Publishing My Children’s Book in Six Months: Illustrations

(To  listen to the audio of this blog post, use the purple play button.)

Illustrations

Copyright 2023 © by Jim Potter

To see a larger image of K-9 Kudzu, open the pdf link by clicking Kudzu Final Ball

As with any major project, the original plan and the finished work can vastly differ. Things evolve. I planned a primer picture book titled B is for Badge: The ABCs of Law Enforcement. Instead, I’m eagerly awaiting the publishing of an illustrated, upper grade-school book, K-9 Kudzu: Observations of a Working Dog Who Loves to Play.

The 6” by 9” perfect-bound book will consist of twenty-six chapters and be over 100 pages. Teachers can use it as a “Read Aloud” book.

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To see a larger image of K-9 Kudzu’s trade marked branding, open the pdf link by clicking Kudzu-Final-Logo-1

Today, I’m sharing a creative, eye-catching, trade-marked illustration by Gina Laiso, Integrita Productions. We’ll use it in product branding and marketing. Notice, it’s not the book cover.

Before this image could be created, we had to decide on what K-9 Kudzu, a German shepherd, would look like. Kudzu began as a stationary, stoic image, but became a playful, fun-loving canine, who loves his blue ball. Gina took Kudzu’s figure, his toy, and the motto, and then combined them by placing “K-9” inside a sheriff’s star, while using the blue color scheme to help brand the entire production with a unique identity.

Who knows? The large letters spelling “K-9 KUDZU” may foretell a coloring book superhero who shows up on coffee mugs, coffee-tables, T-shirts, posters, and more.

After sending Gina my “final” draft of K-9 Kudzu, she created a storyboard and blocked out the book. This helped her make decisions about what illustrations to create, their sizes, and placement in the story. If an illustration is printed 2” by 2”, then there’s no need to have a great deal of detail in its original format. When it’s used on the book cover or a poster, that’s another story.

Click to open the link to Integrita Productions on Facebook http://facebook.com/IntegritaProductions

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Like I’ve said before, book publishing is not for the weak-hearted. I still marvel how patient I can be in my writing, yet, how impatient I can become in areas outside my control. It’s good practice for me to wait and to understand the difference.

It’s also easy for me to get ahead of myself. I can see the finished book in my hands, the delightful color illustrations brightening every page, posters displayed at bookstores and on social media platforms, all with K-9 Kudzu’s playful picture advertising his book about law enforcement.

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I have a friend, a former grade school librarian, who read a draft of K-9 Kudzu. She said she really enjoyed it and appreciated the right amount of humor from Kudzu, the book’s narrator. This educator has agreed to write a “blurb” (endorsement) for the back cover.

I have all kinds of plans, but I’m still searching for some organizations to help me publish K-9 Kudzu. Printing won’t be cheap. In printing, the two major factors that increase the cost are the number of pages and printing in color. When you add the illustrator’s fee, I expect the cost to easily triple the expense of my prior books.

It would be cheaper for me to draw my own illustrations, but my stick people all look alike, and the canines resemble insects.

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Until next time, happy writing,

 

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