Billy Bighead
Billy was the best at everything he tried,
and this made his head swell with pride.
But one day it grew so big,
he floated away…
and this made his head swell with pride.
But one day it grew so big,
he floated away…
Written by Michele Skogerboe
Bringing this story to life, imagining the "Land of the Bigheads", was such a fun experience. Most books I illustrate take part in nature. For this book I could imagine a whole futuristic world. Where everything is better than perfect. On top of that it was a joy to draw the smug expressions of Billy.
Process
Character design
For Billy Bighead I first did a test spread and basic character design. But when creating a test spread there is no communication with the author about the character. That's why, when I was chosen by Michele, we decided to give the character design more of our attention. On the right you see the previous character design. Now Billy has blue curly hair, a cap and a tummy. He feels more like the kid who thinks he's cool than the right version.
Since Billy's head grows in the story it was important in the character design to think about how this will look. How do you make a character that looks like the head is intentionally large. I did this by making the proportions different. His forehead is much bigger. Overall are his eyes, nose and mouth very small compared to his big head. When his head is small it is better in proportion.
Storyboard
The storyboard first goes through a rough phase, where all the sketches are very scribbly. This is just to find the right composition.
After that I create the final sketches and finally I create a rough coloured storyboard. In this I see how the pages blend after each other. Make sure the colours are cohesive throughout the book.
Flat colours & Final rendering
Sometimes from the rough colour I decide something is not working. For instance with this illustration there wasn't enough focus on Billy. The orange slide blended too much with the rest of the illustration. Changing it to red made it more prominent. Creating a book means always looking critically. And to not be afraid to change things, even when they were already approved.
