Welcome to Perfect Picture Book Friday, Everyone!

As you may have noticed, it’s the middle of June. This is when I traditionally place PPBF on hiatus for the summer. But this year I promised an author I would do her forthcoming book on June 28th, so if a copy arrives in time for me to read and review it, we will be here until the end of the month. If not, we may end without ceremony sometime between now and then 😊

Hopefully this lack of certainty will fill you with enough suspense and excitement to energize you through the end of the school year 😊

IVP Kids is kindly giving away a copy of today’s lovely book. You can enter the Rafflecopter HERE! Please enter by Thursday June 20th at 3PM Eastern!

AND, we are lucky enough to have a little Q&A with the illustrator!

Title: Not Finished Yet: Trusting God With All My Feelings

Written By: Sharon Garlough Brown

Illustrated By: Jessica Linn Evans

Publisher: IVP Kids, June 25, 2024

Suitable For Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: feelings, understanding feelings

text copyright Sharon Garlough Brown 2024, illustration copyright Jessica Linn Evans 2024, IVP Kids

Opening:
“Behind an old farmhouse in Autralia,
in the shade of the tall gum trees,
stood a little shed. Gran called it
her art studio. Pop called it a mess.
Wren called it wonderful.”

Brief Synopsis: [from the publisher] “Gran’s art studio is one of Wren’s favorite places in the world. Not only is it where Wren and Gran paint, but it’s also where they talk about all the good and hard stuff of life―to each other, and to God. Join young Wren as she explores her feelings and discovers that God welcomes our honest prayers.”

text copyright Sharon Garlough Brown 2024, illustration copyright Jessica Linn Evans 2024, IVP Kids

Links To Resources: We are lucky enough to have an interview with the illustrator, which I think kids and adults alike will find interesting! Please welcome Jessica Linn Evans!

Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today, Jessica! Can you tell us a little bit about how you got started as an illustrator? Did you always know you wanted to illustrate children’s books? 

My first illustrated trilogy was “published” when I was 5-years-old. I wrote three stories on manuscript-ruled paper from kindergarten. Each book was held together with a straight pin from my mother’s sewing kit. I had a very sophisticated palette of three colors. (I suspect those were the only crayons I could find at the time). One of the stories was a riveting adventure titled “at a gas STAShin” in which three brothers were allowed to buy a candy of their choice. Hopefully, my stories and illustrations have developed a bit since then. My parents encouraged my budding artistic interest by paying for oil painting lessons when I was about eight or nine. I studied studio arts in college and was astounded to find that everyone wasn’t there to illustrate children’s books. I couldn’t imagine why else anyone could possibly want an art degree. So, yes, I’ve always wanted to illustrate books. Doesn’t everyone want to do that?

What books did you love when you were a child? Was there any illustrator in particular that you remember being inspired by?

Ah! The books I loved as a child! The list is too long. Some favorites are Donkey-Donkey, by Robert Duvoisin; How Fletcher was Hatched, by Wende and Harry Devlin; all the books about Babar, but especially Babar and Father Christmas, by Laurent De Brunhoff; and The Cat and the Fiddler, by Jacky Jeeter and Lionel Kalish. The two books I remember had especially enchanting illustrations were The Real Mother Goose, Illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright, and Robert McCloskey’s Burt Dow, Deep Water Man. That crooked man who walked a crooked mile and all the other knobbly characters in the Mother Goose book were just wonderful! And Burt Dow and his giggling gull were simply captivating. I knew I wanted to draw like that! I would also pore over a large book full of Norman Rockwell paintings my father had. He could tell an entire story in a single painting! To be a visual storyteller like that? Well, that would be something!

What drew you to this story and made you want to say yes to illustrating it? 

I was drawn to Wren’s sweet relationship with her Gran. Gran is not ruffled by Wren’s emotions.  She calmly and lovingly directs her to trust the Lord with them. I love that!  Sharon’s story encourages the reader that God is the one we should give our emotions to—like David in the Psalms pouring out his soul in song to the Lord. Trusting God with our feelings, combined with recounting His mighty works, always ends in recalling His faithfulness to us—just as the Psalms do. NOT FINISHED YET comes to that conclusion as well. 

Tell us a little about your process. How do you go about taking someone’s words and creating art for it?

