rebecca Dudley, Antje Damm also studied architecture and therefore was proficient at visualising in 3D and making models. I first bought Antje Damm's Waiting for Goliath because of the interesting illustrations that were a mixture of stand-up 2D and 3D paper/card models, and the strong colour scheme. It looked different to the other books on the shop shelves.

Waiting for Goliath by Antje Damm (Gecko Press, 2017)

From inside Waiting for Goliath

With a few changes, the model above was used to create the image in the book.
It's interesting what can be done with lighting and photography.
For more info see this blog.

The Visitor (Gecko Press, 2018) is probably Antje Damm's most well-known book in the UK. Here, all the story takes place in one ground-floor room and it is about loneliness and overcoming fears. Again, the book is in her distinctive 3D style and Antje uses variations in colour and lighting to show the development of the story. For the last scene she took the model outside because Antje wanted the warm light of the sun and enjoys experimenting.

Antje Damm experimenting with lighting the diorama.

From inside The Visitor by Antje Damm (Gecko Press, 2018)

A torch provides different lighting effects

Variations in lighting played a major role for another illustrator, Elly MacKay, when she created the diorama images for Maya. Canadian illustrator, Elly Mackay, worked with Indian-born author, Mahak Jain, to create a book that combines reality with the fantastical and a dreamworld. This wasn't Elly's first paper-cut, 3D book, but she said it proved the most challenging. Online, we are told she creates the illustrations by inking synthetic YUPO paper and cutting it into layers that are set up like a Victorian paper theatre, and then she plays with lights and filters to create atmosphere and photographs the scenes. There's a video here on the making of the book, including collaboration between the author and illustrator, which isn't often allowed to happen in publishing.

Maya by Mahak Jain and illustrated by Elly MacKay (Owlkids Books, 2016)

Elly MacKay creating Maya

The images above from the pages of Maya show how Elly MacKay utilised lighting and different techniques. She says the dreamworld uses only black and white, with shadows and fluid, dreamy lines and otherworldly lighting.  The real world is crisper, rigid and clearly three-dimensional.

There's more on the creation of Elly's award-winning 3D paper cut diorama books at her website. The image below is from her 2018 book Red Sky at Night, and shows the photography of a scene within one of her 'theatres'.

As I've been putting this blog post together, apart from appreciating how staggeringly time consuming the books are to create, I've come to realise how integral photography and lighting are to the images. Some illustrators use professional photographers, and others learn as they develop their skills. All the illustrators here say they use minimal post-production digital computer manipulation, if at all, and Rebecca Dudley says it might only be to remove a pin holding up a model.

Lauren Child deliberately mixes the sizes of objects, as you'd find in a doll's house, and not reality. I enjoy this as, for example in the delightfully quirky The Princess and the Pea, the juxtaposition of 2D paper figures and 3D miniature objects makes it clear this is an imaginary world. From a positive point of view, Antje Damm's dioramas are also clearly not real, which I like. For me, sterile perfection and seamless minaturisation would detract from the make believe of the storybook world because it leaves less psychological space for the reader's own imagination. Thus perversely, intricate perfection would be more unreal (maybe others disagree?).

Part of the charm of dioramas, whether paper-cut or models, is to feel you are stepping inside a world/theatre of the imagination, not reality. It's like discovering a fairy door on a tree in a wood. You know it's not real but your imagination takes you on a journey of joyous make believe. Now I want to create a 3D story about one of those doors, and where it leads!

Paeony Lewis
Please click for more of my blog posts at the Picture Book Den

Q & A with Steven Salerno: The Process of Illustrating Creative Non-Fiction Picture Books

When my editor, Ann Rider, first suggested Steven Salerno to illustrate THE CRAYON MAN: THE TRUE STORY OF THE INVENTION OF CRAYOLA CRAYONS, I was fascinated to read some of his blog posts about the making of his books. I asked him about the similarities and differences between illustrating non-fiction and fiction picture books:
 

When an editor first approached you about doing your first non-fiction picture book project, what were your thoughts about taking it on? 

