What is JacketFlap

  • JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans.
    Join now (it's free).

Sort Blog Posts

Sort Posts by:

  • in
    from   

Suggest a Blog

Enter a Blog's Feed URL below and click Submit:

Most Commented Posts

In the past 7 days

Recent Posts

(tagged with 'Dogswap')

Recent Comments

Recently Viewed

JacketFlap Sponsors

Spread the word about books.
Put this Widget on your blog!
  • Powered by JacketFlap.com

Are you a book Publisher?
Learn about Widgets now!

Advertise on JacketFlap

MyJacketFlap Blogs

  • Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.

Blog Posts by Tag

In the past 7 days

Blog Posts by Date

Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month

Writer Blogs

Agent Blogs

Publisher Blogs

Editor Blogs

Librarian Blogs

Bookseller Blogs

Reviews Blogs

Illustrator Blogs

News Blogs

Industry Blogs

new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Dogswap, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 9 of 9
1. Illustrating a Picture Book: a 2nd Round of Re-draws
Blog Icon
0 Comments | Next
By: Lynne Chapman, on 8/8/2012
Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  drawing, planning, roughs, layout, Dogswap, Add a tag



This week I am working on Swap! again. 


I sent the last of the re-draws off to the publisher a few weeks ago. Normally they turn them round really quickly, but it's holiday time of course. Actually, I didn't mind the delay: it did me a favour and gave me time to fit in all those library workshops.


We are so nearly there now: just one spread that needs a 2nd redraw and some extra work, creating a different set of endpapers for the front.

The redraw is the illustration of the ballet class above. It's the part of the story when Lucy discovers she can't swap back to being a little girl again. My art director felt their dialogue needed to be closer to them, as this is a crucial turning point in their relationship. But Mum is in the way, so she suggested I incorporate more parents and sit Mum with them at the back, creating a new space for text in the middle:


It's not awful, but I'm worried things are too busy and slightly 'bitty' now, with so many characters. I spent ages yesterday afternoon, moving the various elements around in Photoshop. It would be compositionally better if the parents were smaller, to provide visual contrast, but then they would look too far away, turning the space into a massive hall.

I got a bit blind to it in the end, so John came to help and provide a fresh pair of eyes. He suggested I go back to the original and work harder at moving Mum out of the way.


He also suggested trying Lucy much larger, which does indeed make for a more dramatic composition. It means she's not quite as close up to Sparky for their disagreement, but the overall effect is less fussy. I have sent both versions to my publisher. I never normally recommend providing alternatives; my experience has always been that, if you offer 2 choices, the client always like a little of one and a little of the other, so you end up having to do a 3rd version! Let's see...
see more of my work at www.lynnechapman.co.uk

0 Comments on Illustrating a Picture Book: a 2nd Round of Re-draws as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
More from this Blog | Email This | Add a Tag
2. Illustrating a Picture Book: Getting the End Right
Blog Icon
6 Comments | Previous | Top | Next
By: Lynne Chapman, on 7/17/2012
Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  publisher, illustration, publishing, drawing, planning, roughs, layout, characterisation, hot tips, Dogswap, Add a tag


I abandoned John again last Tuesday. As we speak, I am in Santo Domingo, sketching my hand off at the Urban Sketchers symposium. In the meantime, I thought I'd leave you with this 2nd post about the changes I've been making to my roughs for SWAP?!?

You remember there were 2 major redraws needed, as a result of feedback from the publisher: Lucy and Sparky leaving ballet class, which we looked at recently, and the final spread. 


At the end of the story, Sparky finds out that little girls have baths every night. At last he wants to swap back.

Originally I had Lucy enjoying the bubble bath Sparky didn't want to have, with him sitting on the loo beside her, reading 'Ballet for Dogs'. But the text has changed slightly since then. Now the same conversation flows across both pages, so it makes no sense for them to be in a different part of the house.

So in an earlier drawing, I introduced a window...


...through which Sparky could escape the bath, ending up in the back garden. I thought that would be quite funny:

6 Comments on Illustrating a Picture Book: Getting the End Right, last added: 7/20/2012
Display Comments Add a Comment
More from this Blog | Email This | Add a Tag
3. A New Name for Dogswap: 'SWAP?!?'
Blog Icon
3 Comments | Previous | Top | Next
By: Lynne Chapman, on 7/14/2012
Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  hot tips, Dogswap, publisher, publishing, writing, titles, planning, Frankfurt, Add a tag



My latest book has been going under the working title of Dogswap for most of it's life thus far. I originally called my story It's Not Fair!, because that's what Lucy thinks when she wakes up: it's not fair that she has to get up for school, while Sparks gets to stay home. Hence the role-swap.


