Good Textless Dummy Book Tells Story : Check Dummy!

Author Matt Zurbo, Editor Helen Chamberlin and Mentor Ann James say, "We love the submitted illustrations!" Very good feedback makes me so happy. Our team is working on layout and book designing. Soon, I'll check "binded" images called, "proofs" from Windy Hollow publisher. Very exciting. What sort of book will come up? Illustration must tell a story and be narrative. Btw, here's a simple test to check if your organised images are successful or not as a real picture book. Show others a wordless dummy book and ask them to create a story. If a dummy is successful, others can tell your expected story. If not, examine where readers cannot get a message. That's a fun experiment.

I asked a family to have a look of my textless dummy and to make up a story (Gulp. Huge pressure! Phtew, heart attack!?). Our target aged girl "carefully" looked at the small book and correctly told the story. Her understanding was quite close to the real text! It was interesting to observe the family, although a mother and an older sibling did not care for the tiny dummy seriously. My mentor and I celebrated our achievement. She says, "The resulting book will be a strong melding of text and visual narrative and marks the beginning of Sadami’s career as a picture book illustrator - your long-held dream." The submitted illustration tells a story well. It means that the art work does not need big changes. "Moon" has a short text like a poem that consists of very selected words. I greatly thank for Matt's beautiful writing. The very evocative text has stimulated my imagination. Now, I enjoy this experiment and check people's responses. I love young children's imagination and admire it. 

In a picture book, if illustration works properly, kids effortlessly get a plot even only by pictures without a word. Images weigh heavily "picture" books. I've been looking at my dummies from time to time. What's a dummy? It's a small and mock-up book made by an illustrator to check information flow, composition, balance and so ons. I've already made several dummies at each stage of the project --- in black & white and colour. Once, I wrote about it, "New Storyboard & Creating Dummy Books!" Although an illustrator decides the position of a text in a real book size dummy, I love a textless tiny dummy. It sits on my palm. Can you see it in the photo? This is the real size.

Behind my hand, what you see there, are all dummies and story boards, my babies. What size/sort of dummy do you like? I love a replica. My favorite is just a palm size like. These dummies have so much intrigued Marrickville Council staff. You can enjoy them at my solo exhibition in Chrissie Cotter Gallery (map) from 20th Oct to 2nd Nov 2015. Big names are guests. Mentor Ann, Editor Helen, Libby Gleeson AM (our book launcher) and other top notches are coming. Yes, you can see super stars, too!   

Do you like wordless picture books? I love them all. To some extent, a wordless picture book is a very subtle genre in children picture books. Mentor Ann James has often brought me good wordless picture books from all over the world. I've been closely studying about them for these years. A wordless picture book fascinates me most, because technically, it's the most required and refined. An illustrator's drawing skills are really stunning. Often I come across very wise and remarkable wordless picture books. For example, Anno Mitsumasa is my favorite wordless picture book illustrator. His very sensitive, beautiful, humorous and witty pictures capture readers from young and old. Also, a very well organised story never bores readers, shows a drama and leads to an end. Anyone can understand wordless picture books. It can also become very powerful to send a universal message. Picture books are certainly brilliant and sophisticated literature.  

I hope our Moon publishing team will smoothly move onto a next stage along a schedule, publication is set in August. Already I've been working on roughs for a "new project" under the supervision of Ann. I'll enjoy ( or "suffer"?!) illustration! Yes, we, picture book industry people are perfectionists to create quality picture books for children and any readers. A big name said to me, "You'll suffer and suffer (in illustration)! After that, you think you will never do it again. And... you will be addicted to it!" Ahahahaha, true, so true. Nothing different from delivering a baby. That's our joy. I really appreciate our team, experienced illustrators and famous authors great and warm support. Moon is nearly ready. 
Wow, really amazing. Step by step, our picture book is being created...! Thank you for encouragements for nearly 3 years to come to this stage. How lovely to finally see my work all the way through a book! When a publishing date comes up, I'll certainly inform you. 

Friends, Happy Painting! 
*The first image is a colour rough that explored techniques as well as composition. These are the study of a whale. "Moon" shows the beauty of nature, too. Many black and white and colour roughs were developed to create final images. 

Good Textless Dummy Book Tells Story : Check Dummy!