Hand dragon

Inktail & Friends

I have alluded to it, but now I’m going to get into details. I am working on a coloring book.

No, not coloring it myself (although I need to do that for the cover I think) but creating one for other people to color in. I’ve been asked many times over the last couple of years if I will use my art to create a children’s book, and I thought it was a good idea, but…

Dragon
The fun thing is, people can name them, and make up their own stories.

But the story wasn’t coming. Then, a few months ago, I drew a little dragon for a friend. A tiny, cute dragon. I started working on dragon anatomy and sketching and painting dragons and it got rather intense for a while with my focus on dragons (if you noticed). I was asked if I would be making a coloring book, and the lightbulb went off.

That, I can do. My minimalist lineart style is well-suited to becoming a guideline for those who want to bring the little dragons, flowers, and various bugs to life. It’s a very popular pasttime right now, coloring books for adults, and it’s a project that won’t take as much of my time as writing a novel.

Hand dragon
This sketch came into being mostly to give scale to the denizens of this book. I used my own hand as a model – the dragon is purely imaginary, I’m afraid!

And that’s how Inktail & Friends was born. I’m still sketching dragons, but now I am inking and scanning them, preparing to put them on paper and release them into the wild. I’m not sure what the final page count will be – some of that depends if I include not-dragons in the book, like the bunnies I did a while back. Each page will have a little caption, and I may – not sure yet – include a little tutorial in the back on how I draw dragons.

If you’d like to suggest something to add, whether an idea for a dragon posing with your favorite flower, or telling me that tutorial is a bad idea (it probably is), whether I ought to add bunnies, or.. something, please chime in in the comments. I’m breaking new ground, any help is appreciated!

Inktail dragon
Inktail himself! A preliminary pencil sketch, you can see the underlying marks I was using to keep the bones and perspectives straight.

Comments

5 responses to “Inktail & Friends”

  1. Reality Observer Avatar
    Reality Observer

    If my vote counts – do not skip the tutorial (at least some, please).

    Is it reasonable of me to hope it will be available by early May? At least three copies will come here – two for the artistic-type daughter birthdays, and one for me to carefully seal away for myself…

    1. Your vote counts 😀 And I plan to have this out in January, February at latest. Unless things go very wrong.

      1. Reality Observer Avatar
        Reality Observer

        Apparently, just “Yay!” was too short for WP…

        1. Yes, it’s the theme I use for WordPress. You can’t c4c on my blog, either. I should change the theme but I’ve put it rather far down the priority list.

          1. Reality Observer Avatar
            Reality Observer

            De nada. It would probably just confuse me, anyway.

            Besides – it would attract those fanatic cryptics over from Sarah’s place. I still haven’t figured out some of those…