But It's Not Fair! is too negative, so my editor came up with Dogswap. But that makes it sounds like two people swapping their dogs, which is a very different thing. I suggested a list of possible alternatives, the best of which was Dog Day, but we're not satisfied with that - it's a bit limp, compared to the fun and anarchy that you find inside the covers:


It's unusual to get to this late stage with the title still in the air, but not important. But we need to make a decision soon, as we must have everything sorted by mid September, ready to present the finished project to overseas buyers at Frankfurt Book Fair in early October. This is our  opportunity to get other publishers interested in co-editions. So we need a proper title. Here are some of t

3 Comments on A New Name for Dogswap: 'SWAP?!?', last added: 7/16/2012
Display Comments Add a Comment
More from this Blog | Email This | Add a Tag
4. Illustrating a Children's Picture Book: Reworking my Roughs
Blog Icon
3 Comments | Previous | Top | Next
By: Lynne Chapman, on 7/12/2012
Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  publisher, illustration, drawing, dogs, planning, roughs, hot tips, Dogswap, Add a tag


I was telling you about having to redraw a couple of the spreads for my latest book. 

The first one is this 'leaving ballet class' illustration (you can see the sketch work which lead to this drawing here):




The publisher's feedback was that there was not enough indication of where Lucy and Sparky were coming from and that it would be clearer if the ballet school was shown in the background: a good point. It's so interesting to get another pair of eyes on what I do! My art director also felt that the dogs in the foreground had too much prominence and the cat was laughing a bit too hysterically.


This is my rework. You can see it in context, with the page of Sparky's ballet efforts on the other side of the spread: 


The difficulties were:
a) trying to leave space for the text -
I couldn't get Lucy and Sparky central or as big as I would have liked, because I felt the rather intimate bit of dialogue between them needed to be alongside the characters, rather than up i

3 Comments on Illustrating a Children's Picture Book: Reworking my Roughs, last added: 7/15/2012
Display Comments Add a Comment
More from this Blog | Email This | Add a Tag
5. Feedback: Reworking the Text and Roughs
Blog Icon
0 Comments | Previous | Top | Next
By: Lynne Chapman, on 6/28/2012
Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  Editor, publisher, publishing, writing, planning, roughs, hot tips, Dogswap, Add a tag


I submitted my finished roughs for Dog Day a couple of weeks ago and have just had the feedback through from my publisher. 


My editor emailed me first, with a few, mostly minor, changes to the text: we have been tweaking it continually between us, getting it just right (hopefully!). You always worry, in case an editor suggests something you hate, but these are all good ideas that make the text stronger. Creating a picture book is very much a 'team effort'; as an author, you have to be open to other people's take on your project and able to welcome editorial input. It really helps though, when you feel you're in tune with the other members of the team, which I certainly do on this book.



A couple of days later, my art director sent through her suggestions for changes to the illustrations, mostly minor, but there are a couple of spreads that need a major rework. This is normal - it's rare that a set of roughs goes through without some reworked spreads. Again, it's important for an illustrator to be able to let go of their original idea and embrace the new suggestions: it can feel frustrating if you've put a lot of time into something that has to go, but it does usually make the work stronger in the end.


The spreads in question are the two pictured. My art director felt that I needed to show the ballet school in the top image, to make it clear that this is where they are coming from (good point) and that we should probably lose the cat. She felt the final spread, which we looked at recently, lacks the necessary intimacy for the end of the story, where they are making up - also true. I'll show you the re-works when I've done them.
see more of my work at www.lynnechapman.co.uk

0 Comments on Feedback: Reworking the Text and Roughs as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
More from this Blog | Email This | Add a Tag
6. There's a Dog Dancing across the Endpapers!
Blog Icon
5 Comments | Previous | Top | Next
By: Lynne Chapman, on 6/15/2012
Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  illustration, drawing, dogs, endpapers, planning, roughs, characterisation, Dogswap, Add a tag


I promised to show you how I used the endpapers to finish off my story's narrative with a little visual joke.

In an original draft, I had the last spread taking place in the bathroom instead of the back garden, with Lucy enjoying the bubble bath that Sparky has narrowly avoided. I was going to draw Sparky sitting beside the bath reading Ballet for Dogs: a Ruff Guide (sorry). But they don't get near the bath any more: the action all stays downstairs.


So I thought I would end with Sparky, clearly delusional, thinking he was actually good at ballet, then show him and Lucy cavorting in their ballet gear on the endpapers. I originally envisaged him being dreadful, as he was in class, but then it occurred to me that it might be funnier if he did indeed manage to get good!

John sourced me lots of photos of ballet dancing couples, using Google Images, from which I did these very quick sketches, just to capture the basic poses:

Then I drew Lucy and Sparky in the same positions. It was a bit tricky here and there, since their body-shapes were very different from your average dancer, and a couple of them didn't work as well as the others, but it came together surprisingly quickly:

5 Comments on There's a Dog Dancing across the Endpapers!, last added: 6/17/2012
Display Comments Add a Comment
More from this Blog | Email This | Add a Tag
7. Designing the spreads: Composition is Key
Blog Icon
4 Comments | Previous | Top | Next
By: Lynne Chapman, on 5/23/2012
Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  drawing, process, planning, roughs, layout, hot tips, Dogswap, illustration, Add a tag


I've been working backwards in the story this week. As I discussed previously, I don't work through the roughs chronologically, but take them in the order in which they most interest me, so I 'get into' the book as quickly as possible.


Now I am concentrating more on how the whole 'swapping places' idea is set up. Above is the first spread, where the idea is hatched. I'm really pleased with this one but, though it looks simple, it didn't come together quickly. I had trouble keeping both characters large but also out of the gutter, whilst keeping them close so their relationship was intimate enough. Below you can see all my tiny variations on the composition:


As you can see, I also tried out lots of alarm clock designs too: hard to make it fun without getting fussy. I love the big, curved BBBRRRRIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGG!!! of the alarm that pulls the whole image together - I do hope Gullane let me keep it that way.


Above is the next spread: where Lucy and Sparky actually swap, and Mum and Dad are fooled. The two little drawings came toge

4 Comments on Designing the spreads: Composition is Key, last added: 5/25/2012
Display Comments Add a Comment
More from this Blog | Email This | Add a Tag
8. Progress: There's a Dog in Class!
Blog Icon
1 Comments | Previous | Top | Next
By: Lynne Chapman, on 5/3/2012
Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  Dogswap, children, illustration, dogs, roughs, characterisation, Add a tag


Yesterday was great - I had an entire, more or less uninterrupted day of working on the new roughs! It's really helped me to get properly warmed up with the characters and things are starting to take shape. 


Remember on Tuesday I was thinking about what Sparky might get up to in his lessons? Well, that afternoon I had a go at drawing the 'Quiet Reading' class above and I'm really pleased with how it's looking. I drew the Music lesson properly too: 


I originally sketched him with his head in a trumpet, but when I looked up the picture reference, the trumpet end wasn't really big enough, so I've gone for a French Horn instead, which is somehow funnier anyway. 

Yesterday I mostly worked on re-drawing the lunchtime scene (which will sit on the opposite page to the two illustrations above), working up proper characters from my original sketch and making the ideas from that first visualisation fit the shape of the space. 

<

1 Comments on Progress: There's a Dog in Class!, last added: 5/5/2012
Display Comments Add a Comment
More from this Blog | Email This | Add a Tag
9. 'Dogswap': Starting on the Roughs
Blog Icon
2 Comments | Previous | Top |
By: Lynne Chapman, on 5/1/2012
Blog: An Illustrator's Life For Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  planning, roughs, layout, characterisation, Dogswap, illustration, Add a tag


This week I've started to look at the new book roughs. I'm still doing fairly rough sketches so far, trying to get a feel for how images might work in their allotted spaces. It takes a while to get your brain (and your drawing hand) back into gear, but by the end of the week I should be really up to speed. 



My story is about a little girl, Lucy, and her dog, Sparky. When her alarm goes off, Lucy thinks it's not fair that she has to get up and go to school, while Sparky stays home. Sparky would much rather go to school, as he thinks staying in is boring, so they take the only reasonable course of action... 


...they swap places for the day! Sparky (who I decided should be a slightly fat, mongrel with an over-eager attitude to life), squeezes into Lucy's uniform, while she makes herself a doggy disguise. I had so much fun illustrating Sparky in Lucy's uniform. 


2 Comments on 'Dogswap': Starting on the Roughs, last added: 5/4/2012
Display Comments Add a Comment
More from this Blog | Email This | Add a Tag