Monthly Archives: October 2009

Thanks for all the lovely comments, most encouraging. Here are some more of the roughs I have been working on. I am nearing the end of the first set of roughs, which might make it seem like I’ve done them really quickly.  Its actually taken ages, I only work part-time (being a mum too) and this has been such a tricky project to work on. Tons of research and its all been a bit stop-starty. But although this is the first set of roughs, I’ve reworked and reworked a lot!

We only have a small scanner so there’s bits missing off each side -but hopefully you get the gist! This is about half way through and the mermaid queen is trying to steal her jewels back, only to be surprised by the pirates! Quite pleased with my sword wielding pirates!

This is the following spread showing Sid the squid holding Lazy Bones and dangling him over the crows nest demanding the jewels. Its missing a bit in the middle of the spread so its  disappearing into the gutter.

This spread leaps a few pages and shows the pirates having won the treasure, celebrating by having a party. Its missing a bit at each side. I’ve divided the page up to show more of the action, with text boxes at the top and bottom right.  I’m particularly pleased with the Captains ‘Titanic’ moment!

I have failed hugely with my blog so far, so this is my attempt at making more of an effort!

I’ve been working on roughs for ‘Captain Bones and the Mermaid Queen’. Its been a toughie but I am beginning to at last make headway. These are the first two spreads,showing just sections of them. I’ve done more than this- but I’m still tinkering..

This is the first spread introducing Captain Bones and his motley crew on their shipwreck. The boxes at the top are where the text will go. The skeleton pirates were quite hard to characterise as a lot of character elements I would have added for a human pirate were not possible e.g earings and no ears! (but I managed to get them in anyway!)

This is a section from the following spread. It shows the pirates off to gatecrash the mermaids party, Lazy Bones asleep in a barrel and Sid the Squid hiding in the shadows. I’ve tried to show the shipwreck as a cross section (without it looking naff!)

I tend to do quite detailed roughs as I don’t want the publishers to get any surprises  when they receive the artwork. I use concentrated watercolours and so its hard to make any changes once I’ve painted it-unless its a patch, which I’d rather not do unless I have to.