A Taiwanese publisher has commissioned me to illustrate a new children’s interactive book for children aged 4+. These are just some illustrations from one page from the book. So this post contained some of the creepy crawly creatures illustrations I illustrated for them.

I really like this project because it’s very challenging but also a lot of fun to illustrate. I would never ever personally illustrate insects or scorpions but because of this project I have to and while I’m getting goosebumps illustrating they so far look really good. I see this forced positive energy as a good thing in helping me becoming a better illustrator and also the client so far has been really happy with what I’ve done.

The most difficult part in creating illustrations of bugs/insects is finding good reference photos, looking at them closely and drawing them. As mentioned I’ve been getting goosebumps and I’m having to transform scary looking insects into cute creatures for young children. So far I’m really happy with everything.

The other difficult part of this project is how to give the insects a 3D look. Instead of a 2D single angle the client wants all of the illustrations to havre depth so I’ve been adding lots of shadows and gradients to make things look more 3D. The other key point for illustrations for children are to try to make things look rounder, more colourful and more fun.

I’m going to illustrate lots of musical instruments for my next chapter and I really can’t wait for that. Stay tuned!

Ryan the Rhino Beetle: 

Salvador the Scorpion:  

Pierre the Garden Snail: 

Vivienne the spider girl:

Andy the little ant: 

Lucas the locust: