Penguin Young Readers has just released the first two books in the Doodles of Sam Dibble series (Judy Press, author), and I thought it would be fun to show you a bit of the process with a little explanation of how Sam Dibble comes to life when I draw. Shown below is the second book, Double Trouble, and following are spread pages from that title.
A view of the initial layout, where I go in and actually doodle right on top of the page with pencil. You can see art notes from the art director that I’ve ghosted back a bit, to keep from interfering with what I like to call the “Stream of Consciousness.”
Then, I flip the page over, throw it on the light table (so that I can see my sketches), and begin the process of inking. This is usually where I do my left-handed work, to make it appear that someone much younger (Sam, in fact) is actually doing the drawing.
After that, I scan the art in black & white, use Photoshop to re-flip the image (so that it now reads correctly), and send it to the art director, who drops it back into the layout where it fits most nicely. Shown here is an actual printed page from that book.
