March 6
1st bookmark ready. The first one shows the standard bookmark size with outline and the other will be for print.
Screenshots of KDP setup for Sammy with notes. I’ve also attached a Vimeo video for your reference at the end of these screenshots.
February 27
Final animated Sammy in two different sizes. Let me know if you need a different size.
Saturday February 13
A few bookmark designs.
Friday February 5
Sammy Animated Color
Here is a more cleaned up version of Sammy walking. There are a few minor tweaks to the color that need to be address before it’s ready for use!
Here are updated versions for your Facebook profile and cover image. If you need any other social media designed images from the book let me know.
Friday January 29
Sammy Animated Sketch
An animated .gif I recently started working on. I plan to smooth out a bit more of the animation then line and color him in Photoshop.
Monday January 25
The hardcover for Lulu with title and names.
Updated pages with changes on the back cover the missing period and ‘mmoo’ was changed to ‘mooo’.
Six coloring pages from the book. You can download 300dpi version with a link I will include in an email soon!
Friday January 9
Some new colored images with minor detail work left to do and some previous page updates! Please see the new proposed version of the bear visit at the zoo below a bit.
Bear at the Zoo change:
This page has the starting sketch of your mother taking a photo of Sammy and the Bear. Let me know what changes you would like and then I will move onto final line and color. I could make them smaller in the page as well since they do cut into the bear a bit but it can also help the eye move more quickly to the three of them keeping it as is.
Friday January 1
6 more pages done with some minor detail work left to do.
Wednesday December 23
Here are 6 pages very close to finish besides a few minor details. These will be the last I upload this week and will start again after the holidays. In these images I have also tried a slightly different font that is still casual and but not quite as bold as the other.
Friday December 17
3 full pages nearly done. Some minor polishing and they are ready to go.
Saturday December 12
Four full pages of Sammy done. Some minor polish and text moving, they will be complete.
Friday December 4
Here are pages 2,3,42 and 43 which are very close to final. The blue lines around it are there to show the book dimensions where it will be cut and spine location. I will nudge a few images around but it’s very much done.
Friday November 27
Colored pieces for pages where Sammy rides the laundry line and ready to take off with the wind to his first destination. I ended up switching his heel color(yellow) with his toe color(green) so green doesn’t interrupt his eye brows since green is a darker and the eye brows may not be as apparent. Let me know what you think and if you prefer the heel green I can change it.
Friday November 20
Page 40 put together so far.
This week’s painted images ready to be cleaned up around corners and edges.
Friday November 13
Below are some font styles I think will work well with Sammy’s book. I have highlighted in purple which ones I have used so far. Let me know which one you like. Personally I like the softer style fonts as it gives a more handwritten feel and the letter ‘a’ is different between styles.
Some painted pieces and a page with Sammy sitting on top of the slide is currently close to finishing. I’ve also added the bear image as a possible black lined coloring page. I also tried a new font for the words which is a bit softer than the previous one and you can see it on the slide page.
Friday November 6
Started inking and adding water colour to one of Sammy’s pattern pages.
Tuesday November 3
>The final line dummy for Sammy with story!
>I will be exploring font styles for the title and story next.
>There is a place holder description on the last page summarizing the book and giving an idea of what the story is about. This can be replaced once you have written your own summary for the book. I’ve also included the start of my bio at the end. Send me yours when it’s ready!
Final Line Dummy Book Assembly
If you would like to print out your own final line dummy book I’ve posted some images below with notes of what I used to put together Sammy’s final line dummy book including materials. You can download the .pdf of Sammy’s full book and print it out then sleeve each page in plastic sheet protectors then insert into a report cover.
Link to Sammy’s PDF dummy book to print: Sammy PDF
Download the PDF and print from your computer (not while it’s open through a web browser) or else it won’t print the pages large enough. Below are two screenshots for the printer settings to ensure the pages print large enough.
