No pain, no gain

Last night, I met with Darren to complete the final layout of The Littlest Knight.  We made sure the page sizes were correct, and that the images and text were just where (and how) we wanted them to be.  As we standardized the font size throughout the book, we were able to uncover a bit more of his amazing drawings.

Since this is our first time doing anything like this - and neither one of us is knowledgeable in the production of children's books - we have the freedom to just make it look the best we can make it.  Both of us have an eye for balance, and I'm hoping this will serve us well in the end.  Are there rules to how many words should be on a page of a picture book?  Are there rules about putting just a few words here but more somewhere else?  And what about the actual placement of the text?  The software that Darren uses may not be the best for laying out a book, but it certainly can do a nice job when in the hands of someone who knows what he's doing.

So, maybe with one more look at the pages to ensure we didn't miss anything (or misplace any commas), we'll be set to send the book to the printer and get a proof.  It's been a year since we undertook this project together, and it has paid off that we were organized right from the start.  We're both looking forward to the day when we can proudly show off the finished product.

As for the "pain" in the title of this blog post, there really hasn't been any, and that's been a blessing.  The pain is quite literally in my back (and has been since Tuesday), and it was hard to drag myself out of the house to take care of these final details with Darren, but it was definitely worth it.

Something's coming, something good!

Since I just started this blog, I haven't written much about the process of putting together The Littlest Knight.  As of today, Darren and I are so close to finalizing the look of the book and heading to a printer that it's hard to contain our excitement.  I can see the end result in sight, and I am so looking forward to being able to share the final product with our friends and family.

Rather than show you the cover design (which you can see over at Darren's blog - it's definitely worth a visit), I wanted to post one of the original concept sketches from the book.  Darren and I got together last January to discuss what kind of images I was looking for.  I had a drawing of a knight that I had done, and I mentioned to him that I really like characters with big heads and little bodies.  I also had really bad sketches of some of the pages I wanted, but he knew instinctively what I was looking for and churned out amazing drawings right from day one.

When I ask my son who this is, he answers, "Me!"