In September I had the great pleasure of creating a cover for Sarah Allen’s beautiful, complex sophomore novel, BREATHING UNDERWATER. Whilst happily working away, surrounded by reference material and thumbnails, it struck me that a blog post on exactly how I go about finding and reflecting the heart of a novel, might be of interest, even if some of the process is a little mysterious to me. Nonetheless, I figured it was worth a shot, so this is that post.
BREATHING UNDERWATER is a book about two sisters on a road trip. Olivia, a budding photographer, hopes to find the treasure that she and her older sister, Ruth, buried in summers past, before the illness when things were good. But now, worried her sister is sinking deeper into depression, she creates a plan to help Ruth remember how life used to be: a makeshift scavenger hunt as they cross the country, taking pictures, and making memories along the way.
It’s an emotional story that bravely deals with a dark, complex issue, uncomfortably relevant to today’s Middle-Grade readers. The tone is delicately balanced - beautiful and gently hopeful, without side-stepping truth.
So here’s my process. I’m not sure how other illustrators do it, but this is what works for me.
On my second read of the manuscript, I look for and underline all the moments that grabbed my attention. It could be the lyrical descriptions of the setting, or quirky personality traits paired with clever dialogue that makes the characters crackle with life. Maybe it was where I was so swept up in the emotion of the scene, that I’d completely forgotten I was reading at all.
I note it all down. Then I compare my notes against the publishers, think about where the book will sit in a bookstore, or as a tiny thumbnail online, and formulate a point of view. It’s not an exact science, it’s more of a gut feel kinda thing. Then, because I’m a visual thinker, I like to create a mood board. I make at least one for every project so I can soak in colour and atmosphere.
Sarah’s stories are a joy to work with, they’re so rich in character, emotion, and delightful details that ideas just seem to flow. This book had wonderful material to play with – travel photography, pirates, diving, shipwrecks, a road trip, New Orleans, beignets, jazz, a huge storm, an aquarium, treasure – I was spoilt for choice.
I enjoyed the rich subject matter so much on this one, that I handed the client more thumbnails than usual. I probably could’ve culled these a little as some are quite similar, but luckily the client seemed to like having a few to look at.
After the client has chosen a direction from the thumbnails, I move through 3 distinct stages of development – First, a full-size tidy sketch, then creating linework of all the elements and scanning them, and lastly collating and colouring in Photoshop.
Breathing Underwater is the perfect metaphor for how it feels to read this book, it’s a completely immersive experience. It’s a journey of heart and mind, but mostly of heart.
If you asked me what is this book is really about, I would say, it’s about the importance of capturing the beauty in our lives, which is often found in the smallest of moments. These become the memories that hold us when so much around us feels out of control – the real treasure right under our noses.
Gary Schmidt, Newbery Honour–winning author of The Wednesday Wars, says it best…
“Breathing Underwater takes you by surprise again and again: You think it's a road trip story, then a search for treasure story, then that it's a story about the darkness of depression, then that it's a story about sisters. Finally, you realize it's all of these — and more. It's really, in the end, a love story, filled with joy and hurt and hope—and all the complexity that love brings with it.” — Gary Schmidt
I hope you found this post interesting, if you have any questions or if you have any useful tips on this subject please let me know in the comments.
And If you haven’t read either of Sarah’s books, you must. I promise you, they are difficult to put down and impossible to forget.
You can grab yourself a copy here, or through your favourite independent bookstore.