The first thing I do with a manuscript is create a storyboard—a drawing with tiny squares representing each page with its text. Then I mark down the emotion I want the reader to feel when looking at the illustration that will go with that text. Next, I’ll go through and decide if there is a special “camera angle” I can draw the scene from that will help highlight that emotion. For example, if Wren is feeling scared or insecure, I might draw her very small on the page to emphasize her experience. I wanted to add a visual cue to help the reader understand what Wren was going through, so I had the weather outside reflect her mood. When Wren begins to be frustrated, storm clouds move in. They get darker and more brooding the more her disappointment grows. Next, I’ll draw thumbnail sketches (very small drawings) for each page. I choose the most interesting moment in the text to illustrate—the one that will tell the most story in one glance. I reference my notes on emotion and “cameral angle” in my storyboard to further develop the composition for each illustration. I then make final drawings—sometimes called “lines”—that have all the details I intend for the illustration. Before I begin the final watercolor painting process, I make a “color script.” [not-finished-color-script.jpg] This helps me analyze the overall mood of the book at a glance. I use this as a reference as I paint the final for each illustration. The more decisions made before beginning the final painting the more quickly and smoothly the painting process goes.

This thumbnail sketch was literally the size of a thumbnail. I drew it as a close-up so the reader would experience Wren’s embarrassment. 

thumbnail sketch (copyright Jessica Linn Evans 2024)

This second-level sketch was developed after I had zeroed in on what Wren would look like throughout the book. 

second sketch (copyright Jessica Linn Evans 2024)

Here’s the final watercolor for this illustration.

final watercolor (copyright Jessica Linn Evans 2024)

What was your favorite spread to illustrate?

I really enjoyed illustrating the opening scene with Wren’s dog and the sheep!

favorite spread – opening (copyright Jessica Linn Evans 2024)

I love drawing animals and trees and I got to do both in this one. Clouds are also a favorite, so that scene scratched all the itches. But I also really enjoyed painting the extreme close-up of Wren’s face as she tried to remember her day. It was fun to capture just the right expression on her face.

Any advice for up-and-coming illustrators?

I would encourage up-and-coming illustrators to think about story-telling in each image. Norman Rockwell did it masterfully. He chooses just the right moment to illustrate so the viewer can imagine what came right before and is longing to know what happens afterward. 

Illustrators also need to think about the composition of their images. Give your illustration a focal point. Where do you want the reader to look first? How do you want their eye to move around the page? What do you want them to notice last? What’s most important? How do you want them to feel? Your composition can make that happen! 

And finally, just draw a lot. Draw people over and over. Gesture drawing is so helpful in figuring out how people sit, stand, walk, and jump. This will help you render any character, whether you’re drawing people, animals, robots, or personified pencils. Draw objects around the house. Go outside and draw trees, cars, houses, clouds. Draw what you see (not what you think you see), and then you can draw more effectively out of your imagination. You will be able to create worlds and characters that are believable, relatable, and compelling. You’ll be able to draw your reader into an experience.

If you’d like to learn more about Jessica, here are the links to her website and socials:

Website: jessicalinnevans.com
Twitter: @JessEvans915
Instagram: jessicalinnevans.illustration
Pinterest: @jessicalinnevans
Facebook: @jessicalinnevans

If you’re interested in receiving IVP Kids’ Newletter, you can sign up HERE.

text copyright Sharon Garlough Brown 2024, illustration copyright Jessica Linn Evans 2024, IVP Kids

Why I Like This Book: This book does a lovely job of showing the complexity of a young girl’s feelings – the same complexity we all experience. Wren and her Gran are painting. Pop makes fun of their mess and Gran tells him, “We’re not finished yet!” and tells Wren that a painting isn’t done until the artist signs their name. Wren begins painting, but it doesn’t come out the way she planned and after some thought she realizes that the word that describes how she’s feeling is “disappointed.” Gran encourages her to explore that, so she thinks through her day, the things that happened and how she felt, and what led her to this moment, and she realizes that there is a whole mix of emotions tangled up in that “disappointed” and that sometimes she even feels disappointed in God. Her grandmother calmly acknowledges and validates her feelings, not at all ruffled by their depth or their complexity. The painting is a mix of therapy and prayer, an opportunity for Wren to work through her feelings and for her grandmother to help her understand not only herself, but her relationship with God. And the ending is so perfectly done I won’t spoil it by telling you, but instead encourage you to read the book! Although this is a faith-based book, it has much to offer all readers, regardless of what, if any, faith they embrace.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 😊

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific blog links (and any other info you feel like filling out 😊) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! 😊 And don’t forget to enter the Rafflecoptor above by Thursday June 20 at 3 PM Eastern for your chance to win a copy of this book!