When I first launched my personal project in January 2015, I never expected anything from it. I was drawing letters just for fun! I wanted a diversion from this melancholy that I can’t seem to get over with so the Type B personality in me thought of something better to do – for sanity’s sake.

I completed my alphabet and proceeded to making words and short quotes and 6 months after, I was contacted by Mini-Lou owner and Creative Director Carina Gardner if I can turn my alphabets into a coloring book! Imagine my surprise!

Before we began working on the project, I was asked to create a sample cover and a page insert. It was received well by my creative director and I ended up getting the job!

Immediately, I started gathering ideas and collecting inspiration. I had to focus more on how I can make the book more interesting and fun for the children. From the inspiration I gathered, I made a moodboard which I printed and I kept it posted on my wall so I can look at it from time to time.

So the actual work began with lettering the alphabet. The requirements for the coloring book is at least 5-6 letters but I worked on at least 10 variations for each letters so I’ll have enough options for the layout. The process was so much fun! Carina loves to work on a timeline but she gives you ample of time to work on your project and that’s what I love about her.

The entire process took more or less 4 months. Every single day, I’ve allocated time for drawing letters and working on illustrations. It was not until I finished all the sketches that I realized how much work I’ve put into this book! I have not felt anything about work but more on having fun doing it. My thoughts are always on the children who are going to use this book. How can I make it more fun for them?

When all the sketches are done, it’s time to ink all of them. So I went all the way back to letter A down to the very last piece of illustration. I’ve to do them all using tracing paper because I don’t have my lightpad back then yet. Nevertheless, it gets the job done and that’s what really matters. This phase took a few more days but laying it all out in Photoshop came easier. It’s finally time to breathe. 🙂

Nailing down the final cover was the last task. I purposely saved it after all the contents are done so I’ll have a better understanding on how to work on the cover and we decided to go with this!

The final steps is adding colors and textures to the final cover and The Little Alphabet Book of Hand-Lettered Type is done! First project – SUCCESS!

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This coloring book was released in January  2016 by Mini-Lou Kids along with my Wonderful World of Mandalas.

US CLIENTS

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Clients outside USA

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For wholesale inquiries, please email MiniLou  at info@mini-lou.com