I’ve been working on my children’s book sketches. Every few days I try to get one sketch done. But at lucky number 7, I hit a roadblock: the original layout felt boring, so I tried again. And again. And again. Finally, I had to let it sit before I could get back to it. And finally, after around 6 layout attempts, I got somewhere. officially passed over the halfway mark!

For those who are interested, here’s a quick look into the mind of an artist: Compare the first and the last layout. Both are scribbles, the first one is slightly more defined. But when I look at them, I would choose the latter layout any day. Why? Several reasons: The “camera” angle on the first one is straight and center on the scene, which makes for a boring setup. The objects don’t feel like they belong together, they are more like a list of random things stacked next to each other. Also, the shot looks too “calm”. The story tells us of the aftermath of a wacky tornado, yet the image looks like a nature documentary. And, there was not much room for text, unless you wanted to crowd it somewhere into the sky.
By contrast, the last layout has asymmetry, and the horizon line is slanted. This makes it look like the camera was just shaken up by a storm. The setup lends itself to more depth, which makes the objects and characters look like they belong together in one scene. And, finally, I left the front left ground open for text.