Wonderings - a magical children’s story of how curiosity can grow happiness.
Wonderings — a magical children’s story of how curiosity can grow happiness
About the Book
Book Title: Wonderings
Author/Publisher: Alexandra Hodgson
Ages: 4–8 years
Total Illustrations: 18 spreads, including 1 cover page.
Some spot illustrations.
Wonderings is a children’s book that explores nature, exploration, learning, and the child’s interactions with their mother.
How it all started
I first contacted the author through Instagram. He was looking for an illustrator for his book. He gave me a basic idea of the story and visual environment of the book at the beginning.
The two main characters in the story are the author himself and his son. In the story of the book, the two of them are seen walking through a natural forest in Australia. While walking, they talk about various topics, observe the surrounding nature, and try to learn and understand new things.
The setting of the story is a natural area full of wild bushes, where a variety of trees and shrubs can be seen. Gum trees of various sizes—especially eucalyptus and marie trees—are one of the main features of this environment. Many of the trees are quite tall and densely grown together. The slender trunks of the trees and the dense canopy of leaves high above give the whole environment the feel of a typical Australian forest.
Before I start the illustration, I create a character sheet.
Charector 1
Charector 2
Initial Storyboard
There was one thing I particularly liked when starting work on this book. The author himself made preliminary drawings of some of the scenes in the story. Those sketches helped me a lot in understanding the scenes in the story and creating the initial storyboard.
Based on the ideas drawn by the author himself, I worked on the composition of each scene, the position of the characters and their relationship to the environment. As a result, it was possible to create a beautiful combination between the author's imagination and my illustration style.
After completing the layout and storyboard, I create the drawings according to the storyboard and then paint them with watercolor on paper.
Why I chose this visual style
I tried to create a semi-realistic visual style for the book. Since the story is based on nature and real experiences, I tried to keep the environment and characters close to reality without making them completely cartoonish.
Especially in the case of character design, the real appearance and characteristics of the author and his son have been followed as much as possible. As a result, the characters create a personal relationship with the real people in the story and give the whole book a more personal feel.
Color palette
Since most of the story is set in a natural forest environment, I tried to keep the color palette relatively cool and natural.
At the same time, since the book is for children, I did not limit myself to only earthy or natural colors, but also used bright and vibrant colors. Through this, I tried to highlight both the natural beauty of nature and childish joy.
Medium
Each illustration is hand-drawn in watercolor on paper. Then, as needed, I used digital media to refine the characters and other elements.
This mixed media work allowed me to combine the natural texture of watercolor with the control of digital media.
I’ve shared two images of the final result here.
The feeling of holding the book in my hands
When I first held the book in my hands after it was published, it felt really different.
As an artist, when my hand-drawn work is printed in the form of a full book, it feels different. The experience of seeing my work in the hands of a real book is completely different from the illustration I see on screen.
Having my own drawings become part of a published book—this feeling is what made the Wonderings project special to me.
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The book is so cute, you did an amazing job on the illustrations <3
Thank you so much! ❤️ I’m really glad you like the book and the illustrations.