It was super fun to figure out how I’d illustrate Pete trying to trick the sheep. As I worked on the page, I thought about how a child Pete’s age would do it. What supplies would they have on hand? I don’t remember what other ideas I thought of before deciding to make a fake Pete, but I smiled and laughed a lot throughout the process.
It was exciting to imagine sharing the process with students–having them make fake versions of themselves–and even having a remote-controlled Jeep that they could drive their creation in (with adult supervision, of course :-)).
If YOU were going to try and trick the sheep, how would you do it? I’d love to hear your ideas and to see any illustrations you come up with.
Although the character design for the sheep came together quickly, Pete’s design took a lot longer to figure out. I drew a handful of different sketches (and lots of hair options) before Pete’s character came together.
Part of the challenge was that my drawing style for humans has involved a more angular style than I pictured for Pete. I had to break through what I was comfortable drawing in order to design his character.
I wanted Pete to be a “cute” character and for his head to be the biggest part of his body. You’ll probably notice that his head is 1/3 of his total body size, and it’s about twice as wide as his body is.
Once I figured out Pete’s outline, I made a couple of posable paper figures to help picture what he would look like in different body positions. These provided a good reference while I worked on some of the illustrations for the book.
By the time I started sketching Pete’s mom near the end of the story, drawing this style of character came more naturally (yay).
Is there a new style of drawing that you’re working on? If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
When I started designing characters for The Sheep Magnet (TSM), I knew right away how I wanted the sheep to look. I pictured them with fluffy cloud bodies and a dark curly outline, with “stick-like” arms and legs. I’d been saving security envelopes because I liked the patterns, and I thought they’d be great for collage illustrations.
So I sketched a page of possible sheep bodies, then drew some shapes on different papers—a few security envelopes and a cool mulberry paper. I liked how they turned out, so that’s how I ended up drawing the sheep. If you look at the different sheep throughout the book, you’ll notice that I used a lot of different papers for the sheep in addition to the security envelopes and the mulberry paper.
At the end of the book, there’s a tutorial on how to draw a sheep. I’ve included a printable version of the page below. (It is also part of The Sheep Magnet Activity Packet). I’d love to see examples of the sheep YOU design.
When I read The Sheep Magnet with a class, there’s limited time to share the story and engage in discussion questions and interaction with the students. Because of that, I focus on elements of the story that are most important to understand the basic plot line.
This video shares how I meld together reading the story and adding explanatory details to help with quick comprehension for students who haven’t yet been introduced to Pete’s story world.
In the comments, please share about one of your favorite parts of the story, and why you like it.
I visited a local school last week and had the chance to share The Sheep Magnet with five different classes of students, ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade. Along with reading the story, I shared about Easter eggs and the difference between these “hidden extras” and details that contribute to the story’s plot.
Easter eggs are hidden details that a creator might put in a movie, a game, a book, or etc. These details don’t have anything to do with the actual story.
The Sheep Magnet is FULL of Easter eggs. Not because I consciously thought, “I should hide lots of goodies in here!” while I wrote and illustrated the story. But because a large part of my creative process involves making connections with things that inspire me along the way and including bits and pieces of those in my work; like nature, books, research, and current life experiences, to name a few.
Some of these details end up contributing to the storyline or add to the understanding of or connection with the story, but others don’t.
And within an illustration, a single item could contain elements of both. Like the calendar in from Pete’s workshop, for instance.
If you study the calendar, what details do you think might be important to help understand the story, and why?
What details do you think are Easter eggs, and why?
Please share your answers in the comments below. I look forward to hearing what you come up with 🙂
P.S. If you read–or reread–the story, you may find clues in some of the other illustrations that help. (If you don’t have a copy of the book, you can find the ebook on Amazon for less than $1 right now, or find a read-through video on YouTube later this week.)
Happy April! Did you know that April 8th starts the beginning of a special week in my book, The Sheep Magnet? It’s the first day of a countdown seen on the calendar in Pete’s workshop.
In honor of that, I’ve dubbed April 8th through 14th as “The Sheep Magnet Week” 🙂 Throughout the coming seven days, I’ll share some fun facts, never-before-revealed details, special deals and prizes regarding the book. The e-book is available for less than $1 this week–you can check it out at Amazon here. Although picture books are generally more popular in print format than in e-book format, there are some very good reasons to get the digital version 🙂
Please stop back by my blog throughout this coming week to see what treats Pete, the sheep, and I have in store. We hope you have a happy Sheep Magnet Week!
