The making of Eli's Kite Adventure
Eli’s Kite Adventure is a story, that I wrote and illustrated, about a boy who learns to overcome his fears.
You can order the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CV7WL3D5
Many of the hundreds of drawings on my Instagram feed are the products of the various drawing challenges I’ve participated in.
One of the drawing challenge prompts was “kite”, and this is what I decided to draw.
I don’t remember what gave me the idea to add a boy flying on top of the kite, but soon after I finished drawing it, I started wondering what could be the story that could have led up to this scene.
I spent a brainstorming session developing the story. As someone who finds much meaning in helping people lead better lives, it was important to me to have a story with a strong, positive message.
This was my initial rough draft of the story. I refined it many times as I worked on the thumbnail sketches.
Summary: Boy carried away by kite learns to enjoy the experience
Boy (Alex) sees other flying kites, wants to do it too.
Runs home to grab kite from toy chest.
Mishaps: hits neighbor, stuck in tree.
Sad as walks home.
Passes shop selling beautiful kite.
In the shop, shop dog barks at him and he gets scared.
Shop owner, “Hey there sonny, Buster’s really a friendly dog.
It’s okay to be scared.”
Shop owner tells him it’s okey to be scared, but remember that courage is being scared and facing that fear.
Store owner gives him a magic kite.
Next day, he goes back to those kids.
Flies great … too great and carries him away.
Scared.
Kite racing through trees, high, low.
Remembers that courage is being scared and facing that fear.
This helps him think clearly and realize he can control the kite.
Soars happily home.
Goes to shop and gives dog affectionate rub behind the ears.
These are a few of the sketches I made as I planned the layout and pacing of the book. It was very important for me that the poses and expressions clearly communicated the emotions of the characters.
Fun fact: I completed nearly all of the sketches from the book while on an international flight. Lots of time with no distractions! Though with expensive airline prices, I don’t necessarily recommend doing this just to be more productive.
In the finished pages, you can also see my love for organic textures.
You can view more pages from the book and order your own print and digital copies from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CV7WL3D5