How's the Book Going, Sarah?
I’m at enough of a milestone with the new book that a progress update is in order!
The book is written! It has survived a developmental edit and a copy edit (in which it was made clear that I am very bad at commas). The thumbnails are done and I’ve started final art. As I write this, I’m 34 pages down out of 192. I’m really pleased with how it’s turning out so far!
I drew Let’s Make Ramen! entirely with traditional media, using mostly FC Pitt pens and Winsor-Newton watercolors. I still have a stack of the paintings from that book, and they’re extremely satisfying to look at. When we got the contract for Let’s Make Dumplings! though, I decided it was time to learn how to draw digitally. It’s so much faster, and so, so much easier to make revisions.
I’m drawing Let’s Make Cocktails! digitally too, but I’ve collected a really nice selection of watercolor brushes in Procreate, and I’m trying to marry the styles of Let’s Make Ramen!, Let’s Make Dumplings!, and Let’s Make Bread! with this new book. It’s digital, but with a softer watercolor feel to the artwork.
One thing I’m really pleased with so far is the faux endpaper.
Publishers don’t typically do proper endpapers anymore, especially for softcover books like mine. But Ten Speed has been really amazing about letting me add things like French flaps and pseudo endpapers, all the little touches that make a book more than just the contents therein, but also a delightful physical object that just feels good in your hands. I used to love thinking about those things when I made minicomics. I’d hand-silkscreen the covers, or gocco print them. There’s even a very early edition of one of my first Shuteye minis that has a handmade French flap cover!
ANYWAY. Back to Let’s Make Cocktails!. The other thing I’m currently working through is recipe testing!
I would not survive testing all the recipes in this book on my own, so I’ve been hosting a series of small cocktail evenings with friends. I’ve handed them the list, showed which ones I currently have ingredients for, and which ones haven’t been tested yet. They make selections, and then I make them cocktails! Most of the recipes I’ve got in the book have long histories and mostly settled formulae. But after testing, I’ve made a number of small tweaks that make things a little easier on the home mixologist, or noticed details about the process that have been salient enough to include in the book. AND I get to spend time with friends in the process. :) There will be a long list of testers to add to my acknowledgments page.
So, long story short (too late), I’m kind of in the final stretch. The research, writing, editing, and thumbnailing are done, and now I just get to draw nonstop for a few months.
I’m aiming for 10-12 pages a week in order to finish for my mid-August deadline. I’m mostly hitting that so far! I was trying to get to 36 pages this week, and only fell a little short at 34 (and change; the last two pages are halfway done). It’s been a little bit of a struggle so far, but that’s normal. It’ll probably take me a few weeks to really settle into a solid pace for drawing these. I draw in my home studio, I draw in my comfiest armchair, I draw at my neighborhood cocktail bar’s silent reading night with a few delicious cocktails in hand. Last week I drew in the members lounge at the Chicago Art Institute in front of a gorgeous downtown view. ^_^
If this is anything like previous books, the work will gradually speed up and by the end I’ll be sailing through. I’ll get to the end of the process, and I will remember the fun and the drawing and the sailing, and I will conveniently forget the research and the thumbnails and the slogging. And I will say: making books is super easy and fun! Let’s immediately do another! T_T
Shammeless Self Promotion:
I have restocked all my books and several prints in my online shop! Any book ordered directly from me gets signed with a little drawing inside. :)
Upcoming Things:
I will be exhibiting at CAKE Chicago in June! I will also most likely be at the Wisconsin Book Festival Fall Celebration in October!
Hey Sarah, how’s the book going:
See above!! 34/192.
What I’m into lately:
I’m still reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon for my book club. I’m 2/3 of the way through, still loving the characters and the setting and the lyricism. Book club is only a week away though! I might have to rush to finish in time. It’s my bedside table book; I also listen to audiobooks while I draw, and on that front, I recently finished Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang, which was sharp and chilling and sad and ultimately extremely satisyfing.
What Toki’s into lately:
Oh, just being perfect and beautiful with a delicious creamy middle. Pet that belly! Scratch it!
