Children’s Book Illustration Process

The journey to bring this story to life began with extensive brainstorming and sketching, where I explored the nuances of the world of Mark and Matt. During character development, I wanted to ensure that each character had a unique, well-defined personality that would resonate with young readers. For me, each character needed to feel real, relatable, and engaging. I took great care to consider how their expressions, body language, and small actions could communicate who they were. In the story, Mark is quiet but active and Matt is outgoing and introspective. I took time to consider designing the character of twins with unique personalities and characteristics. The challenge, especially was to make these personalities leap off the page, inviting children into their world.

During this stage, I also mapped out every scene, sketching each page by hand. This process wasn’t rushed; it was a paced exploration of how the story would unfold visually. As I sketched, I paid close attention to the settings and small details—things like the lighting of day to evening, or how the twins were unique and how it shows in their dress and their subtle gestures, and even in the textures of the environment like the playgrounds, houses, and street.. I wanted to ensure that every page had its own visual story, so that young readers could find themselves in the world I was building. I kept refining my sketches to make sure they supported the emotional tone of the narrative and allowed the characters to feel alive in their surroundings.

Once the initial brainstorming and character development were complete, I moved on to the illustration phase, where the story truly began to take shape. To fully realize the world of Mark & Matt, I had to create a mental picture for every single scene. In my mind, the book began to play out like a movie or animation—each scene unfolding with its own pacing, mood, and visual cues. This mental storyboard allowed me to understand the flow of the narrative and how to pace the illustrations to match the emotional rhythms of the story.

Envisioning the story like an animation gave me the freedom to experiment with angles, perspectives, and the dynamic placement of characters within their environment. I wanted to make the illustrations feel like they were unfolding in real-time, right in your presence, full of movement, energy, and color. Sometimes, I imagined how the scene would look if it were animated, with characters shifting in small, fluid ways, or how the lighting would shift as the story progressed.

In terms of illustration, I paid close attention to the balance of color, composition, and emotion. Because I was limited to a certain number of pages, every element on the page had to have a purpose. Some scenes were tweaked, perspectives changed and character clothing colors altered. I wanted to create images that not only complemented the text but made the narrative multi-dimensional; this meant considering what the antagonist wore versus the protagonist. The antagonist, Matt, wore blue sweatshirt and shorts with sneakers and Evelyn, who was the free spirit wore green and orange with sandals. Each scene was crafted with intention, ensuring that the illustrations did more than just support the text—they elevated it. For instance, the color choices were designed to reflect the emotional tone of each moment, and each character, especially as Matt is uncertain if he will rebel against his own instincts, the mood begins shifting from bright, vibrant hues during moments of joy and play, to more muted, softer tones during moments of reflection or uncertainty. The characters' expressions were considered to convey a range of emotions, so that readers could connect and engage with what they were experiencing.