Character Development for My Next Children's Picture Book

I spent some extra time on this image of the kids having a meal. They were hungry after the hard work of getting over the high wall at the border. I still have 10 pages in the storyboard that lack images. There’s more text in this book, and that means I’ll have to work on slimming down the dialog if I want to limit the book to 40 pages.

I keep seeing an ad on Youtube that the biggest handicap that writers face is interruptions. Without them, a writer’s path to glory is quick and certain. However, with those interruptions, such as walking and feeding the dogs, have a lunchtime conversation with my beloved, without a coffee break in the afternoon, and possibly a catnap, my life would be a lot less fun. I may have several interruptions during the day, but I believe that they help me to put appreciate the hours that I do have.

Here’s one of the images I worked on today. It’s destined to become page 14. In this scene, the kids are eating lunch in a vegan restaurant in Mexico City. I notice that the cranky chef is casting a carnivorous eye on his customers.