Talking About: Long Projects with Meg Hunt
How Meg approaches longer projects—like illustrating picture books
Long projects….how do we feel about them?
Whether it’s a picture book for a client, or a long term project of your own design…you probably know the struggle. It always starts out SO GREAT! The ideation phase is full of infinite possibilities…but then time passes…revisions happen…and you find yourself bleary eyed, an empty shell—exporting a file titled “Draft 10_FINALforrealthistime.pdf”.
I share my own thoughts, feelings, and processes here quite often, but today I’m handing it over to a fantastic illustrator I’ve admired for a LOOONG time, my pal
!Hi! I’m Kayla Stark, an illustrator working primarily in the children’s publishing world. You’re reading “Odd Thoughts”, where I talk mostly about illustration, process, publishing, and anything else that’s tangentially related in my life. Join in! Everyone’s welcome!
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If you haven’t seen Meg’s work before…well…I can’t believe I get to have the pleasure of sharing it with you for the first time! 📯📯📯🥳
Here are just a few of my favorites pieces (before we jump straight into the discussion). :)
And if you like these (you do) just wait until you see the rest of Meg’s website.
The images peppered throughout the discussion below are from Meg’s latest picture book illustration project–
“The Good Night Garage”
written by Tori Kosara,
published by Flying Eye Books (September 3, 2024)
Do you do any prep for the marathon that is picture book work?
Hmm, that’s an interesting question! I think I tend to dive right in. Sometimes I’ll spend time reading other picture books so that it limbers up my approach about how to compose a scene or pace a story.
When working on a picture book (or any long term project), how do you approach it and schedule the work? Is it a little at a time? OR Go go go to crank it out?
Usually for client projects I feel like the broad schedule gets set pretty early on– sketches by X date, finals by Y, things like that. But as you know, there’s lots of little milestones in between! Usually I break down early development in the first month (so, character/setting sketches, moodboards of inspiration/design/book inspo) and build towards pretty solid sketches in the second month or so. That usually looks like me making time to make some blobby rough thumbnails and sketches that no one ever sees. I admire those who send really rough sketches in but I need to make sure I understand things well enough to send! And also, I often don’t want to go back and solve those problems when it gets to final art– there’s other things to solve then.
I often am cranking out sketches all at the same time, and then maybe doing a test sample after I do the sketches. (Maybe it’d be smarter to do it the other way round but I’m a creature of habit!) If I have the time to, I like to think about color and rendering across the book before I dive into final art, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way because of time or how my process works for a project. The hardest and longest part of the process for me is always final art, so making time to solve those problems (while also giving plenty of breathing room) is key to keeping a good pace without burnout.
Can you / do you work on other things while you are working on a long project, like a picture book?
Sometimes. But it really depends on the project and what else is going on in my life. I’d love to bounce back and forth between short and long form projects but some projects demand me to focus for long stretches of time, and sometimes I don’t have that luxury like I used to!
It does work out rather well if multiple projects are in very different phases or might be collaborations though– I can switch my mindset into sketching for a project or developing one part of something easier than rendering finals for two projects at the same time.
Deadlines don’t always allow for us to have our ideal timeline/balance for picture book work. BUT if you had your ideal timeline and support, what would that look like?
I think probably a little more buffer in between sketches and final art so I could really solve some of the problems in advance of making the work! Sometimes I have to dive right in and I don’t always notice errors I made in the sketch phase until I’m halfway through final art– and nothing takes you out of the flow more than realizing you might have other mistakes you didn’t notice. And because each project has a slightly different process and identity, the more time I have to mess around and figure out what the project isn’t helps me better clue into what the project actually IS.
Can you walk us through your range of emotions during a picture book project? —from getting the inquiry; to turning in the last edit / holding the final product. (There is also a marketing phase to books that comes later, but we’ll leave that part off for now)
I usually am excited at the very beginning– my hard efforts paid off, I landed an inquiry! Then it’s sometimes tempered by a bit of trepidation– do I have the right vision for this? Am I the right person for it? Can I make it my own? But that usually smoothes out pretty quick.
In the early phases of things, I often feel a little nervous, and might procrastinate productively– researching work, thinking about how I might challenge myself differently, and go for lots of walks to let my mind meander. When I get into sketches or ideation, I’m kind of in problem-solving mode so I’m trying to think more about what the project needs than how I feel about it. I get a little nervous when sending things along– hoping that the client is just as excited as I am about where it’s going. When I get feedback 99% of the time it makes me feel good– the project starts to become more real and my vision seems to be working, even if things need adjusting!
Inevitably when I get to final art, that’s when I get tested the most. Working as an illustrator, a project makes or breaks depending on your efforts– so whether a process is smooth sailing, or if I realize I set myself a big challenge to solve, it’s all got to get done! It’s a long time period and while a project may be really fun to work on, it’s really challenging if you wind up spending every day steeping in a project. I definitely have periods where I’m yelling at past-Meg for making something harder than it needs to be, or wishing I had more time to space things out. Of course you just have to keep working through all those little concerns. But eventually I start to see the light at the end of the tunnel– it becomes more real.
Once it’s done and off in the hands of the publisher, I’m thrilled because I don’t have to think about it for a little while– and then when I get it back in hand I’m usually pretty excited because it’s not just a series of images– it’s its own thing. A BOOK! Most of the time I forgive the things I wish I’d done better and I’m thrilled to see how it is received by other people– it’s not just my efforts anymore, it’s potentially someone’s new favorite story. That’s a good feeling.
Are there any “side-effects” to a long term picture book project for you? (for example: getting stuck in that project’s particular way of drawing/thinking even after it’s finished)
YES, definitely! I realize that there’s kind of a 'cool-down' period after any big project for me, whether I like it or not. There’s a few days where I luxuriate in not having to do anything, but I also feel like if I do try to work on something I’m still viewing success by the previous project’s parameters. So I need to ‘shake my muscles’ basically and have some non-project sketching days, taking in new inspiration sources, things like that.
I also sometimes have a hard time pivoting from a long project to a single image or personal piece; I think it’s kind of the side-effect of having total freedom and being indecisive about which way forward. Trying to get over that though!
Any thoughts / questions / declarations you want to add?
Big projects are big challenges but every time I try one, I learn something new about my practice. Sometimes that’s ‘well, I won’t do things THAT way again,’ and sometimes it’s ‘oh, this subject sparked something new in me’ or ‘maybe the next book I’ll push in this new way.’ I’m always excited for those learning opportunities!
Thanks Meg!!! And thanks everyone for reading!
I’ll tell ya, I have the next “Purposeful Practice” challenge started. It’s involved but will be so worth the effort! My next post will be telling you how all that works and what I’m even doing. :)
And I’m still on sub with my picture book, but about to send a revision to some editors. Wish me luck…this has been a long project for the ages…
xoxo Kayla 🥰
Good luck with your sub!! :)
This is so helpful and insightful! Thank you, Kayla and Meg. And good luck with your revision!!