Link to completed dummy book video: https://youtu.be/sSUnKlwsAaw
Friday October 30
Last 16 pages in final line!
Friday October 24
10 more final line pages.
Friday October 17
Theses are some new sketches that I have been working on toward the manuscript changes. I also drew up Sammy heading into the laundry room in a laundry basket on the way to the wash. He falls off to the side as the laundry basket full of clothes is emptied into the machine. This will further strengthen and help set it up for the beginning of the story when he is in the laundry room. This will be a part of the credits/publishing info pages instead of the peach picking and other sketch that’s currently being used.
Friday October 10
Below are 10 direct final line page scans.
Friday October 2
Below are 6 scanned final line images.
Friday September 25
This week I’ve finished 3 final line pages at full book size, 8″ x 10″. I will be continuing to work on creating final lines of pages that are ready to be final lined that no longer need changes. Below are pattern images for pages 2, 3, 42, 43 and page 40.
Friday September 19
The slideshow has the new manuscript changes applied. Most pages are unchanged and the ones that have will need some additional work. I put what I could to act as place holder images until I finished spending time sketching out the new order of events in the story.
There are additional changes needed for some pictures since the wording has changed enough to not quite match what is going on in the current pictures. The park page for example, instead of having him sitting atop of the slide I will change the angle and have him sliding down a long slide to better match the story’s wording. Also the circus with the elephant taking his cotton candy, it will have more elephants since it mentions a whole band of them. I will keep you updated.
Tuesday September 15
The images below can be used along with the video to help with binding the book. I also suggest checking out the saddle stitch book-binding video I sent to you through email to help with the sewing part just in case my video isn’t thorough enough.
Sketch beside the watercolor & pen image.
Friday September 4
Updated mini thumb dummy book. I have made a number of changes to help progression of the story. Some smaller elements were added or new sketches to further anticipate where Sammy will go next. It’s getting tighter and their are only a few other areas that need to be adjusted. The Paris scene for example. I didn’t get a chance this week but I will put the picture of Sammy with the Eiffel Tower in the sketch book and change that page to him dancing somewhere in Paris in celebration, I just haven’t found the right location in Paris yet. Do you have a place in Paris in mind or do you like the Eiffel Tower location?
Would you be interested in increasing the page count to 44 pages? Mind you printing in soft cover or hard will only change the position of pattern pages and not the other pages. I show the differences below.
44 page count.
40 page count.
40 Page book will have this layout.
44 Page book will have this layout.
FATHER sketch
Here are some sketches of your father and new sketches added to the book for further story progression. Let me know what you think.
PAGE UODATES: Below are the updated pages with notes.
Some pages that have changed is the Zoo which needed a different angle of Sammy flying in since I noticed the angle was too similar to the baseball scene. The movie page I added a movie magazine rack and shows one flipped to a page on Sammy’s seat advertising a circus in town. The library page will have Sammy leaving the circus and walking by some pigeons feasting near by which will help spark the idea of flight prior to the library visit. The page of Sammy looking out the window planning to leave will show some books, brochures and maps of areas he has interest in visiting/seeing. I also have him holding a book to match the what Sammy is doing closer to the story flow.
MINI THUMB BOOK
Below are printed images of the thumbnail sketches of the book before the above changes happened which I cut together and bound them in to a mini book to help check the flow while physically flipping through. I’m preparing files for you to print at home to create a mini book to flip through as well.
Friday August 28
This week I’ve updated Sammy’s kite fly image to fit the facebook cover image, updated author sock and sketched up some more images of your father. I decided to add watercolor to the sketches and ink them to see how they will look. The first 3 with the beard were done before the new photos of your father were sent and the last image uses them.
Friday August 21
I took the author sock character and have it here in different colored styles. These fit Facebook profile image size so feel free to use any of them.
The first sock is done in watercolor, pen with pencil shading. The second sock is pen and water color. The third is digitally colored.
