Illustration - Picture Books

HOP! Little Hare

Published by Little Hare Books, with text by Margaret Wild, this charming picture book is all about relationships and growing up. Little Hare and Grandpa go on a quest. Little Hare hasn’t yet learnt to hop, but when Grandpa needs help, Little Hare does something so extraordinary he surprises the whole family!

You can buy it online at: www.angusrobertson.com.au, www.borders.com.au, www.collinsbooks.com.au, or order through your local bookshop.

Illustrating HOP! Little Hare

After a lengthy period defining the characters, costumes, setting, and style with the art-director, this story required three redraws on the way through the process. It took close to 400 hours work by the time I washed out my paint-brush! Was it worth it? Hell, yeah! And I got to design it as well, so the pics got the typography they deserved.

Style

Little Hare's art-director - David Francis, wanted a soft, nostalgic, water-colour look, reminiscent of Beatrix Potter, to match the sweet story. I also had to stay right away the character style used for an already-published book that used hares as the principal characters.

Characters

The obvious way to do this was to put them into clothing and behave more like humans. I started with Victorian clothes, but it all looked too stiff and starched, so I turned the family into a bunch of peasants or itinerant workers from a non-descript age that obviously isn't the present. They live in the open like hares, but use some human implements.

Setting

The story setting is a place that could be anywhere that has seasons, to appeal to the North American and European markets. It's also very similar to where I grew up and now live, in South-Eastern Australia - minus the gum-trees.