HOW I MAKE A BOOK

Here are some of the stages from Mr. Cookie Baker:

research...sketch with pencil....paint in color...

I have always loved baking cookies. I remember making them when I was little with my mother. Many years later when I first lived in New York I worked in a bakery during the holidays. The idea for this book came from my memories and experiences. Mr. Cookie Baker is about a busy day in the life of a baker, He makes cookies, step by step... He sells them in his shop to the neighborhood children...He finally eats a cookie himself before he goes to bed.

I go through many stages when I work on a book. I do research and collect reference pictures and source material. I develop the idea first with little thumb-nail sketches, and then I draw bigger more detailed sketches. I put them together into what is called a dummy: a first book in black and white. Then I plan out my colors and the overall look for the book. I show my work to my editor and we go back and forth, making changes and adjustments. Painting the final pictures in color is the fun part but it is the last step of a long process that usually takes me anywhere from 6 months to 2 years, depending on the book.