I am finally living up to my New Years resolution to post a diary of sorts on my website. Being that I am in the process of launching a new children’s book… a self publish collaboration between the author Sue De Cuevas and myself… I thought it would be a great segue to describe the development, birth and delivery of our project.
Just over 2 years ago I was introduced to Sue by a mutual friend. Sue had written a story almost 40 years ago about a polar bear in the Central Park Zoo but had never found anyone to help develop a book and thus it sat. Our mutual friend Penelope knows my passion and background in illustrating animals, put two and two together and put the two of US together. I read the manuscript, loved it and the end result after two years of work and collaboration is the birth of Polarity Bear Tours the Zoo.
While reading the manuscript I already had visions of Polarity dancing in my head. Many times though I think I know what something looks like until I start sketching it and then realize I DON’T. With my need-to get-the anatomy-correct biology background gnawing at me, I began researching everything I could find on polar bears then went to the zoo to sketch and take photos. Now I felt ready to start sketching polar bears from all angles.