Extras In A Book

When I wrote "Fern," every character was intended to be the focus, with perhaps the exception of the neighbors. Also, most of the characters were birds! As I've been illustrating my newest book, I'm finding that many characters are merely extras. In saying that, though, as they say in theater, "there are no small roles, only small actors." Take, for instance, the book "Where's Waldo?" I had never considered how many characters were on each page! Waldo was the main character, but someone had to create multiple short stories for every person drawn in each scene, not to mention all those outfits! I'm devoting so much time to each character, whether their role is big or small, but I feel this is time well spent.

I'm including a video where I'm drawing hair and adding final details to a dancer who will be in the same class as the protagonist of my story.