¶ Illustration Process and Pumpkin Patch Collaboration
Okay , haley . So to set the mood for the podcast , I have a limited edition pumpkin patch for Breeze that I'm going to spray in here , all right , and you can smell it like it's a pumpkin patch . Can you smell it ? No , okay . Well , let's start with a bit of an introduction .
You have been on two episodes on here , so this makes three , three episodes , yep , but I'm basically a regular . You are a regular , you're like an O , you're an OG with this . Introduce yourself and then tell us your role in creating my Day at the Pumpkin Patch .
Well , my name is Haley McAndrews and I am the illustrator for my Day at the Pumpkin Patch , written by Kelly Heil and illustrated by me , Haley McAndrews .
So I wrote the book , haley Illustrated it , talking about background and inspiration , let's kind of talk about how I connected with you . So the whole idea of the book I'm obsessed with Halloween , obsessed with fall . I think it started from when I was like younger my birthday is 13 days before Halloween which I was . That was cool . And then what was it ?
It was a Disney . It was like what was that channel ? I think now it's like freeform , but it was like the family channel or something . They had like 13 days of Halloween and always started on my birthday , do you ? remember that . So it always started on my birthday and it was like it just kicked off . I can't think of what that one is .
But yes , I know exactly what you're talking about , maybe it was ABC Family . Anyway , it was in every birthday I had was like Halloween theme . We had a like we had a cookout . I just loved it . I don't know , I just always loved it . That's probably why , like , I haven't went to talk to a therapist of why I love Halloween so much .
But yeah , so my last book was about art and this one I was like man , I want to do something like Halloween theme , I want to do like a autumn , not like scary Halloween , but just like the whole feel of autumn . And then I contacted you because I just love your style , I love how you illustrate things and you make excellent corn , because you're a person .
So , it turns out .
it was a surprise , but yes , as it turns out , I'm pretty proud of my corn actually .
Have you ever drawn corn before this Ever ?
before . The very first illustration I did was the cover . Actually it was the cover and kind of the last illustration in the book and I was like , well , this needs some corn If it's gonna be . You know , I mean it's about a pumpkin patch and it talks about a corn maze and different things . I was like I better draw some corn .
And I mean I live in Iowa , I see it all the time , every day there's , I mean I literally across the street from my house there's a corn field every year .
So it's like right there and I remember drawing it and saying to my husband like , oh my gosh , look at this corn that I just drew John , and you know I mean he had the same reaction that he always does .
But yeah , I like I sent a picture to like you and some of my other friends that are artists and I was like , guys , look at my corn , isn't this great corn ?
I had so much fun illustrating this book , honestly , as I was flipping through it right before we got started , because I thought at some point I wanna ask you what your favorite illustration was and I thought , if I ask Kelly , that she'll ask me that , so I need to have an answer ready to go .
And as I was , flipping through literally every single page , I was like , oh , but I really like this part . Oh , but then on this page it was like every single page , every single page . I was like I just I really loved , loved , working on this book and I'm so proud of it .
I wanna talk about the process in a way kind of . But my fifth . Oh , you didn't tell me your favorite illustration . What's your favorite illustration , did you tell me ?
Okay , pick one , you have to make me , you know like I said , there's pieces on every single page that I'm like oh man , you know , I mean every piece that I create , every single drawing I've ever done , you know . There's parts where I'm like oh , I really nailed , like that hand or something you know I mean .
So on every single piece , like on this page it's the candy , on this page it's the broom and on this page it's you know , it's that part .
That part right there , like Kevin shining down on the pumpkin thing . This is the one .
Yes , when she finally finds the perfect pumpkin , I put like a beam of light coming down , like in the Lion King or something on this Perfect .
Oh , you know , and I just I think I don't have to pick . It's okay . It's like it might be like picking a favorite child . You don't have to .
I think actually it's on the very first , the very first page . It's your dedication and it was the last one you asked me to do and you were very specific about like , okay , this is what I want , this little small drawing to go on the dedication page .
It warms my heart when I open it up and that's the first thing I see and it's this little like coffee mug with a pumpkin on it and I made the steam into like a heart because the dedication is for your daughter . I really love opening up to that page .
I love it too . I love that it's the first one . I mean , I made it the first one on purpose , but I'm like I love it . It's cute . It's the first page , Like I didn't know that I did that . I could have had like the copyright and all that stuff , like in like the beginning , but I wanted that to be just like oh , that's cute , you know .
And then I think it's a tone for the rest of the book .
To add like an informational bit to this episode too , let's talk about if you're an author looking for an illustrator to illustrate yourself . Published book Haley . Coming from like the illustrator point of view when someone approaches you and they say hey , I love your style . I want you to illustrate my book . What information do you like to know from the author ?
Because you really take these words and you put hours and hours and hours and months into making it visual . So , from your perspective , what would you say is really important to get from the author , to get it from their head into your hands onto the page ?
One really really great thing was you . Just let me run with it . You were like here it is , here's some very general information about Shelby . Do your thing . And then I would , you know , I would send you sketches and drawings and you were like it's perfect , I love it , amazing , and so that that was really freeing to just be able to run with something .
But I would say , if you , as an author , have something specific in mind , let the illustrator know . Do you see your main character as having a big , poofy orange hair ? And maybe it's not mentioned in the text , so the illustrator wouldn't necessarily know , but if that's how you see it in your head , just let him know .
You could even like when you send your manuscripts . I didn't do this , sorry Haley , but you could send an extra page , even though it says nothing about , in this case , Shelby , even though it doesn't really say what she looks like . You could add an extra page that says like Shelby . Actually , I think I might have done this after you asked me .
Light brown hair .
Light brown hair . I don't know how old , like say six years old , whatever , whatever , whatever you know . And then you could also say , like you know cousins or how you want the scenery to be , or like make it cool colors , or if you know , if you know about that or care about that , I think all the extra information you can get .
And then you kind of know from an author's standpoint . She knows I'm saying she because you're going to get a female illustrator of course she knows how I want this to be and a mom to be , and a mom has to be a mom , yes , but then you can let them know that this is kind of how I see it in my head .
I know , when I give it to you , I didn't know how I wanted . I mean , I had a general idea of what I wanted to look like , but you really you brought it to life like crazy , like better than I could even imagine it in my head . But I kind of gave you a basis of like here's kind of what I want .
Then they go here , you know , because like the words in children's books , it's not heavily descriptive or detailed , it's just enough , so kids don't have to dive into like big words . It's just enough to be like , oh , she's going through a corn maze in her dad's shoulders , but go along with the theme of the podcast .
You worked on this heavily and you worked on this a lot of weekends , so it's kind of go along with what I ask a lot of people in the podcast how did you split your time working on this ?
This was . This was the first like big project I had since taking on a full time job outside the home . And so I was . I was working full time . I would work on it at work , on my lunch break actually . So I was clocked out just in case anybody from work is listening to this podcast . I was locked out for lunch and I would eat .
And then you know , I mean we had to take a minimum required amount of time for lunch break and it does .
¶ Book Illustration Process and Promotion
I'm not . I'm not a slow eater , so I would quickly eat and then get out like my drawing , my pencils and my pad , and I carried the manuscript with me along with the little sketch page . So I would work on it at work .
And then I felt really good because every day I knew I was putting in 10 or 15 minutes and that's all it was , because I'm not that fast of an eater , but it was just like 10 or 15 minutes every day at work .
And then I would get home and you know I'd hang out with my kids and husband and stuff , and you know , after they went to bed my husband and I usually just watched some TV or a movie or something .
So I'd sit down with my computer and I would work on the coloring then , because I guess we haven't talked about it , but the way I did the illustrations was I drew them all by hand on paper real pencil and paper and then I would ink them by hand on the paper and then I would scan it in and digitally color them .
So I would then sit down with my computer and do my coloring . You know , while we were watching nerdy shows or something whatever , we were watching probably Star Trek , but you know that's like the other tone of nerdy shows . I mean , you know , this is just being honest here . It happens .
I should have mentioned earlier I didn't think about it your style . You hand drew it , inked it . Then what you scanned it scanned it in . A lot of people don't really hand draw much anymore for illustrating books . You use your real life hand than your tablet hand , but it gives it an extra level of quality . I just like the style . It's not fully digital .
I mean , yes , it's fully digital , but it was drawn on paper and it just gives it a really extra special look and an extra special feel . And most people won't know that . Most people won't know that you hand drew it first , but I know and everyone listening now knows , so it makes it a challenge . They know now . Yeah , book is out Tuesday , september 5th .
So if you're listening to this on the release day of the podcast episode , it comes out tomorrow and you know what . It might even be available on Amazon now , because with KDP it can be on there day early . So go get it . Go get it and it will be available paperback , hardback and Kindle .
Some people like children's Kindle books and I have them on there too , so I've gotten some like ebooks for children's books , and I actually really love doing that with pumpkin .
So thank you for illustrating my book . I've obsessed with it . You did better than my mind had even thought up the pre visuals in my mind you just exceeded that . I have some other stuff that I'm writing and working on that I would love for you to illustrate . So I will .
You know , I mean we talk a lot , but I will do soon about one Again my date , the pumpkin patch , will be available lots of places . The . When you're listening to this , you can go on to Amazon and see it , and I would love if everyone listening would buy one for your kids or yourself or your grandparents , your neighbor , your dentist .
If you purchase the book , please , please , please leave a review . It can just be stars , if you add words , that's even better , but wherever you purchase it , please leave a review . You don't understand how good reviews are for authors in general , but especially self-published ones .
You know that's just another level of exposure and helps you go up rankings , especially on Amazon . So other people can , you know , find you find your book . So if you wouldn't mind leaving a review , same thing for the podcast . If you leave a review for my podcast , apple Podcast , spotify , wherever it helps me so much and it doesn't take long .
You know , no one really wants to go only for a review , but it literally takes like a minute to leave a review . So I and Hailey both would appreciate if you left a review for the book . Yes , 100% . So just quickly tell everyone where they can go , connect with you and buy yourself .
You can find me on Amazon .
¶ Children's Book Author Discusses Work
I have two children's books that I have written and illustrated myself and I've done some other illustrating for other authors as well . But you can find my books on Amazon or Barnes , noble or other places . I've got it in a couple local bookstores and stuff in Iowa . But you can follow me on Instagram and Facebook .
I have a Twitter , but I don't know it's not Twitter anymore . I don't know what it is . I don't post there as often as I should , but I am active on Instagram and Facebook and I have an art blog that I post every other week on and all of that is under the studio name Redstone Art Studio , but if you just Google Haley McAndrews , most of it's me .
Well , haley , thank you for joining me today . Thanks for talking about the book . This has just been like a fun chit chat episode , talking about the book release and us working together , and I can't wait to work on another book with you , because this has been a lot of fun .
I'm pretty sure I've said this like a dozen times now , but I just really had so much fun working on this book with you .