My story in one sentence: This is Archimede's story about letting go of the thing that weighs him down.

These are some of my first sketches for my characters Archimedes and Philippa. The quick doodle that I chose for my double page spread was the quirky house on the top left.

My sketchbook was 1 GBP at the Works and I don't feel too precious about it. This means I don't mind making "ugly" early sketches.

 

Next, I created a loose sketch for my double page spread. I thought it would be a nice way to introduce both characters (which are interacting through a ball/acorn game over the washing line). I imagined this scene would be great as the first double page in my book.

 

 

I enjoyed the layout and decided to create a sketch at the right ratio and with all the elements precisely where I want them to be in my final image. I divided my original page size by 4 and used a ruler to create the outlines of the page. Then I drew my image.

 

 

At this stage I took my time to really think about what elements help to guide the eye through the composition and which details I feel help the mood I want to create for my story. I loved the idea of a miniature world. To introduce scale, the dandelion is larger than the house. I feel it is the key element to make the viewer feel like they are able to have a glimpse at a tiny hidden world. Everything else, like the vegetable patch, the tomatoes, and other vegetables, are smaller in relation to the house.

More updates to come ...