Happy Beeing Me
Hello cutie pies! How are you? Enjoying the golden colours and wrapping up in your favorite blanket I hope! Here in Scotland we’re enjoying the Autumn vibes, between cold wind, moody days and some welcoming sun rays popping out here and there.
Today in this blog post I would like to share with you some of my thoughts and process for the picture book “Happy Beeing Me” . It’s a lovely story written by Glyncora Murphy, illustrated by myself and published by Baby Blanket Press.
It tells the journey of Benny, a little honey bee, and the adventures that are going to lead her to self love and a sweeter life.
Now I have to start this article by telling you that this was my first picture book project and it was both exciting and scary at the same time! There were quite a lot of illustrations to make, all of them being painted traditionally. So I was slightly anxious about it. But who wouldn’t? Illustrating a book is a big deal, I’ve always heard illustrators saying that it’s a big challenge and a rewarding but exhausting adventure.
Another major challenge for me was working in a style that I was not particularly used to. If you’ve followed my work for a while you’ll know that my characters are not utterly expressive. I like them this way, but for this project I had to adjust things. Because this was a children’s book, and facial expressions are essential. After a few sketches and studies, I decided to draw some big eyes to our sweet Benny (she also wears glasses, which I wanted quite big too!).
Above: the first sketches!
Some more studies, getting acquittanced with the character. One of my biggest concerns was being consistent with the character, despite the different postures and expressions. Making sure we really recognise Benny, from a page to another. At this point I was also experimenting to see how I could depict different emotions, it was quite a fun exploration! I decided to play with the contrast between the big eyes and the discreet little mouth.
Seeing all these sketches is really touching, everything was still so clumsy and experimental at that stage! It’s literally Benny becoming herself and being born for the second time (the first time being in the imagination of her author, Glyncora).
Below: research for what was the most challenging spread of the book. My mission was to make a full page illustration with three characters: a beagle, an eagle and a dolphin… On a beach! This was was really tricky, I worked a lot on this one, trying to make all the characters. background and colours work together. Not a piece of cake!
The colour palette
Another sweet character, Benny’s mama: the Queen! Here you can see the first sketches, an attempt to draw a majestic and yet tender mama. Some of her words in the book are just so sweet and inspiring, it really is a beautiful character. As Benny says:
“My mommy’s full of wisdom,
She’s got grace and grit and style”
the pond scene! This is a key moment in the story, where Benny realises how happy she is to be (or bee) who she is. A very poetic and meaningful verse (also the book cover, even though at that point we hadn’t decided yet). I was thrilled at the idea of illustrating this page and add lots of flowers (back to my comfort zone for a bit!).
I tried my best to create a touching little character that you would like to hug and comfort. In the picture above Benny’s feeling sad and grumpy, she would like to be any animal but a bee. Who hasn’t felt this way one day? When we think we’re not good enough, not worthy enough. When we think the grass is greener on the other side. That’s why I liked the story so much, we can all relate to it!
Work in progress. Soaking up some Spring sun while painting the rainbow spread. Joy!
Tada! What a wave of emotions when I opened the package and held the book in my hands for the first time! It truly was an incredible adventure. Working on the same book for several months, having Benny on my desk almost every single day! Seeing the book coming to life, this was something! I’m not going to lie, it was also tough. I was going through a lot of back pain at that time (probably due to the pressure I was putting on myself, literally), but I managed to take it easy, fortunately I didn’t have to work with a tight deadline (honestly, I do not handle stress well…).
This project was both difficult and rewarding. I had to overcome lots of challenges and I have stepped out of my comfort zone quite a lot, constantly needing to adapt. Some spreads were easier than others to draw and paint. Sometimes creativity was flowing, sometimes I felt stuck and unhappy with my work. But overall I feel grateful for the whole experience! I was lucky to be collaborating with a lovely team, who trusted me on this! And the thought of all the sweet kids reading this book with their parent, the valuable lesson it teaches, fill my heart with happiness!
Also after a break of six months I’m finally back on my Patreon! I just posted a video where I show the sketches and preparation work, the different steps from the first scribble to final illustrations, the up and downs and a general feedback on the whole experience.
Maybe see you there, and if not see you soon here! Until then keep your little paws in thick socks and enjoy the change of season.
Warm hugs,
C.
