ILLUSTRATIONS PART 2

Hello everybody Drew here, sorry for the delay in posting another Blog, but writing has got in the way. More about that perhaps later. Today we are talking about the actual characters as they appear in the book. Not all of them off course, but in general. I hope you like the way that they represent the main characters, and also those other characters that are part of the story line. I do have a few favorites. I particularly like the racing mechanic working in the E Type racing car in the story Harry and the Grand Prix races. But what are your favorites?
When you have an image in your head, but you can’t draw yourself, it underlines the importance of a good working relationship with the illustrator. I personally believe that the right chemistry and understanding is essential, so that you get what you are asking for. It underlines how important the illustrators brief is, to produce the desired illustration. This process is not always easy and can sometimes lead to disappointment, as perhaps you haven’t conveyed sufficiently accurately what you wanted in the first place. As the author you have to take responsibility, even though you can’t draw yourself if you want something in particular being illustrated. What I learnt fairly quickly is that the illustrator isn’t going to read your entire book to get the drift of the story line. They are focused on the image and require an accurate brief to work to. Having had real world experience of working on very large projects, where we ultimately conveyed the design of a facility using two dimensional drawings, I did understand that it was going to be teamwork that would carry the project onto success. The same follows with the illustrations for Harry Alliss. Good teamwork between the two of us was so very important. Working with Dave we luckily gelled together and worked as one, to create the images that you see in the book. I think they are fab, but then I’m a bit biased, but I hope you do to.
The most difficult image that we needed to work on was the principal character, Harry. What is he going to look like? That is where the skill of the illustrator comes in interpreting what I described. I have to admit I was quite nervous when Dave unveiled his first pass of Harry Alliss. As always, the image in your head when it is turned into reality takes a bit of adjustment. We did make a few tweaks to the image before we settled on the final rush. As always, this To-ing and Fro-ing continued with all the images. There was always a little tweak here and there that was required with most of the images. This is where the time goes, making these fine adjustments. But as my old Boss used to say, ‘Nothing worthwhile comes quickly Drew’. How true, how true.
That’s it from me for this blog. I hope it was of interest to you. Next time I’ll talk about making a book stand out. Till then as always take care and stay safe. Drew

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