Happy September to all of you Beautiful Butterflies out there!!!
Holy Moly this year is flying by, but I have been very busy working on a new project that I have been keeping under wraps for the past several months. I was asked to illustrate a new book by Jessica Correnti of Kids Grief Support exploring and explaining Grief to children at an age that doesn't fully understand what grief is. The book is called The ABCs of Grief and I have to say I've really enjoyed Jessica's words in this book along with creating illustrations to accompany them. She explains the universalness of grief in such a kind and approachable way. This lovely book is going to be such a great resource for little ones, parents, and caregivers alike. We're currently wrapping up the color/layout phase and will soon find our way into working on the cover for the book. For this post, I thought it would be fun to show you a few little sneak peeks of this upcoming project and some behind-the-scenes photos.
Pictured above are the thumbnail sketches I made to find what look and layout I liked best for each illustration.
Below is one of my favorite little sketches for one of the letters of the alphabet.
After each sketch, I went back through and tidied up each one (essentially layers upon layers of sketches). I love doing this on my iPad. It gives me so much more freedom to edit.
This book has required so many illustrations, so I am bursting at the seams with painted paper. It has been so fun to see them all pile up.
What I love about the illustrations so far is how much they show grief in a realistic way. When we grieve we aren't always sad, sometimes we are happy too.
A little in-process shot of one of the illustrations.
One final sneak peek for the road. Below is one of the first illustrations I painted. And if you scroll back up, you can see this piece in the sketching phase :)
Without giving too much away, I'm going to sign off now. I just wanted to share a little preview to get you all excited. This project has been and continues to be such a treat and I can't wait to share it with all of you when it's finished.
Cheers to September, and I will chat with all of you soon, Rachel