The Crab that Got Away

This is a thumbnail sketch that I drew for my Monster Safari kids book. This was my original idea for the Snaggle-Tooth Crab, but I ruled it out because of its menacing appearance. When you're working with a G-rated audience, you don't want to get too menacing. I wouldn't want young children to have nightmares about a "scorpiocrab" hiding in their bed sheets at night. So this is the crab that got away. You'll only see it here, not in the book.

My new Monster Safari kids book will be out within two to three weeks. I'll keep you posted.

My other blog is called The Trowbridge Chronicles.

Last Page - Monster Safari Book

The last two pages of my Monster Safari book are instructional, with advice on drawing and shading. The above illustration gives tips about pencil shading. 

The book is now complete. One more final read-through and it's ready to send out. Monster Safari will soon be available for purchase. I'll keep you posted.

Monster Safari - Title Page

This may be the last image that I will post from my Monster Safari kids book. I discovered yesterday that I had overlooked the title page, so I banged this out today. Everything is hand lettered. I think all of the pages are written, lettered and drawn now. From here on out it will be final proofing the book, the dull but necessary part of producing a book.

This creature is a cousin to the Eelops, which is one of the how-to-draw monsters in the book. He has a Velcro tongue that captures prey with the flick of his tongue, but I didn't feel at liberty to draw a terrified little fishy struggling to break free from the hairy tongue. I have no idea how many moms would be upset if they were to see the ghastly image of a dismembered little sea creature on the end of the Sea Beastie's tongue. There is a price to be paid for working in the kids' market. Everything you draw and write needs to be G-rated.

Back Cover - Monster Safari

I'm really on the home stretch now. This is the final art for the back cover for my Monster Safari kids book. With the exception of the last two pages, the entire book is hand-scribed, as you see above. The book should be out in a couple weeks or so, depending on my deadlines. The empty spot in the lower right corner is where the bar code and ISBN number will go.

Monster Island Back Cover Art

My progress on finishing up my Monster Safari book was temporarily put on hold due to the birth of our first grandchild this past weekend. Now I'm back on track in the race against time to finish up the book. I have school appearances coming up and I must have my book available for my upcoming school dates.

There are 12 monsters featured in the book. Now there's 13 with this guy, who is as yet unnamed. I needed art for the back cover, and this dude just missed the 12 monster cut, so I figured that rather than start a new drawing from scratch, I might as well dip into my stack of monster rejects and make some fortunate creature the star of the back cover. You can't tell by the expression on his face, but he's thrilled.

Monster Safari Book Cover

This is the final cover art for my Monster Safari children's book. There's no type-setting on the cover. All the lettering is hand-done. The illustration is painted in Photoshop with a Wacom Cintiq. I'll make a few more tweaks before I let go of it, but it's 99% done.

The character looks a little too yellow from when I painted it. It's probably because it's in CMYK mode, which would throw the color on the screen version off a little.

Next comes the back cover, which will be more hand-lettering, though I may change my mind and type-set it. We'll see. Then there will be about two wrap up pages at the end of the book, then I'm done. I leave for a business trip to Pennsylvania in the morning. I'll plan on finishing the book at the airport, on the plane and in my motel room while I'm gone. So when I get back I can bring it all to a close.

Then I'll get the paper book published, and right after that the ebook, followed by a YouTube tutorial drawing for each of the pages. Then on to the next book. What fun. I'm sure glad I don't have to have a job.

Monster Island Cover Art

All of the lettering on the cover of my new Monster Safari book is now finished. Today I will be working toward finishing the cover illustration. I will add in more background behind the creature and perhaps make some changes on the creature as well.

I have some issues with the little creature in the Pooka's grasp. When you're dealing with a young  audience as I do, you have to be extra careful about any negative implications. Will the Pooka soon be including the helpless little creature on his lunch menu? Or are they best of friends? I will have to resolve that issue. Mothers are always very protective of what they expose their children to. A big monster eating a little monster might move the book from the "G" rated category into PG territory. It's frustrating to me, but that's the audience. Has Barney the Dinosaur ever gobbled up a smaller dinosaur on camera? I seriously doubt it. That's my audience.

The entire book, from the cover to the end is hand-lettered, with the exception of the ISBN page. I hand-lettered the very first book that I wrote and illustrated. It was called The Great Thistledown Flood. I was thrilled to learn that it became a Gold Medallion Honor Book, and I attended the Gold Medallion Awards in Denver, Colorado. That was a memorable night. Because of the painstaking hand-lettering, the book also introduced me to carpal tunnel syndrome.

The next post will reveal what I came up with for the cover art. It will either be the finished sketch, or the final art. Stay tuned.