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.

Monster Safari Intro Page

As I press on toward the finish line, here's the introductory page to my Monster Safari kids' book.

This little creature is a fitting image for the intro page because my initial sketch of this little guy was what turned into my Monster Safari book. He was a character that I penciled out several years ago as part of the initial sketches for an online game. I used him for the initial monster character for this book, then added 11 more. Here's the initial sketch that I did for the online game: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1517037313888825393#editor/target=post;postID=6194046565805754604 

The entire book up to this point, including all 12 monsters, is all here on my blog.

Next I'll be working on the front and back cover art, and I'll post it in a few days, as soon as I'm finished with it. 

Have you seen my other blog, The Trowbridge Chronicles?

Hornballs at the Water Hole

This page that I just completed for my Monster Safari book will help to give the reader the impression that the setting for the book is deep tropical jungle. I had fun drawing and painting the scene, but it made me wish that it wasn't just a fictitious story. I love tropical locales and I wish I had another life to be an explorer, as I appear to be in this scene.

Yet there is some truth to what you see above. The safari outfit that I'm wearing in the illustration is real...it's hanging in my closet. It's the costume that I wear when I do my school appearances: http://www.bronsmith.com/schoolprograms.htm. In a couple of weeks I'll be flying back to Palmyra, Pennsylvania. I'll do four school shows in four days, and I'll be selling my new Monster Safari book while I'm there. That's why I'm in such a hurry to finish the book.

This is the Hornball how-to-draw page that will be in the book: http://bronsmithart.blogspot.com/2012/07/hornball-how-to-draw-page.html

I will feature 12 Little Beasties by way of the how-to-draw pages in the book. About three more pages to go, and the book will be done. Then on to the next book. Will it be called Dragon Safari?

Have you seen my other blog, The Trowbridge Chronicles?