last week, after 13 months, 3 cities, 2 continents & a severely worn out back, i finally finished painting a christmas hidden picture book. this one took so long to get done.on the final month, i swore not to shave until it was completed. i take pride in not missing a deadline. i've always wanted to be that illustrator who got things done on time. well, in this one, we were months behind. the first time i ever missed a deadline. i think.
sketches were revised, schedules changed, babies born (congrats to my art director) & not to mention me practically going cross-eyed trying to keep tabs with the ever growing characters i tried to hide each page.
the book is based on the 12 days of christmas & was designed as a hidden picture book. i was excited to do a hidden picture book & a holiday theme at that.
all i had to do was illustrate & place every character mentioned on the song. by the time i got to 8 maids-a-milking, things got really confusing. by 10 lords-a-leaping, i was the one who wanted to do some leaping.
it wasn't the hardest book to paint, but the number of characters i had to "hide" was tough to do. i was also running out of space for the characters as well as maintaining extra space for the ever growing text.
i regularly worked till dawn, on christmas day, new years day & right after watching that nba game on our anniversary.
well, it's done now. i'm glad, refreshed & clean-shaven.
the book should be out by, well, the christmas season (not sure what year - no date released yet).
