Why I illustrate picture books! :D

 

This is why I want to illustrate picture books,

 Rena Jones
 who wrote The Marshmallow Man sent me this wonderful picture

 that a friend of hers sent her...

 

 

 



 

 

How I breakdown a story from start to finish



     Finished Art                                Pen and Ink                                Sketch

"The Marshmallow Man"

by Rena Jones 

Well I finally decided to use some of the artwork from the picture book The Marshmallow Man.
The Marshmallow Man is a retelling of the “Gingerbread Boy/Man”. It was not an easy decision on what story to talk about.

I have been thinking about how I breakdown a story from start to finish, and what project would I use to help me show my thinking process.

I loved this story from the first read and I laughed myself silly coming up with all the wonderful new and old characters for this book.
I also have kept a lot of the sketches some bad some good but I think I can pull it altogether and give a good idea how I do it.

Wish me Luck!

How?

(image From "I Know a Story a Wonder Story" (The Wonder - Story Books copyright 1938) )

How do you retell a story that has been retold as often as this one? A search on Amazon comes up with about 379 children's book with gingerbread in it.

Well first you have Rena Jones write it.

Second do your homework. I felt a certain responsibility to what was done in the past.

Fairy Tales are one of my loves so I started looking up other versions of the Gingerbread Man to see what was done old and new.

I wanted to make sure what I did was original with a taste of the past, not copy it.

Also newer versions like the ones done by Jan Brett was an inspiration.

All this information I was gathering was great asset to making this all work. I knew the story was a chase in the woods. But the question was, "How to make it work?"

How do I make it unique?"

(answer is to come hold on to your chair)

(more to come!)

RUN RUN

"Run, run as fast as you can;"

How many times in your life have you heard those word?

According to Wikipedia The Gingerbread Boy made its first print appearance

May 1875 in St. Nicolas Magazine

before that the story appears to have been past down from one women to another;

in the introduction they say from "great, great- Grandmother told a little girl ever so many years ago"

So you must of heard it a lot, I know I have. And what makes this version different then the others? I was wondering that myself when I was given the text. Yes the Gingerbread Boy/ Man is now The Marshmallow Man, but it goes beyond that Rena Jones retelling of this children's classic is fantastic! I laugh through the first reading then the second and enjoyed ever word over and over again as I plotted out the illustrations, I was cracking up so much while working on one of the sketches tears were in my eyes.

Let me be honest The Gingerbread boy is not one of my favorites, thinking back I may of been put off by how he was eaten by the fox, even after newer versions came out when he does not get eaten it still bothered me but this story has changed my view of the original story.

(more to come stay tuned)

Also please check out Rena's website for fun activities using "The Marshmallow Man"