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The End Game with Isabel Roxas

h1 July 12th, 2016 by jules


(Click to enlarge)

Pictured above is, according to illustrator Isabel Roxas, one of many cover designs from Minh Lê’s debut picture book, Let Me Finish!, released by Disney/Hyperion last month. This is the story of a young boy trying to read, trying to reach the end of a book and experience the surprises in store, yet all around are his animal friends, revealing spoilers at every turn. At each spoiler, the boy picks up a new book, only to have its ending revealed as well. Lê paces the story well, building tension as the story progresses (and as the boy attempts to steal away and find a successful, interruption-free reading spot), giving readers a mammoth-sized surprise of his own at the end. (But I won’t ruin it for you.)

Roxas has illustrated many books in the Philippines but currently lives in the U.S. and is here to talk about creating the illustrations for this one. I thank her for sharing. Let’s get to it.



 


Isabel: “Minh’s very loose notes are in parentheses. While directing action,
he still gave me a lot of room to play. Essential to a good collaboration.”
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Isabel: “Figuring out what the lead character and Rhino would look like.”
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Isabel: “This guy showed up in one of the smaller sketches, and I really like the contrast between his black and white outfit and the red-orange glasses
(the perfect accessory for someone who liked to read).”
(Click to enlarge)


 


Isabel: “I needed to be able to draw his distinctive hairdo from all angles,
so I made this clay model.”
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Isabel: “This spread was created for the original dummy submission.”
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Isabel: “First Art sample spread (the spread was later cut and revised).”
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Isabel: “How the revision turned out in the end.”
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Isabel: “Revised dummy with notes from Art Director and Editor.”
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Isabel: “Final art.”
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Isabel: “A portrait of our editor.”


 


Isabel: “We used it for book plates, as it seemed an appropriate gift
for voracious readers.”


 


Isabel: “Process GIF from sketch to final art of one of my favorite spreads.”


 


Isabel: “Sketches, trying to figure out how to fit a dinosaur into a spread
and testing color combinations.”
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Isabel: “Final art.”
(Click each to enlarge)


 


Isabel: “Dummy sketch with temporary typesetting.”
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Isabel: “Final spread.”
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Isabel: “Hand-drawing titles.”
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Isabel: “Character development (GIF) of our story-loving Rhino.”


 


Isabel: “Final books! Ready for reading.”
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* * * * * * *

LET ME FINISH! Copyright © 2016 byMinh Lê. Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Isabel Roxas. Published by Disney/Hyperion, New York. All images reproduced by permission of Isabel Roxas.





One comment to “The End Game with Isabel Roxas”

  1. Waving helloooooo. 😀

         by Tarie Sabido July 13th, 2016 at 8:10 am

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