A lot of people ask if I draw my images by hand. I realize my images don’t necessarily look as if they are hand drawn because the end result of the process I use. In reality, each image is hand drawn twice, once with pencil on paper, and a second time in computer.
I thought I would share my process for creating a coloring book page image.
Depending on the topic and how many illustrations I plan on having I will plan the coloring book. This involves creating pages of thumbnail images, so I have an idea as to what exactly it is I want to draw, and what order these images need to appear in.
Then the drawing begins. I go through pages and pages of sketch books creating drawings for my coloring books.Not everything I draw makes it in. And frequently I have to draw an idea several times before I have a final image. I spend any where from 30 minutes to 2 hours creating the pencil drawing for a coloring book page.
After I have drawn everything, I begin scanning. I don’t have a fancy scanner, just one of those multipurpose scanner/printer/copiers. The sketch book gets placed on the scanning bed, and I make lots of adjustments so the image is readable.
After the scanning, its back to drawing, but this time within the program Adobe Illustrator.
I work on an old MacBook and I draw using a track ball–not even a tablet. I have some dated technology to say the least, but it still gets the job done!
Digitizing, or redrawing in program takes anywhere from 1 to 4 hours depending on the level of detail in an image. I do make corrections in program, such as adjust sizes, make sure items are true to square, make sure mirror images are true mirror images, things like that.
I am constantly printing and proofing my work. I have a laser printer, there is just no way a small inkjet would be able to keep up with my printing needs. The goal is to provide the printer with the best quality images the first time. So print, make corrections, print review, repeat. Truth is that doesn’t always happen, but thats what the proofing process is for, to catch any errors before they finally go to press.
The publishing process is a whole ‘nother ball of wax, and a future blog post.