Here, there be treasure!

‘Treasure Island’, digital.
Created for the Children’s Book-of-the-Month Club Classics Collection edition.

The concept of a jolly roger as a reflection came to me immediately as I was listening to the creative suggestions being given by the editor of the Children’s Book-of-the-Month Club. As I do in most meetings, I began sketching. At this point the idea of doing the illustration myself was not even a thought. I wanted to develop the idea further and I quickly created a concept sketch in Photoshop that I would use to receive approval as well as a visual guide of the idea to provide to the illustrator that would be hired. My colleagues gave me some very encouraging feedback and even suggested that I tackle the illustration myself.

The concept sketch received an approval from the editor and I decided to illustrate. I intended to paint it traditionally since I had more than enough time. In the end, it was painted digitally in Photoshop. I had spent many lunch hours at my desk unable to go out due to how rough the winter had been. One of those lunch hours was spent playing in Photoshop on what I thought was to be a color study for the painting. in the end, I had invested enough time digitally that it made more sense to just continue on that path.

Near the end of the process, I solicited the advise of some illustrator friends. I got some fantastic direction from Claire Keane, Scott Altmann and Donato Giancola.