The
sucessor “Stepping
Out”, for children from 5 to 12, is
now available
Also Spanish translation “Paso a Paso”
now available.
| How I illustrated “Small Steps Forward”
I was given 6 weeks to do the illustrations and Sarah wrote me a list of about 70 situations like "parent and child playing ‘Row row the boat’". I set out with a map, sketchbook & digital camera and systematically visited and observed play groups and the homes of children with special needs. I talked to some of the parents and carers, and worked out which would be a good way to illustrate each point. I needed to quickly become knowledgeable about the subject.
Technical notes: All illustrations were painted directly on the computer, not scanned. I used Painter Classic and a Wacom table with a touch sensitive stylus. References were taken with an Olympus 740 digital camera. In Painter Classic I used mostly the scratchboard pen and the airbrush. Buy it: Click here for Jessica Kingsley (the publisher’s) web page where you can buy online. Or go to Amazon or other online book store. |
“Row row the boat”
This is the picture used on the cover of the book. It is based on the author who was playing with one of her children. Much of the book is about having fun with your children. I hope I've caught the spirit here. Reading together
This mother gets into marvelous sculptural poses with her children. As with most of the pictures I went to the site with my sketchbook and digital camera, then came home and drew the illustration on the computer. Father dances with his son
Another one I liked here. The father and the son were having so much fun singing and dancing around the room. Kiss the repair man!
Autistic children don't know who to say hello to. The author's son, seeing his mother and father kissing people who came to the door one day kissed the repair man who had come to mend the gas boiler. I like the broad cartoony effect here! |
I
knew Sarah Newman was a remarkable person
as soon as I met her. She lived in a small
house in a village nearby and already
had two children one of them autistic.
She was expecting another baby and she
simultaneously produced the baby and the
book. 
When
she realised that her first child had
special needs she scoured the bookshops
for a book to help her with her
problems but found that there wasn't one,
so she decided to write one gleaning all
the help she could from the experts.
This was how she produced "Small
Steps Forward". 
I
believe a good illustrator must have a
deep understanding of the subject in order
to do the job well. The drawn line must
be an intelligent line. I could see this
is a practical and beautiful book with
delightful text. I wanted the illustrations
to be just as delightful, so that
“Small Steps Forward” would
bring a smile to the parents and carers
who need some really good things to happen
in their lives. I hope I’ve succeeded.
