Platypus Police Squad: The Ostrich Conspiracy

1) Sketch on iPad: I create my sketches digitally on my iPad because I travel quite a bit. If I’m on book tour and need to send sketches to my publisher, I can do so from anywhere—even a Wi-Fi-equipped airplane!

2) Finished Physical Art: After the sketches are approved, I move on to creating the final artwork. To do so, I use a special shade of pencil called Non-photo Blue, brushes, India ink and Bristol Board. I keep my sketches loose, focusing on the major shapes of the characters, then dip my brush into ink to create the final line work. Drawing with a brush will create a dynamic line—as I apply pressure, the line work will go from thin to thick. When I scan in the artwork and set the computer to scan at black and white, the computer won’t recognize the pencil marks from the Non-photo Blue pencil, just the finished black linework.

3) Photoshop Screen: The physical artwork is then scanned in to my computer and everything gets shaded in Photoshop. I modulate the lighting in separate layers. I also shade the characters on a separate layer from the background, just in case I need to digitally edit the characters to be elsewhere on the page. 4) Finished Book: Finally, the illustrations will be placed alongside my words in the finished book!