Silas Watts, The Highly Electric Lightning Bug, is the tale of Silas, a little bug who uses his unusually bright green glow to rescue his mother when she is kidnapped by an evil bat. This first illustration created was actually from the end of the story, but we wanted to start there and post on Facebook to see what fans thought.
Author, Brenda, sent me this fun image of a real bug that looks like it’s wearing a pilot helmet and goggles. She asked if we could base our main guy on this.
Here’s our storyboard… I think these pencil sketches are always my favorite part.
One challenge of this project was to get a glowing neon green that would print successfully, and I credit my dear friend Rebecca who helped me do that.
Gabby Batts, ExtraOrdinary Hero is a story that got its start in the classroom as a lesson to prepare students for handling conflict. It focuses on cause and effect, and how to turn the situation around. Author, Tiffany, imagined her main character with wild hair and freckles. She wanted other characters to look like real-life counterparts. I had such fun bringing her ideas to life.
