/

It’s Coming

Something is growing between the pages.

The finished tree, full of animals hanging like ornaments, with a bear at the top where the trunk bends

A Christmas picture book in an unusual format: 13 × 33 cm when closed.

The center of the book becomes the trunk of a tree that grows page by page, until it stands complete, decorated with animals hanging like ornaments.

Format
picture book, 13 × 33 cm (closed)
Readers
young children
Role
author & illustrator
Technique
analog + digital: hand-made watercolor textures and brushes

Personal project

Page by page

Page 1: a long, thin trunk in a blue pot with a single branch and a goose on skis Page 2: a second branch appears with a green crocodile in a red scarf Page 3: more branches, with snowmen, the goose, the crocodile and other animals Page 4: the tree is almost complete, full of animals and ornaments

Process

The narrow format came first: the trunk sits on the book’s center line, so the tree can grow outward, page by page, until the last spread.

Pencil sketch of the complete tree with a star on top, balloons on the left and a few colored animals Mockup of the open book with a pencil sketch of the tree Mockup of the closed book with a wreath and the title It’s Coming