Wanted to tell about the process behind my latest book. I know I should try to find a smarter way of making these kinds of illustrations (see some spreads here), but as always I´m to impatient to learn new things on the computer. I want to start working immediately!
When making this book "Vad har du bakom ryggen?" (and also my latest fact book "Kalla fakta om is") I have been working with ink on transparent paper. First I do a very simple sketch. Then I start painting all the different parts of the picture (head, facial features, cape, scratch-wound) one by one, on see-through paper, before I put the teared off sheets in the scanner. In the computer I choose a color for each one of the parts and put them together in a clutter of layers. Finally the book contains thousands of small parts and a hundreds of layers, and I sense the feeling of juggling with soufflés. And when I send the very heavy digital book original to the publisher their server break down.
But as always... when the book comes from the printer (two whole years since the first sketch), the soufflé juggling is already far away, and all you remember is the feeling of pure and total joy!
Working with books is happiness.
2012/03/07