I started illustrating picture books in 2000, and by 2011 had already illustrated 17 popular fiction picture books, and with all of them in a decidedly whimsical style. So in 2011 when an editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt asked me to illustrate Brothers at Bat (a non-fiction true story about 12 brothers who formed their own professional baseball team and played from the late 1930’s until the early 1950’s) my initial reaction was that of surprise . . . simply because up until that point none of my fiction picture books stylistically suggested that I was the perfect choice to illustrate a non-fiction story that logically would be best illustrated in a more realistic style in order to capture the look and feel of the 1930’s through the 1950’s.

Brothers At Bat by Audrey Venick & Steven Salerno

I myself knew that I could indeed create wonderful, appropriate illustrations for the story, because drawing in a more realistic manner is not a difficulty at all, but I was curious why the editor took that stylistic leap of faith in me!

How is it different illustrating fiction vs non-fiction? 

A really significant difference is in the research phase . . . For example: In one of the fiction picture book stories I illustrated, BOOM! – about a dog named Rosie who is afraid of thunder, and his owner who comforts her – it happens to mention a firetruck and an orangutan . . .  So my research for that book merely involved looking at maybe 50 potential reference photos and narrowing them down to the 2 or 3 photos that I actually used as specific reference. Every other visual element created within the illustrations for BOOM! was drawn out of my imagination without any need for reference whatsoever. And all of the other fiction picture books I’ve illustrated also required extremely minimal reference photo research. 

At the opposite end of the research spectrum is the amount of research that goes into a non-fiction, historical picture book story. For the seven non-fiction picture book stories that I have illustrated thus far, on average, I probably scour through about 3,000 potential historic/period reference photos in order to narrow them down to the 100 to 150 photos that I actually end up using as specific reference to create the sketches and final illustrations for the non-fiction picture book. 

Steven Salerno's desk whilst working on The Fantastic Ferris Wheel
by Betsy Harvey Kraft. Note the reference photographs!

Another significant difference is TIME! – a lot more time! – because of the added time involved with the research phase, and also the significant additional time it takes to create the sketches and final illustrations, which all must reflect real people and places, correct fashions and other objects that are correctly rendered to reflect a specific time period. This is a much slower process!

The net result is that creating the sketches and illustrations for a non-fiction picture book, on average, takes me about eight months total, whereas the fiction picture books that I have illustrated, on average, take me about five and a half months in total. 

You start each picture book project – fiction OR non-fiction – by reading the story many times and then doodling ideas in the margin of the manuscript. Can you elaborate a bit more about this process and its importance in capturing the story
and its voice?  

Creating these very tiny, visual shorthand rough sketches directly into the margins as I read the story is simply so that I can immediately begin formulating a record of my initial instinctive vision for the illustrations nearly as fast as I generate the visual compositional concepts in my head.

How long did it take you to research reference for your new book THE CRAYON MAN: THE TRUE STORY OF THE INVENTION OF CRAYOLA CRAYONS by Natascha Biebow? 

It probably took about a month to sort through the roughy 3,000 potential reference photos and narrow them down to the 100 to 150 that ended up actually being used as specific reference to complete the sketches, refined sketches and final illustrations.

Where do you find your reference?

The author sometimes provides useful reference materials. In addition, some of the reference photos I located were in books, but the vast majority came from on-line searches. This yields many photos, but unfortunately most of them are too small in size, and also of very low pixel resolution, which will not allow them to be enlarged effectively. So, many times, you will find a pertinent photo on screen, but because of its size/resolution limitations, it is totally useless as photo reference that you can actually print out and physically use alongside your sketch and easily refer to. Therefore, online not only do you have to locate a pertinent reference photo, but it also must be of a certain size and resolution so that it can be physically printed out.

