Thumbnails: the Drawing Kind!
Rough sketches help me plan out the entire book.
Lots and lots of tiny sketches
I spent this week sketching out the entire book in small rough sketches - commonly known as “thumbnails” in the industry. These small, quick drawings help me figure out the flow of the book and visualize the action taking place on each page.
Thumbnails are a quick way to get a feel for how the pacing and page turns are going to happen in the book without spending time drawing detailed sketches (that will happen later.)
Something I also had to commit to at this early stage is the size, or at least the orientation, of the finished book. I would hate to do all this work only to realize later on that the size needs to change. (To be honest, I kind of forgot this part and just started sketching, then remembered and had to redo a few pages!)
I have been a graphic designer for over 20 years. So knowing common book sizes and some potential printers I might use to print a physical book has been really helpful and saved me a bunch of research time. I’ve decided to go with an 8.5” x 11” book - but in a horizontal orientation. Sketching out all the thumbnails also helps me figure out a page count. Since I’m creating this for myself and not a traditional publisher, I didn’t have a set number of pages that I needed to fit the story into. With my rough layouts, I’ve figured out how to tell the story in 40 pages, plus the covers.
Changes are inevitable
Because I’m drawing in these small, loose sketches, I’m less invested from a time perspective and can rework ideas that aren’t really working the way I’d like. If I went straight to more detailed drawings, or even fully illustrated pages, it would be much more time consuming to fix the problem pages that I will inevitably uncover.
While sketching my thumbnails, I had several pages that had to be reworked from the “final” idea. As the whole book started to take shape some of the pages just weren’t working.
Finished thumbnails!
After all that work, I’ve got it to a place I’m happy with. While this gives me a good map for the journey, I’m sure I’ll make some changes and take some detours as I start with the more detailed sketches. Sometimes the best ideas come in the moment.
Here’s a look at my thumbnails for the whole book:
Whew! That took a bit of work, but it’s exciting to visualize the book and get a feel for some of the fun spreads I’m planning. My wife, Melissa’s, favorite is the dogs around the picnic table having a meeting on pages 13 and 14!
On to next week where I’ll start drawing up the detailed sketches based on these rough sketches. Thanks for following along!
Did you know you can support me on Substack?
I would love that! Everything I post here will be free content - from sketchy doodles to finished pages. I want to draw cute stuff and I want people to enjoy it. The best ways to support me are by leaving comments and sharing my posts with other people who you think might like to see a children’s book come to life.
But if you would like to support me financially, that would be amazing! Content-wise, I won’t have different or additional content for paid supporters. You’ll just have my heartfelt gratitude and thanks.
I'm with Melissa, that's a great spread! 😅