Wake Up, Big Barn!
The illustrations in Wake Up Big Barn are torn paper collage. My background is in painting so I worked with the collage papers like paint. I started by drawing the illustrations. Then, combing through old, outdoor clothing catalogues, I found colors and textures in magazine photographs to match the colors and textures I needed for the illustrations using the paper like “paint”. With the torn “pieces of paint”, I assembled the collage illustrations according to my drawings. I that way, an ocean shore become the donkey’s fur; a shirt pocket becomes the barn roof.
The idea for the Wake Up Big Barn came from the animals and landscape that surrounded me growing up. I thought of the illustrations for Wake Up Big Barn first then built the text around my illustrations.
Boom Chicka Rock
For Boom Chicka Rock, I illustrated someone else’s text. Just illustrating a book is a very different process from writing and illustrating. Once I read the text, I began to visualize the images to fit the text, the setting and what the characters looked like. The illustrations are done in torn paper collage. I began by drawing my ideas for the illustrations. Then growing through old, outdoor clothing magazines, I tore from the magazine pages the colors, shapes, and textures to fit the drawings. Finally, I reassembled the torn pieces in the drawings, putting together the illustrations like a puzzle, using the papers to “paint” the collage into the finished illustrations.
Carefully looking at the illustrations you can find remnants of the original images clouds become the fur of the cat’s belly, broad green leaves the cat’s eyes.