#nanathegreat

[davidhohnillustration]

Been considering a change? Maybe today is the day you try out that new look!

(But be sure to get a second opinion)

[davidhohnillustration]

Gave a character design talk to a local middle-school art class yesterday.

Fun to show the early drawings, inspiration photos, to final character design.

[davidhohnillustration]

Some background characters in a spread from Nana the Great Comes to Visit. I always like building the little backstories for these "extras"

[davidhohnillustration]

NANA THE GREAT GOES CAMPING now available.

To wrap up this behind-the-scenes of the book I'll end on (literally) the end pages.

There was an early idea to weave into the book an illustration-only narrative following the parents while Nana and the kids are camping. (so fun!)  —>

But after making a dummy of that version it was decided that the story got too fractured and tricky to follow —>

But the great part about picture books is that no good idea has to be abandoned completely —>

So all those vignettes got repurposed as snapshots of the parent's "vacation" on the end-page at the back of the book —>

I love how this gave me an opportunity to visually develop the characters and relationship of the mom and dad —>

And it even suggested a new (and fun) idea for the opening end-page. There are even more clues and trivia to be found at the start of the book!

[davidhohnillustration]

NANA THE GREAT GOES CAMPING now available.

As mentioned yesterday, this image created an illustration-only sub-plot that involved little brother and his glowing new friends —>

They became his night-light that evening —> He decided that they MUST come home with him —> Upon arrival Mom was now faced with the prospect of what to do with the fireflies —>

And landed on convincing her boy that they would be better off out of the jar (and out of the house)

[davidhohnillustration]

NANA THE GREAT GOES CAMPING now available.

This potluck-with-fellow-campers scene provided an unexpected twist to the visual narrative as the book developed. —>

Initially, I just sketched a bunch of people eating around a campfire. But someone on the book's team saw the sketch and suggested including some fireflies -- which fired my imagination for this image! —>

While the text stayed on the potluck, the image shifted focus to be more about the kids and the ethereal, beautiful insects that are fireflies —>

And then created another fun sup-plot to follow involving little brother. (More on that in tomorrow's post)

[davidhohnillustration]

NANA THE GREAT GOES CAMPING now available.

Little Brother is maybe my favorite character in this series. He’s always there but as the narrator is the girl her brother is rarely mentioned, so as the illustrator I get to tell whatever story I want with him —>

In this afternoon-on-the-river image, I was channeling the classic movie A CHRISTMAS STORY. No way is that little guy going to do anything but float!

[davidhohnillustration]

NANA THE GREAT GOES CAMPING now available.

In the last book NANA THE GREAT COMES TO VISIT it was established that the kids would regularly borrow Nana’s fashion accessories. —>

In this book I had that happen right at the start with little brother donning Nana’s hat before they had even pulled away from the curb.