:: evolution of pirate girl's book cover ::

Hilary here again! Last time, I walked through the evolution of the Pirate Girl's appearance. Today I will walk through the steps in the creation of the book cover for The Pirate Girl's Treasure - An Origami Adventure.


This was the initial sketch I created for our book cover. The fonts were place holders while I figured things out. I was super excited to incorporate a hidden image across the double page spread...


This is a colour sketch where I blocked in the big shapes to see if this would work. I even threw in some texture for effect.


My editor and I agreed that the previous sketch didn't convey the "epic-ness" of the Pirate Girl's adventure, so we went with this version instead. I really wanted to use this font...



The sand colour was fighting a bit with Pirate Girl's face. To increase legibility (and allow our star to shine), I had to gray out the sandy beach.

Also after a lengthy discussion about the font choice, we went with this final design!

Close up of The Pirate Girl's Treasure - An Origami Adventure cover available here.

:: evolution of pirate girl's appearance ::

Hilary here, to share more exciting adventures in the making of "The Pirate Girl's Treasure - An Origami Adventure".

Below is one of the first notes from my editor...

"As cute as Pirate Girl might be, she’s simply too similar to Dora, and this would be the first thing reviewers comment on. I’m sure you can understand that we want to ensure nothing detracts from the merit of the story and the book overall, and just as important, that your work as a new and not-yet well-know illustrator is seen as fresh and original rather than derivative."

Well, I didn't know what derivative was, but I certainly didn't want any part of it! Back to the drawing board!



1. I started playing with different hair colours and styles. Because I had already designed a Pirate Girl logo mark, I immediately took to the double ponytails look. The stylized skull and cross bones fit perfectly with our female protagonist's new hair style! I tried different hair colours, but in the end kept the dark brown hair (to help contrast her lighter skin tone.)



2. I originally wanted keep Pirate Girl's shirt a strong bold red. This would also allow for her to really pop on the earthy blue and green backgrounds. However my editor pushed really hard for something fancier and I agreed to try a red and white striped pirate shirt.



3. After slapping on a fancy skull belt buckle and a some cute freckles - our heroine was ready for adventure! While the white stripes does get a bit muddy in some of the wide shots, I have grown to love her new look!

Success!

:: pirate pitch ::

On Tuesday August 11, 2009, Hilary and Peyton walked into the KCP offices and pitched an origami pirate picture book.

Through Peyton's story-telling and Hilary's live origami demonstration, they impressed their soon-to-be-editor. They had also presented three pieces of sample artwork illustrating what "Pirate Girl" would look like. Below is the super secret never been seen before pirate artwork!







Note - we were still debating whether to use illustration or photography for the origami models.

Stay tuned for what happens next!