Bonus content about one or more of Debbie’s books.
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 Debbie started to experiment with different colors for the main characters as well as different techniques for the watery background: She did many, many sketches of the characters. Debbie also started doing “thumbnail sketches” (very small, rough sketches) to figure out the general layout of all . . .
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 Debbie was SO excited when she first saw Aaron Reynolds’s wonderful story for Sea Monkey & Bob. For one thing, it was hilarious! She fell in love with the characters right away. Also, Debbie has been a longtime fan of Sea Monkeys. She was always intrigued . . .
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 According to Aaron Reynolds, SEA MONKEY & BOB started as a story idea called Holy Mackerel! (see above image from Aaron’s writing journal) about a Mackerel who was scared he was sinking. The story didn’t quite work (“as many don’t”) but gradually evolved to become Sea Monkey . . .
Part 1 – Part 2 (Last updated May 17, 2016) First, you need to come up with a book idea. This is Lauren McLaughlin, the author of the Mitzi Tulane series: Lauren used to work in the film business as both a screenwriter and producer, and she is also the author of several teen novels. . . .
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 (Last updated July 26, 2017) The next thing that arrived were the color proofs. Debbie checked them over to make sure everything looked ok: and what needed to fixed, like this floating torso in Ruby Rose’s cafeteria (eek!): Debbie let HarperCollins know things that could be . . .
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 (Last updated May 14, 2016) While Debbie was doing research, she noticed that Rob Sanders mentioned on his website that RUBY ROSE had been inspired by his great-niece Madi. She asked Rob for some reference photos, and based aspects of the picture book Ruby Rose on . . .
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 (Last updated July 26, 2017) Welcome! This post for young readers is about how the first Ruby Rose picture book was created. First, author Rob Sanders started with a character. He tried lots of characters and wrote lots of stories, looking for one “who was fresh and new, . . .
I’ve added some free print-ready templates for creating finger puppets related to I’M BORED and WHERE ARE MY BOOKS? You can preview the I’m Bored puppets here and download here. You can get the Where Are My Books? puppets here: Spencer & Mom download, Sis and Dad download and Squirrel/Narwhal/Book download. For all my free, print-ready material, see my Print-Ready Archives. Note that you don’t HAVE . . .
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 “WHERE ARE MY BOOKS?” FINAL STAGES AND LAUNCH When Debbie’s illustrations were nearly finished, she started brainstorming ideas of the cover. Here are just a few: Everyone liked the first idea the best, so that’s the one Debbie developed into a cover. Debbie also needed . . .
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 ILLUSTRATING “WHERE ARE MY BOOKS?” Debbie needed to decide what the characters in Where Are My Books? would look like. She decided that the mother would be Asian and the father would be Caucasian: Here are some Debbie’s early sketches for Spencer: Debbie’s art director, Laurent Linn, . . .