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Outside In with Cindy Derby

h1 April 14th, 2020 by jules



 


Pictured above: Early character study and piece of final art


 

Over at BookPage, I’ve a review of Deborah Underwood’s Outside In (Houghton Mifflin, April 2020), illustrated by Cindy Derby. It’s one of my 2020 favorites, and that review is here.

Here at 7-Imp today, Cindy shares some process images, as well as final illustrations. It’s a lot of glorious art, and I thank her for sharing.

Enjoy!

Character Studies:


 


(Click image to enlarge)


 


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Two images above: Preliminary version and early painted version of a spread in the book
(Click each to enlarge)


 

Evolution of Paintings:


 


Experimenting with the door on the cover
(Click image to enlarge)


 


Experimenting with trees in the car-window spread
(Click image to enlarge)


 


The “We forget Outside is there” spread
(Click image to enlarge)


 


The “It sends the sunset and shadows inside to play” spread
(Click image to enlarge)


 


The “It beckons with smells …” spread
(Click image to enlarge)


 

Miscellaneous Art:


 


Title page spread in process
(Click to enlarge)


 


Working on opening spread
(Click to enlarge)


 


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Working on the “… even when we’re outside” spread
(Click to enlarge)


 


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River
(Click to enlarge)


 


Messing up …
(Click to enlarge)


 

At Work in the Studio …


 


Storyboard
(Click to enlarge)


 


Color prep
(Click to enlarge)


 


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Deadline!
(Click to enlarge)


 

Some Final Spreads:


 


“Once / we were part of Outside / and Outside was part of us.
There was nothing between us.”
(Click spread to enlarge)


 


“Outside feeds us. / Sun, rain, and seeds
become warm bread / and berries.”
(Click spread to enlarge)


 


“We feel Outside
in the warm weight of our cats / and the rough fur of our dogs.”
(Click spread to enlarge, and please note that the final spread varies slightly,
including the inclusion of the text in the top right corner)


 


(Click cover to enlarge)


 

* * * * * * *

OUTSIDE IN. Text copyright © 2020 by Deborah Underwood. Illustrations © 2020 by Cindy Derby and reproduced by permission of the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston. All other images used by permission of Cindy Derby.





One comment to “Outside In with Cindy Derby”

  1. Cindy’s art is stunning. She once painted my dog and caught his entire “please, please, please, tell me how to get an A” personality in a few extraordinary strokes.

         by April Halprin Wayland September 29th, 2023 at 11:32 pm

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