A Character is Born......

So, I hear you all say....what goes into developing a character for a picture book?

You're sent the text, looks fab.

You're sent the dimensions....thanks, it's....book shaped!

Now you have to come up with the content and put some scribbles to those names and scenes.

This character is called 'Polly', from a recently published book called 'Pigeon Poo' by Little Tiger Press. A rollicking rhyming story that's all about a pigeon that poos all over a lovely town that Mrs Bucket would be proud of. Polly is one of the main characters that feels sorry for Pidge and comes up with a great idea for her new feathered friend.........but what is she going to look like?

The steps below show a few initial early sketches that I sent into LT.....

Some heads and faces worked, some didn't but after many phone calls, cups of tea (the odd slice of cake) and a few redraws we finally went along with........

...tad-ahhhhh *blows loud trumpet*...this one! We felt it had much more personality than some of the others and plenty of 'cute factor'! As you can see the artwork starts with a black line and is then gradually filled in with some funky textures and rendered to make her come alive. I particularly like her hair in this one and she looks pretty fashionable in her dazzling spotty tights and Dorothy Gale red shoes!

The final book looks like this with Polly sheltering from Pidge's splats and splots.....

.....the lesson here is, 'always leave the house with an umbrella, because you never know when a pigeon might poo on your head!' :)