Working up the preliminary dummy early helps provide a kind of procedural map that is the groundwork upon which to start establishing plot sequences, define and develop characters, arrange apt page turns, workout pacing and maintain forward movement. Once the initial m/s and dummy are completed, the revision process essentially begins and goes back and forth until the final drafts are fleshed out. I am struck by the dictionary like thickness of the stack of drawings it sometimes take to produce a single 40 page picture book, the m/s not withstanding. Not every project is the same, but the revisionary process of carving out a proper, finished picture book is daunting, challenging, satisfying, fulfilling, a thing of beauty, etc..
November 16, 2013#