My first Children’s picture book!
Exclusively available in Holland as part of the ‘Sinterklaas Book’ tradition.
Exclusively available in Holland as part of the ‘Sinterklaas Book’ tradition.
I was commissioned by Eric Holman from Blue in Green productions to Illustrate one(of three) of this years books.
THE BOOK
My particular story was written by Dutch pop star Waylon - translation title - ‘Santa and the Magic Note’. The story has a fairy tale feel and touches on dark and light elements and a central character who finds his way or escape with music. What I particularly loved was how the story revolves around a Magic note and how music over comes all…something I very much relate too and obviously this is something that comes through in my work. So when I came to creating the Illustrations it was important for me to incorporate that musical sensibility with each page, with colour; musical notes, flying and dancing instruments and of course telling the story visually. It was a tight turnaround, I started exploring ideas and sketches in June and the book was finished end of August. Seeing the book in it’s finished entirety is one of the most rewarding parts of being an illustrator. The books are now out everywhere in Holland in time for families to snuggle together and read the stories.
My particular story was written by Dutch pop star Waylon - translation title - ‘Santa and the Magic Note’. The story has a fairy tale feel and touches on dark and light elements and a central character who finds his way or escape with music. What I particularly loved was how the story revolves around a Magic note and how music over comes all…something I very much relate too and obviously this is something that comes through in my work. So when I came to creating the Illustrations it was important for me to incorporate that musical sensibility with each page, with colour; musical notes, flying and dancing instruments and of course telling the story visually. It was a tight turnaround, I started exploring ideas and sketches in June and the book was finished end of August. Seeing the book in it’s finished entirety is one of the most rewarding parts of being an illustrator. The books are now out everywhere in Holland in time for families to snuggle together and read the stories.
ABOUT THE SINTERKLAAS BOOKS -
"Blue in Green produces this year the 18th edition of the successfull Sinterklaas-books. The Sinterklaasbooks are based on the typical Dutch traditional holiday called Sinterklaas, the Dutch equivalent of Santa Claus. In the Dutch tradition Sinterklaas comes each year by boat from Spain with his helpers the Petes who help him wrap presents and deliver the presents through the chimneys. Each year the Sinterklaasbooks series consist of three new children's books which are published with new stories based on Sinterklaas are written by famous Dutch authors and illustrated by the most talented (inter)national illustrators. We worked with several international illustrators like Petr Horacek, Annette Marnat, Tadahiro Uesugi, Bill Robinson, Aurelie Guilery, Joey Chou, Gemma Roman and Dankerleroux. For more info: http://sinterklaasprentenboeken.nl/17-jaar-sintboeken
"Blue in Green produces this year the 18th edition of the successfull Sinterklaas-books. The Sinterklaasbooks are based on the typical Dutch traditional holiday called Sinterklaas, the Dutch equivalent of Santa Claus. In the Dutch tradition Sinterklaas comes each year by boat from Spain with his helpers the Petes who help him wrap presents and deliver the presents through the chimneys. Each year the Sinterklaasbooks series consist of three new children's books which are published with new stories based on Sinterklaas are written by famous Dutch authors and illustrated by the most talented (inter)national illustrators. We worked with several international illustrators like Petr Horacek, Annette Marnat, Tadahiro Uesugi, Bill Robinson, Aurelie Guilery, Joey Chou, Gemma Roman and Dankerleroux. For more info: http://sinterklaasprentenboeken.nl/17-jaar-sintboeken
The Sinterklaasbooks are not sold in bookstores by given away in supermarkets. Customers of a supermarketchain (600 stores in the Netherlands) get the books for free by buying 2 products from Unilever Netherlands (butter, soup, etc.). Each week a new title is released and each week a new product is connected to this title. The books are published in quantities of 80.000- 125.000 copies per title. This sales promotion is one of the most successfull promotions in the Netherlands and every week 80-90% of the books are already distributed to the customers in the first 2-3 days of the week. An interesting part of the promotion is that the books reach off course households who have hardly any money to buy a book so this promotion creates an enormous spinoff in getting children to read.
One of the main reasons the promotion is such a success is the quality of the books. The best writers and illustrators contribute to the books. The books are fullcolour, hardcover, 40 pages of which 32 pages are used for the story.” ERIC HOLMAN of Blue in Green.