back matter

The picture book that I've been illustrating is part of a series called 'Tell-Me-More'. The books in this series have a 2 page spread at the back of the book (back matter) where one can find educational information about the subject of the book. Because the story that I illustrated is about butterflies, the back matter in my picture book contains information about butterflies. I made several spot drawings for the back matter and I thought I'd share a few of them on here today. 

I approached the illustrations for the actual story in a playful way, but because the back matter is facts, I was much more representational with those images. I haven't painted realistically in ages as I find it much more enjoyable to be loose and playful with my illustration work, but this was a nice little change. I also proved to myself that I'm still capable of painting more realistically if ever I want or need to.

Although I'm waiting to share the full color illustrations for the story, there's one painting in particular that I did for the back matter that I spent a lot of time on. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out and decided to share it today as well.  It depicts a butterfly with eye spots on its wings.