Here is a sketch of Sammy with your Dad enjoying the baseball game. I also worked out more of the beach scene and sketched out Sammy trying to pull down a peach from a branch.
Here is an updated version of the slideshow with the beach scene, Sammy pictured with your father in the scrapbook, the zoo scene has changed a bit with the bear and added our sock characters at the end. I feel it’s ready to move on to the next stage of development which is creating full lined versions. There is plenty of time for changes until color starts.
I’ve updated the rest of the pages and there is still plenty of time to add changes as needed.
Friday August 14
Here are a variety sketches that have been added to the story. The first image has some sketches of our sock characters and Sammy with your father…although I don’t know what your father looks like so I just drew the posing of them together. I used the image of them in the second picture with thumbs up in Sammy’s scrapbook.
Friday August 7
Work in progress of the rough sketched mini book in a slideshow ready for revisions/changes.
Individual images of the pages from the slideshow above are highlighted in red or green below to show which I’m still working out and which I feel are done layout wise and ready for the next phase which is final line art of the image.
Red Border = Still a work in progress and changes needed.
Green Border = Happy with the layout and minor changes needed.
Below are two images of the park scene back to back. The only suggested change is the word placement for this particular sentence in the story. I’m suggesting the change based on a previous email mentioning how Sammy sitting atop a slide will make a great image and I agreed. Both work well although I do feel version 2 works a bit more. This is merely a suggested idea to swap ‘monkey bars’ with ‘slide’ and it doesn’t need to be the words I’ve typed here but tried to keep it close to what you have.
Original -Version 1:
He climbed up a slide that reached to the sky,
and the monkey bars, though they were quite high!
vs
Change -Version 2
He climbed the monkey bars, though they were quite high,
and the slide that reached up to the night sky!
Friday July 31
This week I have story sketches for the last parts of the story and a color study. Starting next week I will bring all the story sketches together for the a slideshow with words and images.
Sandy’s character study and color development.
Friday July 25
Further story sketches of Sammy at the zoo, the beach and park.
For these sketches I really got into them right away and I’m also trying to work out a good angle for Sammy picking out books at the library. The images for Paris I have Sammy taking a selfie with the Eiffel tower which I’m still working out a good angle for. The last one is him skipping happily by some bakeries and cafe down the street and feel this one hit the mark.
Sketches of Sammy’s house. I was thinking a small cute house similar to houses built in the 1920-50’s.
Friday July 17
Now that Sammy’s character design is getting close I’ve started working on the color design and they are numbered to help specify each one. I’ve marked the ones that I liked the most and found other kids liked as well with a smiley face: 6, 16 and 24. I’ve also done a few more poses using those color designs.
Below are rough storyboard sketches for Sammy so far. I’ve used some of the words with the images to help figure out placement.
These three images below introduce Sammy as a daring fellow and I want to give a sense that he is willing to attempt daring acts and show his adventurous side! Here I have him zipping down a clothesline and possibly causing a mess behind him with sheets falling off their hooks. I like most of the poses but haven’t settled on one yet.
Friday July 11
Some sketches of Sammy with different expressions and design ideas for his characteristics. I have notes layed out to help decide how Sammy will look and different features he will have as he gets closer to his final. Some features I’m considering and questions about him:
- Is he a new sock or a well used sock? If he is new but not that used then I will keep him smoothed without threads showing. If he is well used then a small hole or loose threads on his heel and some stitches will tell the readers he was worn so much that he had to be patched/sewn as well. I think of the Velveteen rabbit and how worn he was visually because he was loved so much which shows some personality.
- The mouth will show teeth sometimes or none? Do you have a preference?
- Do you like his hands showing fingers or a glove shape? There are examples of each in the sketches below.
- What do you think of the direction of his character so far?
Below are idea sketches for Sammy the sock after reading the story and working through visuals.
Below are scanned pages of your story and idea sketches on the sides. This is how I start the story visuals and it gives you a quick idea of what I’m imagine for the story.
Sea 2 Sky Studio 