What do you do when you can’t find accurate visual reference for a particular element in the manuscript given that it’s meant to be a true story?

This happens a lot! For example, with The Crayon Man, the main character is Edwin Binney, who was, in the story's timeline, about 35 to 38 years old. But the only reference photos of the actual real person that I could find of him were when he was about 57 to 65 years old. So, to create the illustrations, I had to imagine what Edwin looked like at 35 - 38 years old based on the available photos of him.

In another example: when I created the illustrations I created for The Fantastic Ferris Wheel, the true story about the making of the first gigantic observation wheel (Ferris wheel) for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. I ran into the following problem: At that time the tallest building in America was only about 30 stories tall . . . and the Ferris wheel was about 27 stories tall . . . which meant that any reference photos I could locate of the Ferris wheel from 1893 were all from an angle looking UP at the wheel. 

But in my initial sketches I envisioned many scenes that were looking at an angle DOWN at the Ferris wheel. This meant that I had to understand how the wheel was constructed so that could devise angles looking down at the wheel in my drawings . . . which was not easy to do!

Can you give some examples of when you completely re-thought an illustration or composition as a result of something you discovered in your research or some feedback you received from the creative team?

Before I do any photo reference research myself, I create my initial rough sketches for the book based solely on the events and actions as specifically described by the text, first in a very rough storyboard format. So once I have already determined my intended images for all the inside of the book illustrations via these rough storyboard images, I then do my reference research to specifically support the elements within the sketches. So I have never located a reference photo that completely changed my intentions for the illustrations. Once I complete all my refined final sketches and they are presented to the publisher (to the editor, art director and designer) they offer their comments and suggestions to improve upon the imagery relative to their communication of the story. Usually all of the sketches are essentially approved as is, with only relatively minor tweaks suggested to improve upon their clarity. But their very smart suggestions, though seemingly minor, really do help to make the illustrations truly be their best.

Let’s look at covers. What do you think makes for a dynamic and commercial cover? How do you make non-fiction relevant so it grabs contemporary readers? 

I always feel that any cover, whether for a fiction or non-fiction picture book should essentially be simple, regardless of whether the illustrator’s style is complex or minimalist or anywhere in-between. It should be an evocative, simple, poster-like image that only needs to reflect the core theme or mood of the story, even if in just a conceptually suggestive manner. 

The basic goal should be to create a visually teasing gem that has the viewer wanting to open the book and look inside . . . What a cover does not have to be, nor should be, is a complex/busy visual scene or concept that overly explains the inside of the book.
 
In my opinion it's ultimately always a much more effective marketing tactic in terms of sales for the cover to just be very simple and striking rather than get caught up in trying to have too many explanatory elements.   

What is your top tip for illustrators who are considering trying their hand at non-fiction picture book illustration? 

When I illustrate a non-fiction picture book, I personally take the visual stylistic approach of creating the illustrations in a more realistic manner compared to the more stylized whimsical approach I take with the many fiction picture books I have illustrated. But this does not mean that a non-fiction story MUST be illustrated in a realistic manner. A non-fiction story can be wonderfully illustrated in any manner of illustrative style . . . so the only tip I can offer is simply ensure the illustrations capture the spirit of the real people and events described in the story.

Edwin Binney's inspirational story, THE CRAYON MAN: THE TRUE STORY OF THE INVENTION OF CRAYOLA CRAYONS, will be published in March 2019.

View the trailer!

Steven Salerno’s favourite crayon colour is ALL OF THEM, because sometimes each one is the perfect choice. He lives in New York City and creates illustrations for books, magazines, newspapers, advertising, posters, and product packaging. So far he’s illustrated 30 picture books, with five of the titles as both the author & the illustrator. Find him at www.stevensalerno.com

Natascha Biebow's favourite crayon colour is periwinkle blue, because it makes her heart sing. Author, editor, coach and mentor, find her at www.nataschabiebow.com and www.bluelephantstoryshaping.com