The artwork behind the Children’s book ‘Which Feeling’
Illustrated by my eight-year-old son who shares a passion for storytelling with his mom.
Authoring Experience
The artwork behind the Children’s book ‘Which Feeling’
I published a version of the story that would transform into a picture book on Medium in June 2020. At the time, I had two hours between my mom and work duties to look for a publisher interested in children’s books and email a quickly drafted letter requesting they consider the book for publishing. I also asked several art-inclined friends if they would like to illustrate the book.
I had no clue what I was doing. I think they knew it too.
I failed.
The book sat on my hard drive for three years while I forgot about it.
Then life happened to steer my course.
First, my best friend’s mother passed away. Her health had deteriorated over a decade with dementia. I attended her funeral. At the post-funeral feast, I sat beside my friend’s mother-in-law, Beth. Our conversation led to how a lady from her book club had successfully published a series of books through Amazon.
The product manager in me poked my author persona awake. My eyes opened.
Several days later, while publishing my dusty novel, I found my long-forgotten interaction with my son.
I called Rohan from where he was playing video games. He read the book and got excited.
Rohan Corlosquet with his creative sense of humor, grins and insists he illustrates the book. Within an hour I had a set of pencil and paper drawings.
My heart pounded. I wondered how I would explain to him that the pencil and paper drawings were insufficient for digital printing.
That night, I researched and downloaded an inexpensive application for my phone. Ibis Paint X (Android | iOS). Snapping a photo of one of his drawings, I created a wireframe and filled the blanks with color (my draft below). It took me HOURs.
This would not do.
The next day, Rohan got back from school. We evaluated the points he had earned for doing chores. He had been asking me for a second Switch console for weeks. Boy had wracked up 290 points (One point for emptying the dishwasher, 5 points for reading a chapter book).
We made a deal. Making a deal with an eight-year-old is tough. He’s a smart cookie, takes after the mother.
I showed him the picture I had painstakingly created. He was delighted. But he had a steady stream of criticism. For one, I had failed to color the door to the school. It had to be brown. I had missed the windows too.
More than a little proud of my creative boy’s attention to detail, I made the offer. I will buy him an iPad and commission artwork for the book. I would pay him in points, which had to cover the cost of the Gen 10 iPad and taxes. (It came out to just under CAD $800 with apple care, I included a digital pen and the iPad case sourced from Amazon for free.)
I need to get on top of his points earning — to date he’s earned again 310 points. This after finishing paying off his negative balance in artwork!
His version of the cover:
Now I have since researched how much illustrators cost. Depending on experience, it’s a lot. I have so much respect for designers and illustrators — but as a mom, showcasing her son’s mind for storytelling is priceless.
The mom senses are so tingly and proud.
Double win: I encouraged my son to star in his side gig with me. He has a positive consequence encouraging him in his creative drive. He recently penned a short story for a local writing competition.
During the development process, I had to give him constructive criticism of his art. A few pieces ended up being cut and several he had to touch up.
I still had to figure out the right size and format to fit the pictures to create the bleed-through PDF accepted by Kindle for publishing. I hope that both he and I learn on this journey together. However, I will shelter him from the grief of my learning curve.
The book is now available on Amazon and I am exploring the conduits of self-promotion.
Based on a conversation between 4-year-old Rohan and his Mom while walking home from school.
Kids ask challenging questions as they navigate language and learn to express themselves. This picture book for young children touches on what it means to have feelings. The book features charming illustrations of how Rohan envisioned the walk four years later.
First published on AhasaeTharu. Moved to The Erudite Bookworm March 18, 2024.
