How to use this Page

Adam Hunter Peck is an illustrator specializing in book covers, interiors, editorial, institutional, and game art. His favorite genres are fantasy, science fiction, and children’s book illustration, but he’s always up for a new challenge.

Adam’s clients include Pearson, Odyssey Magazine, Fairwood Press & Talebones Magazine, and his work has appeared in juried publications by the Society of Illustrators and Communication Arts.

Adam graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with honors.

Does the first picture below look familiar? It is another version of the illustration we used for our prompt.

Here is Adam with a little bit about his process:

When I’ve received and read an illustration brief, the first thing I do is begin sketching small thumbnails to explore composition ideas, either with a pencil or a Wacom tablet & Photoshop. Here I’m playing with perspective, silhouettes, lighting, color, and action. Once I’ve decided on a composition, I begin collecting photo references to learn more about the form and specifics of my subjects. This stage might give me interesting ideas for details to add later. Next I’ll begin a value sketch in Photoshop, blocking out the basics and gradually carving out details, much like the process of sculpting. With a solid greyscale foundation, I begin adding color and painting details.

Generally, I work exclusively digitally. I’ve found this to be optimal because it’s easy to transport, edit, and undo. When I do work physically, I paint with acrylics because it’s easy to paint over mistakes and change with layers.

Once I’ve been briefed by a client, I like to learn as much about the subject as possible. This includes asking questions, extensive research, or in the case of book illustrations, reading the book cover to cover. Being highly educated on the subject gives me more options to tell a compelling story with pictures. Once I’ve created a comprehensive color sketch, I’ll email it to the client and ask for approval, making it clear that I won’t continue until I’ve received their feedback; this is the most important exchange during the illustration process. When they give me the green light, I work until the illustration feels done, then email it and ask for feedback again. Any changes at this stage should be minor.

After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design (illustration major), my first illustration jobs came from basement publishers who had little to offer but passionate visions for their pet projects; I considered this my stint in the minor leagues, which helped build my client list and my professi

Time to start writing a first page for our next first page prompt. Next week I will post the four pages that were evaluated by agent, Liza Fliessig. On Aug. 19th I will announce the next agent reading and critiquing four First Pages. You have until Aug. 22nd to send you first pages in to be considered. Please send them to Kathy (dot) Temean (at) gmail (dot) com and make sure you put “FIRST PAGE PROMPT – DARK GLASS FOREST” in the subject line. The four results will be posted on September 2nd.

I want to thank Adam Hunter Peck for giving me permission to use his fabulous illustration for our prompt.Betsy Devany’s thoughts are below the illustration. Good Luck!

It is nice to be back for Free Fall Friday! Thank you, Kathy, for filling in while I attended to family business in NC, and then spent a glorious week with the Highlights Foundation in Chautauqua, New York. If you can ever go to Chautauqua, do it! Your life will be forever changed.

When Kathy sent me the choices for this week’s post, I knew my decision right away. Hunter Peck’s illustration of a red-haired girl reminds me of my oldest daughter, but beyond that, I was intrigued by the movement of her hair, the black satchel slung over her right shoulder, and the tunnel-like entrance of the ice-blue trees.

If Mr. Peck’s illustration were a first page (minus words), you have what you need to pull the reader into the story: character, place, mystery, and intent. You have a girl on a mission, who is heading into a forest of ice-blue trees, carrying a small bag and a black satchel. And don’t forget the bluish colored bag in her right hand. What is she carrying and why? By the movement of her hair, you know it is windy, yet the trees are as still as a block of ice. A trace of light cuts through the forest roof, causing a reflection of the girl’s long legs. Alone, she wears a sleeveless dress, seemingly unprepared for harsher weather.

Study this image. Ask yourself, why is she here? Why is she alone? What are the contents of her bag and satchel? Is she looking for someone or something, or is she running away?
I want to know. Desperately. (In fact, I cannot help but write a response to this image, myself.)

Take Hunter Peck’s illustration to heart. Breathe life into the story, whatever it is meant to be. Write a first-page with power and conviction. Intrigue the reader.
For those of you interested in reading about my Chautauqua experience, I will have a post for each day I was there. The process of sorting through my notes and the pictures I took has been arduous (mostly because of the thousands of photos), so here is what I have so far.

http://betsydevany.wordpress.com/2011/07/26/always-stop-to-hear-an-angel-sing-chautauqua-day-two/
http://betsydevany.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/how-i-landed-in-oz-otherwise-known-as-chautauqua-day-one/   Happy Writing!!  Betsy

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy