November 3rd sees the release of Big Bob, Little Bob, a lovely little picture book published by Candlewick Press that's all about being true to yourself and forging friendships despite your differences. This is one project that has been a long time in the making, so to celebrate its publication we thought we'd share some early designs by illustrator Laura Ellen Anderson.
Way back in 2013, Laura created this sample piece for Candlewick for an upcoming text by James Howe. Interestingly, the characters changed very little from their original design, as you can see from one of these early spreads below:
One spread that sadly didn't make the cut. Little Bob's mother was eventually taken out completely, with the decision to focus purely on the children characters. Both dads were also lost fairly early on as well!
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We finish with a spread that nicely shows the progression from initial sketches to final colour artwork...
BIG BOB, LITTLE BOB. Text copyright © 2016 by James Howe. Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Laura Ellen Anderson. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA