This Way, That Way written by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Renata Liwska is officially released tomorrow (June 30, 2015) Yeah!
From School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2—Boom the bear cub, Twitty the robin; and Snot the snail are back for another adventure as they decide on the perfect spot to spend the day. Boom thinks the perfect spot is "this way" to the beach, where he can jump and splash, while Twitty wants to go "that way" to the mountains to hike and look. Snot brought the snack but keeps quiet as the friends disagree over which way to go. They soon discover that Snot is gone, and a trail of blueberries leads Boom and Twitty to a place they can all enjoy. Liwska's fine pencil illustrations in a subdued color palette are soft, charming, and expressive. VERDICT Readers will enjoy this journey to find the perfect spot.—Sarah Polace, Cuyahoga Public Library System, OH
Here is a little bit more sketch process for the book. I thought this was interesting in how the composition was subtly rearranged as it progressed.
Renata's first sketch is very simple, for a reason, she wants to keep her options open so as the drawing progresses she can have lots of room for spontaneous inspiration. The main purpose of the initial sketch is to communicate to her editor what she wants to draw. And another reason the drawing is kept simple is that the editors don't always agree with what the artist wants to draw, so it's not a good idea to get too emotionally invested in a sketch. (Renata does anyway!)
Every artist is different in how they approach finished artwork. Some do a lot of preliminary sketches to clearly establish the composition, tracing and retracing until everything is worked out. Renata will have none of that, she puts her pencil down in one spot and starts drawing! She's at her best when she is the least prepared, it's a type of intuitive drawing that she excels at. (and not something I recommend for more mortal folk like myself!)
Her ability to create as she goes doesn't mean that everything that she puts on paper is magically perfect, well mostly it is, but occasionally parts of the drawing don't work out or she comes up with a better idea. And that's where the computer comes in.
As you can see above Renata decided to redraw Boom so that that he interacts more with the other characters, and thereby he becomes the center of focus, expresses more personality and character, and ultimately provides more nuanced storytelling. Instead of redrawing the entire drawing, Renata draws a new version of Boom swimming and photoshops it into the original drawing.
When Renata first started illustrating she did oil painting for finished art. But one of her art directors was so enamored with her pencil drawing that he asked her if she could just color the drawing digitally. Renata wasn't that digital at the time so I showed her a comic book style of coloring using multiply in photoshop. Since then she's become such a digital master I can't even understand how she does it anymore – the best descriptor I can think of is that she does a mushy photoshopy style of coloring. But the one insider tip I can offer is that she doesn't paint the characters, she draws them with color. This is a misconception I see with a lot of beginner digital artists. They will spend years learning to draw with a pencil but when it comes to colouring they will try to paint, throwing out all that experience with drawing.
One final note, you might have noticed that she reversed the final art in the end. Ever try that with one of your drawings? Not me, everything looks wonky when I reverse my drawings! But not Renata's...
