35. Back to Picture Books! 🪼

We Are Jellyfish: Picture Book Process

This is the 35th update on my book-making process for my next book, We Are Jellyfish—a picture book about those weird, blubbery creatures of the deep.

---

Ok, ok, ok, I know it’s been a while since I’ve worked on my in-progress book, We Are Jellyfish. In the months since my last book update, I had summer vacation with Butterbean, I went through (am going through?) IVF, and just took some time off the book.

But now that Butterbean’s back in school and I have less doctor’s appointments, I’m back to working on my book! Woohoo!

Also, I’m aware that in my last book update, I said I was going to completely revamp the art style and medium of this book after two years of work.

Well, let me just say this: that was dumb.

Sometimes, a completely new direction is what you need, but sometimes you just need a break. This book has been hard to make (for many reasons) but the challenge has been enjoyable. I didn’t want it to be the same as my other books—I wanted it to be different—like jellyfish are different.

One of the biggest hurdles has been drawing/painting the transparency of jellyfish. And in that last update where I announced I was now going to use Posca paint pens… I think I was taking a bit of a cop-out. Because I was tired and frustrated.

That Posca spread experiment turned out cool, and I do really like it as a piece of art. But it doesn’t portray the transparency of jellyfish. And that is one of the most important and odd things about them!

But no more! I’ve had an entire summer to recharge and forget about the book, and I’m not ready to give up on the coolest, weirdest, most ethereal aspect of jellyfish—that they’re translucent, see-through, blubbery blubbers!

So anyways, I sat down this week to redo that last spread in my original watercolor pencil/inverted technique I developed for this book. And here’s what I made!

I like it! It still needs some fine-tuning and detail work (for example, I want to digitally paint in some white highlights and make the water ripples/reflections fade more into the background), but it’s a good base to jump off for this spread!

As a refresher—for you and me both!—here’s where I’m at with the storyboard:

I’m aiming to paint one spread a week for the next little while, and then I’ll need to go back through each painted spread to do a lot of detail work, editing, and making sure everything’s consistent. I hope to have the book done in time for the holidays… we’ll see!

The Creative Process Behind Spread 4-5

And now, as a bonus for my paid subscribers, read on to see the full process of making this spread from pencil sketch, to watercolor pencil coloring, to water activation, to painting details, to inverting, to digital design and editing!

Let’s dive in!