One personal goal I’ve had since I was a kid has been to write and illustrate a storybook, and after years of telling myself I’ll do it someday, I’ve decided to do it NOW!
For the past couple weeks, I’ve mainly been sketching my main character which is an American Badger. Aside from the Francis books I had when I was a kid, I don’t recall many storybooks that feature American Badgers. It seems like Eurasian Badgers are far more common characters, probably because their facial markings are simpler. I think American Badgers are much cuter though and I also want to use only North American fauna for my characters, but I digress.
So far, I haven’t picked a name for my badger, but I do have a few possibilities. So for now, I just call him Badger.
I’ve gone through several different evolutions of his character, and I’ve finally come to one I’m happy with. Last night, I broke out my brand new watercolors and did a quick, simple painting of him. I’m really pleased with how it turned out considering I haven’t used watercolor in like seven years.
I’ve got the general story idea written out and I’m the process of storyboarding it, making more detailed sketches along the way. I’m still fleshing out the supporting characters’ designs though.
I intend to illustrate the story in watercolor and bind it all into a handmade book. I’ve been playing around with some different designs in my bookbinding class lately trying to get a feel for what I want the final product to look like, but that’s still a way off.
I did make one book over the weekend though featuring a badger! I clipped the image out of the free calendar I got with my last order from Badger Balm and made a little frame for it in the cover. It’s a hard-cover link stitch, so it’s a pretty simple design, but cute nonetheless.
Speaking of badgers and bookbinding, my desk had been becoming a little unwieldy lately with all my tins of Badger Balm and tools sitting around. I shelled out for an 18” magnetic knife bar and installed it above my desk just below my wall shelves to wrangle my metal clutter. Works great, huh? I also like how I can “display” my tins of Badger Balm with the cute illustrations to inspire me! I also got a mini magnetic bulletin bar on sale at the Container Store to tack up my to-do lists and paper scraps.
Kitch Cat 