Today is the last of my 2022 wrap-up posts. I did a lot more in 2022 than I thought! This post is all about Paperdoll Review so there will be lots of links to those projects. I did a lot with Jenny in 2022 and I can't remember ALL of it, but there are a few projects I want to highlight.
At the beginning of the year, I had a really unique opportunity. Jenny asked me if I'd like to color a set of Tom Tierney's drawings. Of course!! And then I was hit with a bit of imposter syndrome. How could I ever do this?! Once I started, it was fine. I colored these in Sketchbook Pro on my Surface. It was this project where David Wolfe gave me the feedback that has stuck with me since: push the values. He was absolutely right! I went back in, punched up the lights & darks, and there we go!! Much better. The cover concept came from David, too, and I executed it. There are loads of pictures in the link above.
And then, at the other end of 2022, I colored in a set of paper dolls by Brenda Sneathen Mattox! We met at the convention which was a definite highlight for me. This one was so much fun! Again, I felt slightly intimidated. I really love Brenda's soft watercolors and I wanted this to have that feel. I don't think it does, but I'm really happy with it. One of the great advantages of digital art is the variety of colors available. I tried to use this advantage in this book while staying true to the theme and Brenda's art. The cover concept and execution are all mine here. The illustrations were colored in Procreate on my iPad Pro and the covers were "painted" in Sketchbook Pro on my Surface.
I also worked on a lot of books in 2022. Some were reproduction clean-ups. Some were new books. Marilyn Henry's Lady Georgiana and Norma Lu Meehan's Fashions of the Regency Era are two of my favorites. David Wolfe's Cut-Out Club was a real labor of love, too. I really, truly LOVE every book I work on, even the ones I haven't mentioned here.
I have also been working on books by Deanna Williams, two of which were a lot of fun to work on.
I loved putting together Eight in the Evening! I'm absolutely in love with the cover design. Sometimes, things just come together easily and beautifully. This was one of those times!
Mod Mom was a book I had picked away at for a while. I had the art cleaned up & ready to go but I got stuck on the covers and how to make it all flow. What story is this set trying to tell? Motherhood is a really big part of my life so I approached it from that perspective. The set follows a young mother throughout her pregnancy. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it could just be chronological. I wrote up a little story to go with it and that was it! Some 70s/80s inspired color blocked covers and it was good to go.
I illustrated one book of my own this year, Miss Hollie Day. This one took a long time! First, I made the initial sketch years ago. I didn't date it so I can only guess at it, somewhere between 2010 and 2015. I should go back and see if I can narrow down that range... Anyway, I turned it into a Halloween doll. It was great! So I pitched the idea of a seasonal paper doll. This was the last full set that I illustrated in Sketchbook Pro. It feels like a transition. During the whole project, I felt like I was hitting a wall, like there was more I wanted to do and couldn't quite get there. It was shortly after this that I took the leap and got an iPad Pro. THAT helped me push those boundaries...which leads me to the next project.
One of the best parts of working on David's projects is his extraordinary imagination! I would never have tackled the subject of glitter on my own. I LOVED this! It's also the first book I completed in Procreate on the iPad and I think it shows just how much I pushed through my own boundaries. David sent me the drawings, layout, and color suggestions. I rendered it all in Procreate with layout and cover designs in Photoshop. It's such a cool book, start to finish!!
Like I said earlier, that's not a comprehensive list of all of my 2022 projects. Every one was a learning experience and so much fun to work on. Each and every book is my "baby" while I'm working on it, and each one is my "favorite child". I can't express how grateful I am that Jenny and all of the artists who work with her trust me to do this. I look forward to sitting at my desk every single day!
So what's next? More books, more magazine designs, more of everything!
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