« 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #624: Featuring Amy June Bates
No Muslim Ban Ever »

Andrea Tsurumi’s Crab Cake

h1 February 6th, 2019 by jules


“And Crab bakes cakes.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 

Over here at BookPage, I have a review of Andrea Tsurumi’s Crab Cake: Turning the Tide Together (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, February 2019). And here today at 7-Imp, Andrea shares a peek into the making of this book — some early doodles, thumbnails, an unused dummy spread (“I lost track of how many drafts this book went though,” Andrea says), the various research and texture layers she made for the art, some final art, and more. She also shares a comic all about why she made the book (which I find quite comforting and want to immediately share with all children I know).

I thank her for sharing. It’s a pleasure to have her visit today. Let’s get right to it!



 

Preliminary Images:


 


Doodles for book pitch
(Click to enlarge)


 


Research
(Click to enlarge)


 


Early sketching
(Click to enlarge)


 



 


Early thumbnails
(Click each to enlarge)


 


Reference image
(Click to enlarge)


 


Book dummy
(Click to enlarge)


 


Gouache
(Click to enlarge)


 


Working on textures
(Click to enlarge)


 


Watercolor layer
(Click to enlarge)


 


Working with transparency tracing paper
(Click to enlarge)


 


Inking
(Click to enlarge)


 


Working on color layers
(Click to enlarge)


 


Flatting
(Click to enlarge)


 



 


Andrea’s intern


 

Some Final Art:


 


“Under the sea, where sunlight touches sand,
lies a place that’s home to many incredible creatures. …”
(Click to enlarge spread and read text in its entirety)


 


“And Crab bakes cakes.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“Seahorse pretends to be seaweed. Spiny Lobster looks for a new home. …”
(Click to enlarge spread and read text in its entirety)


 


“Until one night, there’s a BIG SPLASH!”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


(Click to enlarge spread)


 



 


(Click either image to see spread in its entirety)


 


“Crab bakes a cake.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“Lobster lifts. Snapper shoves. Clownfish rolls. …”
(Click to enlarge spread and read text in its entirety)


 

Andrea’s Why-I-Made-Crab-Cake Comic:


 








Cover
(Click to enlarge)


 

* * * * * * *

CRAB CAKE: TURNING THE TIDE TOGETHER. Copyright © 2019 by Andrea Tsurumi. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston. All images here used by permission of Andrea Tsurumi.





3 comments to “Andrea Tsurumi’s Crab Cake”

  1. I love this. I love the baking crab, love the illustrations and how you wrote about a real problem without being preachy. Well done.

         by Anne February 8th, 2019 at 10:25 pm

  2. This really speaks to me – especially the comic about the whole project — the overwhelming-ness of Real Life Stuff and breaking down that one person can start on one part today is so valuable to kids young and (really super) old.

         by ts davis February 11th, 2019 at 12:15 pm

  3. Andrea, when I read this book, I was blown away—we’re talking BRILLIANT! But now, having read all this, my understanding and appreciation run that much deeper— “ocean floor” deep. I can’t imagine this book not having a BIG impact in so many ways to so many people. Thank you SO much for sharing this 😀

         by :Donna April 29th, 2019 at 9:30 pm

Leave a Comment


Should you have trouble posting, please contact sevenimp_blaine@blaine.org. Thanks.