One, Two, Buckle my shoe (Sketch)

I just got a small commission to illustrate the children's rhyme, "One, two, buckle my shoe" which will be included in a Children's book collection.

It's a two page spread and the art director provided very specific art guidelines with regard to it being on a farm, the gender, race and age of the characters and their specific activity, the animals and their placement, the inclusion of the large Oak tree, the barn door being slightly closed, etc...Part of the challenge is to make it all work compositionally within the publishers guideline limitations; consideration of the gutter (The place where both pages meet in the middle. It's important not to put crucial information in this area), leaving room for the placement of the "Title" and a block of space for the rhyme itself.

This requires planning the drawing ahead with lots of thumbnail sketches and pre-planning the color scheme.

I completed 90% of the drawing last night and left the rest to look at with a fresh eye this morning. This turned out to be a good idea, when I turned on my Mac and opened the file it was like looking in the morning mirror, (insert the music from psycho). I adjusted the necessary changes and I'm going to shoot it over to the publisher for approval. Check back for publishers comments and eventually the color finish.