Eeeee, I’m having a very fun month for exciting packages arriving in the mail… Nina Saab just sent me copies of our book, Bookie & The Scoliosis Diagnosis, yippee! Everbest printing did a great job on the printing, it has a nice feel to it and the colours turned out very close to the original artwork. You can purchase the book here (CDN$21.95), and proceeds from the sale will be donated to the Children’s Hospitals Orthopedic Divisions. Nina also has launched a Scoliosis Diagnosis website with information on scoliosis you can check out here.

Two more down, only six more illustrations to go before “Bookie and the Scoliosis Diagnosis” is finished!

Just completed the illustration of Mr. Plastic making Bookie’s brace in Nina Saab’s “Bookie and the Scoliosis Diagnosis.” Watercolour & pencil.

Here’s a sneak peak at a couple more of the finished illustrations for Nina Saab’s “Bookie and the Scoliosis Diagnosis.” Illustrated in watercolour & pencil.

The illustrations for Nina Saab’s “Bookie & The Scoliosis Diagnosis” are coming along well… here’s peak at one of the finished interior illustrations.

© Heather Castles / Nina Saab

I tried a different approach this time that seems to be working for me : after transfering the sketches via artograph onto the illustration board, I went over each illustration darkening all the linework (with an ocre brown) so that I had very clear outlines to work within, almost like a colouring book. Then I carefully laid down the colours I wanted… making sure to not go outside of the lines like my Ma taught me when I was a kid! Normally I like to start really loosely by putting the watercolour washes down roughly first, then tighten up afterwards. But I’ve found illustration board isn’t as forgiving as watercolour paper (it stains easily,) so putting down really deliberate linework, then carefully placing the first wash of watercolour, meant I didn’t have as much pencil work to do later to make the illustration pop, saving me time.

On a personal note… I think the baby particularly likes this story, as it seems to kick around quite a bit while I’m illustrating it in the mornings! I’m 22 weeks pregnant now, and with my growing belly I’m finding I’m not able to hunch over quite as much as I did before when painting… good for my posture I guess!

Thought I’d post a sneak peak at the watercolours for the book I’m illustrating for Nina Saab on scoliosis… this is just the first couple watercolour layers, once I go over with darker colours & pencil the details will pop a lot more.

(Read on …)

Illustrations © Heather Castles, Story © Nina Saab

I’ve been having fun working with author Nina Saab on her first children’s book, “Bookie and the Scoliosis Diagnosis.” Scoliosis is when a person’s spine grows in a curvy ‘S’ shape rather than straight (you can learn more about Scoliosis on Wikipedia.) The story is a lot of fun, with great characters to illustrate. The book is going to be published in time for for the National Scoliosis Day in Ottawa, Canada this coming November 2007, so the deadline is tight, tight, tight! The sketches were approved just this week, and I’ll be starting the watercolour illustrations next week, so stay tuned! Here are a few sketches from the story…

The book opens with Bookie’s ballet teacher phoning Bookie’s Mom to tell her she thinks Bookie may have scoliosis. I love the ballet classroom setting, especially for little kids, as I always imagine the cute chaos as all the little angels attempt to do these beautifully graceful poses, all the while simply looking like a bunch of little girls pretending to be princessess in their tutus.

While Bookie’s mom is calling Dr. Healy (love her name,) Bookie and her brother listen in. I love it how kids sometimes have to peak up over tables and rails to see what’s going on.

Throughout the story, you’ll notice Bookie’s little brother, who is probably like most little brothers and wants to be included in all the action… and he’s right in the action here, whether he’s wanted or not! I love his enthusiasm for what his sister’s going through… even if he’s a little annoying at times, rummaging through doctor’s drawers… but I think he’s cute even if a little too curious!

This might be a bit oversimplistic… a big scary box for the X-Ray machine! I went and had an x-ray a few months back, and even though I’m an adult, I still found the unknown machine in front of me a little intimmidating, and couldn’t even remember what it looked like… just that it was big & scary! Which is why I didn’t try to make it exactly like a real X-ray machine… just big & mysterious and a little domineering for poor Bookie!

I love the expressions kids get when something scary but fun is about to happen… like getting told you’re going to get hit with a snowball. You tightly close your eyes and bunch up your fists and wait excitedly for it to happen! That’s the feeling I wanted to capture when Bookie was having her first X-ray done.

Heh, again Bookie’s little brother is interrupting Dr. Fixie Bones… gotta love him.

Okalie dokalie, will post some snaps of the watercolours once they’re all set up!