Drawing the Pictures

Step 1: Ink

All the pictures in Bean Thirteen began as big paintings. I used large sheets of newsprint paper, a thick brush, and black India ink.

I drew the pictures big because I wanted them to look loose and full of energy.

 

Step 2: Into the computer

I painted each picture several times, then picked the best one.

If the picture was small enough, I put it on my scanner. If it was big, I took a digital picture of it.

 

Step 3: Photoshop

Using Adobe Photoshop, I cleaned up each picture. I erased any mistakes and smoothed out all the lines.

Step 4: Illustrator

The last step was to bring all the drawings into Adobe Illustrator. There, I added color and arranged everything on the page.

(If you want to see how I did it step-by-step, click on the picture below.)

Each drawing took about a week. When they were all finished, I sent the files down to the publisher to be assembled into the final book.