So many people who frequented this forum over the years have impacted my life as an artist. From the first time I came across SVS (searching for advice as a newbie illustrator and finding @Will-Terry ’s YouTube channel a treasure trove of help), it has meant a lot to me. The people here have always been willing to help me, in the most constructive and encouraging ways. I hope I’ve been able to give back even a fraction of what you all have done to help me grow!
Seven years ago, I started sketches for this book called “Who Is God?” by Kurt Asplund. Life threw some hurdles in the path that slowed everything down, but the author and I inched our way along for all of these years until finally…. It’s done.
The cover went through dozens of iterations and ideas. The interior pages were done in watercolors and acrylics (and then edited digitally), but some of the paintings got thrown out, replaced, or added to. This is the first painting I did for the whole book, but it’s one of the few originals that hasn’t changed a lot since then:
This process may sound like a horribly inefficient one, and it was, but it was such a good teacher. I learned a lot about detachment and how, through consultation and advice, art for a book can get much better (some of my originals were, well, pretty rough!)
The images show a story of their own while the text talks about the light of the sun and other analogies that could help the reader think about what God is like. The book is intended to be inter-faith and inclusive of science, so it seemed important to make the pictures non-denominational and actually quite detached from any one point of view.
The story told by the illustrations is of a boy who loves a beautiful flowering tree in his yard very much but has to go through the heartbreak of seeing it cut down so that a road can be made in its place.
Through the love from his family, reflection under the stars, and seeking inspiration through prayer (“Create in me a pure heart, O my God, and reveal unto me Thy path…”) he comes to see the tragedy as an opportunity.
He rallies his family and a couple friends, and together they plant new trees and flowers along the edge of the entire road. In the last scenes of the book, the fruit of his labors are shown after he has grown up into a young man.
The illustrations certainly show a seven-year journey… I think they came together pretty well after editing in Procreate, but there are plenty of things I would do differently now than I did when each painting was created. However, I’m so happy it’s a real book now - and not just an idea - that I’m excited to show it to you anyway.
If you look at the Amazon listing right now, it shows an old version of the back cover. We quietly self-published this book a few months ago, but this week we will update the back cover to include a better illustration and a QR code that will link to a film of the book being read by actress Erika Alexander (
). Soon after the video is done, we’ll promote the book with more vigor.
The film might be more exciting to me than the book actually. The illustrations are shown with sound design and even an original score. I wish I could link it here but it’s not finished yet. I just didn’t want to wait to post this since free access to the forum will soon be gone…
I’m going to try to list all the people who I can find who have responded to posts I’ve made asking for help with this book. Thank you all a million times!
@LauraA @Asyas_illos @davidhohn @Kevin-Longueil @demotlj @AngelinaKizz @Pamela-Fraley @Miriam @carlianne @Jeremiahbrown @mag @jenn @Kim-Hunter @burvantill @ContinuousLines @aprilshin @jenithornhill @RachelArmington @Melissa-Bailey @Nyrryl-Cadiz @Lize @braden-H @theprairiefox @NessIllustration @TessaW @animatosoor @sigross @Whitney-Simms @robgale @Eli … and if I missed your name, please forgive me but your help is still appreciated and a part of this project.