The Characters

I do not know what the recommended number of characters is for a children's book; however, mine has five: two main ones, a minor one and two that appear once in pictures only. I had a friend who I went to India with that I would have loved to include in the story, but for simplicity's sake, I had to leave her out. This still makes me a little sad. 

As promised, I shall introduce them all to you as they currently appear. You have already met the star of our story, the Little Tiger, so I shall introduce you next to "the Stranger."

As you may have guessed, the stranger is me. Skinny, slouchy, pony-tailed, and pale, I showed up at the Little Tiger's house, and he wasn't sure what to make of me. 

With my character, I want to convey someone a little different from who the Little Tiger is used to seeing. For this purpose, I might mess with the coloring of the original painting, for instance, making my hair lighter and eyes blue. I want there to be enough contrast that it makes the friendship that forms that much more sweet. 

The Little Tiger From India is a story playing off of differences and similarities that I hope readers will pick up more subconsciously than what I will be laying out for you in these blog posts. 

Next, I have an aunt, who is in just one or two of the illustrations, and "the Mother" who comes in at the end of the story. (I apologize for the difficulty  of seeing such light pencil drawings.) 

An Aunt on the left, the Mother, on the right, and the Little Tiger at bottom left. 

A few things I want to convey with the Mother are a peaceful countenance, traditional Indian attire, and an atmosphere of safety. I remember the hospitality and love shown me by so many of the women who I met in India, and I hope to be able to capture some of that in this one character in this story. And maybe some children will read my story and see someone who is dressed a little differently from them and yet experience the same care and love they would from their own mother. 

And last, but not least, three progressions of another aunt who will be featured in the story, plus a little explanation of the thought process behind creating them. 

The paintings are listed in order of how I painted them, but honestly I like parts of each. Each time you may notice the clothing gets more detailed, and I hope to replicate the last one in my final project. At the outset, I was liking the flowing hair in the last illustration; however, I think the more tame, proper hairstyle conveys the personality of the person I'm drawing a little better. I like the highlights that I left in the last one, however. In the end, I will probably do a combination of the last two paintings.

I'm realizing a difficulty with drawing people I know and talking about the process is to word things carefully. Obviously I am going to be using creative liberty with dress, hairstyles, personality, etc., but I don't want to inadvertently cause offense by careless wording or presentation. I have only received positive feedback from everyone, and I really appreciate the support. 

In the up-coming weeks, be on the look out for story-boarding,  lists of things I hope to accomplish, and whether or not I can fit my story in the recommended 32 page limit.