Behind The Scenes of Charlie's Dirt Day - PART 3 - final art

Here's another peek at some of the final art from my next book.

The Character of Charlie was based on a sketch I had done when I was traveling through Europe. At one point, my husband and I were living in Paris and I was drawing more than I ever have in all my life. I did a lot of sketches of children at that time and there was one in particular that I really liked but had never been able to use in a project. When I read the manuscript for Bye, Bye, Butterflies! a few years ago, that sketch immediately came to mind for the character of Charlie.

Both of the Charlie books that I've illustrated were written by Andrew Larsen and his stories were based on experiences that he had with his son. Knowing this, when I designed the character of Charlie's dad for Bye, Bye, Butterflies! I based it on a photo that I had seen of Andrew.

The older man in this illustration is Mr. Martino and he comes entirely from my imagination.  For that character, I liked the idea of an older man with an eclectic sense of style.