Amigo the capybara
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Published by Five Mile Press
Author: Amy Freund
Illustrator: Amy Lee (as Kooky Chooky)
Process:
I usually start with a deep dive into the main characters to really really get to know them. For Amigo the Capybara, I looked up where the animals' native habitat is, what they eat and drink, and how they interact with other animals. I walked through the streets of Peru using Google lens to get a feel of what buildings I might be able to draw for Amigo as his home.
I initially envisioned all the animals living in an apartment complex but that never made it into the final storyboard, let alone the drafts. I also had no idea what Amigo would look like and looked through online and personal photographs of capybaras as background research. Because of this, I wasn't able to visualize the characters to start the storyboard, but there were particular parts of the manuscript where I had an immediate clear vision of how I would compose the scene. These were the spreads I started working on first as I tried to see in my mind's eye what Amigo and Mila would look like. Mila declared herself first and she was pretty much my first and only draft. Amigo was being cheeky and it took pages and pages of sketching for him to solidify and remain consistent.
While all of this was happening, I was pinning lots of inspiration onto my Pinterest board that would help me stay in the zone. This included lots of Peruvian textiles and colors as both the chinchilla and capybara can be found in Peru and I wanted this relationship to be present in some form in the final illustrations.
Once I had the characters set, the rest of the storyboard came easily before I hit the next bump in the road - colors!! Lots of trial and error happened to narrow down the colors I'd be using because I desperately wanted to stick to a limited palette. I eventually gave up and embraced the fiesta party atmosphere surrounding Amigo by using ALL THE COLORS that needed to be on the page! With colors were blocked in and confirmed, I could start working on my final artwork.
I printed everything out true to size, traced over these A3 sheets onto watercolor paper, and started painting away in gouache before adding details using Caran d'ache Neocolor II and Stabilo CarbOthello pastel pencils. Once done, these were digitized and details added as required.
You can find Amigo the Capybara on the Five Mile Press website or coming soon to bookshelves in Australia in November 2024!! If you can't find a copy, you can also ask your friendly local librarian to order a copy for your library!
Author: Amy Freund
Illustrator: Amy Lee (as Kooky Chooky)
Process:
I usually start with a deep dive into the main characters to really really get to know them. For Amigo the Capybara, I looked up where the animals' native habitat is, what they eat and drink, and how they interact with other animals. I walked through the streets of Peru using Google lens to get a feel of what buildings I might be able to draw for Amigo as his home.
I initially envisioned all the animals living in an apartment complex but that never made it into the final storyboard, let alone the drafts. I also had no idea what Amigo would look like and looked through online and personal photographs of capybaras as background research. Because of this, I wasn't able to visualize the characters to start the storyboard, but there were particular parts of the manuscript where I had an immediate clear vision of how I would compose the scene. These were the spreads I started working on first as I tried to see in my mind's eye what Amigo and Mila would look like. Mila declared herself first and she was pretty much my first and only draft. Amigo was being cheeky and it took pages and pages of sketching for him to solidify and remain consistent.
While all of this was happening, I was pinning lots of inspiration onto my Pinterest board that would help me stay in the zone. This included lots of Peruvian textiles and colors as both the chinchilla and capybara can be found in Peru and I wanted this relationship to be present in some form in the final illustrations.
Once I had the characters set, the rest of the storyboard came easily before I hit the next bump in the road - colors!! Lots of trial and error happened to narrow down the colors I'd be using because I desperately wanted to stick to a limited palette. I eventually gave up and embraced the fiesta party atmosphere surrounding Amigo by using ALL THE COLORS that needed to be on the page! With colors were blocked in and confirmed, I could start working on my final artwork.
I printed everything out true to size, traced over these A3 sheets onto watercolor paper, and started painting away in gouache before adding details using Caran d'ache Neocolor II and Stabilo CarbOthello pastel pencils. Once done, these were digitized and details added as required.
You can find Amigo the Capybara on the Five Mile Press website or coming soon to bookshelves in Australia in November 2024!! If you can't find a copy, you can also ask your friendly local librarian to order a copy for your library!
