People look at computer-generated art and figure it’s all created on the screen. But many illustrators still use a pencil and paper to begin. Sorry, trees, but I use every inch of space.

I sketch small and use tracing paper to refine things. This week I started sketches on Run…It’s a Bee! knowing it would be the toughest of the four books. There are nine spreads and it took me four days of drawing (I took a lot of walks). Here are clips of a few of the pencils. They passed inspection! Hopefully the finals will also be approved, but anything can happen. I try not to think about those things while I’m working…

Next, I scan the pencils and trace them on-screen (with the handy WaCom tablet) and begin the finals. I’ll try to remember to save those steps to share here with my three followers. 🙂