Cover page, take #1

47/365

Today I drew my first cover page based on the storyboard I completed yesterday. I got the idea that the cover should show Jimmy Jay standing jauntily next to the chimney he’s going to jump down in the course of the story. I want him to look confident and safe. I want the readers to feel that even though he’s going to do something daring and dangerous, he’s going to be okay in the end.

I first sketched in pencil and was about to ink it when I got the crazy idea that it would be faster to do digitally on my iPad. Wrong! After a few minutes of struggling to find a decent Procreate brush to mimic my ink pens, I realized that I’d been overcome by digital was somehow better and faster than old-fashioned pen and ink. I put on the brakes and ditched the iPad. I pulled out a sheet of tracing paper, inked with a Uni-ball liner, and then scanned it. Ooops! I scanned the wrong side of the paper and got a fuzzy, but appealing, scan with interesting texture and a nice blurry glow.

I’ll do take cover page take #2 tomorrow.

Got to work on the crossed legs…the line of action and the center of gravity don’t work together..