In Part 1 of How NAKED! Was Created, Debbie talked about why and how Michael Ian Black wrote the story for NAKED! and how she did sketches for the book. Each time Debbie finished a round of sketches, Debbie sent them to the art director and editor for comments, then made revisions.
Here’s another example of how a sketch progressed to the final version:
Laurent Linn and Debbie also started talking about what the cover was going to look like.
Laurent also worked on designing the inside jacket flaps and suggested that instead of photos, Debbie illustrate portraits of Michael and herself. So she came up with a bunch of author portraits of Michael. Guess which one Michael picked?
Debbie did a matching illustration for herself.
Debbie never EVER imagined that there would be a picture of herself IN THE SHOWER on a book cover! Here’s what the final jacket flap looks like:
Debbie also loved what Laurent did with the other jacket flap. Here’s the full cover jacket that he designed:
So fun!
After all the art and cover/interior design was finished, Debbie’s art director sent everything to the printer’s and they got back color proofs to check over:
Once the color proofs were approved, the printer sent f&gs. “F&Gs” stand for “folded and gathered,” and are unbound printer proofs. This was the last chance to check everything over.
Debbie is always excited to get the f&gs, because then she’s almost able to tell what the final book is going to look like.
The sales and marketing people at Simon & Schuster Children’s could now take the f&gs and start showing it to librarians and booksellers.
And then…THEN (!!!!)…shortly before the book officially launched, Debbie received a big box of her contributor copies!!!
Some people wonder how long the whole process takes. Debbie doesn’t know exactly how long it took Michael to come up with the idea and to write the story, but here’s Debbie’s timeline:
Mid-December 2012: Debbie’s editor sent her the manuscript and asked if she would like to illustrate it. She said YES OH YES PLEASE!!!
Beginning of January 2013: Debbie began working on the illustrations. There were several rounds of sketches, waiting for feedback, and then working on revisions.
June 2013: Debbie handed in the final art.
April 2014: The book came out in bookstores!
So assuming it took at least 3-4 months for Michael to come up with the idea, write the book and go through the editing process, the whole thing from start to finish took about TWO YEARS.
Debbie had so much on the NAKED! Book Tour! Not only did she get to meet Michael Ian Black for the first time, but it was great to talk about the book to young readers. You can read Debbie’s NAKED! Book Tour Report online.
