This year, I decided to challenge myself by working on another children’s book. The last time I wrote and illustrated a children’s book was back in 2011, with Duck & Fish. At the time, I created a more complex storyline, but this time I wanted a simpler approach – I wanted to make something for younger children. I also wanted to be able to incorporate a variety of colors into the illustrations. That’s how I landed on the idea of creating an alphabet book, The ABCs of Food.
The challenge of an alphabet book was finding food names simple enough for children. However, some letters, like U and X, required more obscure foods due to the limited number of options that begin with those letters. I also wanted to ensure that the illustrations were distinct. For example, when illustrating different citrus fruits, I didn’t want them depicted in the same way (i.e., as a single slice or a halved fruit). Additionally, I wanted to include enough variety in colors.
For the background of each illustration, I decided to use simple gray shapes cut out and layered, so all the illustrations would feel cohesive with a consistent color palette.
For some foods, like jam, the challenge was creating the right texture to mimic the appearance of that particular food. Overall, the illustrations include a combination of solid colors and textures cut from magazines.
Order a copy of The ABCs of Food.
