SKIP AND SHINNER

What a sweet, sweet project this one was!

 

I had the opportunity of working with Chip Gaines' father, Bob Gaines, on this project - a children's book for Chip and Joanna Gaines' youngest son, Crew. Bob explained to me when we first started talking about this project that the story in the pages of this book is based on bedtime stories he used to tell the rest of his grandchildren about a little boy named Skip and his dog, Shinner – based on Chip and a dog that he found and adopted as a little boy.

​

After getting the story from Bob, I took the text and broke it down into a story layout, fitting the paragraphs together into pages with sketches of illustrations. I drew each picture by hand with pen and pencil, afterward coming back in with gouache to add depth and color. To wrap everything up, I transferred each illustration into a digital format, laid the story out in Indesign, designed the cover and page spreads, and had the book printed and shipped to Bob for the Gaines' Christmas.

 

I'm so so thrilled with how it turned out! It's been a long time dream of mine to work on a children's book, and I couldn't have asked for a better first opportunity.