This week Robbi is working hard on the next Idiots’Book, which is due out to the subscribers in a week or so. The book in question is one I wrote a long time ago—seven years ago, in fact (it was part of my failed graduate school application portfolio of 2005). Back then it was called “Charlemagne and His Men” and was not meant to be illustrated.

At some point, Robbi realized that what it really needed was pictures and decided that she was the person to illustrate it. That sounded good to me, but we scratched our heads wondering what the style and format should be.

Our first idea was to imagine it as an illuminated manuscript. Given the subject matter (kings and soldiers and battles, etc.), this seemed like a great idea. Until we realized how long it was going to take. The blistering pace imposed by the subscription model makes it hard to take on time-consuming projects (not that we haven’t violated this rule of thumb from time to time). Here was the first sketch.

I do love that multi-colored vine that stretches up and down the left-hand side of the page. But this approach was not to be.

Our next idea was to tell the story of Charlemagne in sketchbook format, as if the narrative (and the accompanying illustrations) were the product of Charlemagne’s own pen, hand-scrawled observations from the seat of his horse, perhaps. But as we pondered that approach, we decided it would be better suited for a different book, The Vast Sahara.

I love how this book turned out. It is one of my very favorites of our collaborations, and I was happy to let Charlemagne wait a bit longer.

In fact, he disappeared for several years as we took on other projects, but lately (and I’m not sure exactly why), he came to mind again, and this time, Robbi had a clear idea of how he should be illustrated.

I should say that this entire book will be illustrated on Robbi’s Wacom drawing tablet. Everything. From the linework to the faux-watercolor painting (see below).

Here is Robbi at work. She is listening to The Daily Show while she works. I am jealous because I cannot listen to anything while I work.

Here’s the basic process for this book (told from the perspective of a Photoshop Luddite).

First, she does a black-and white line drawing.

Simple enough, right? I could imagine drawing the above with a paper and pencil. If I could draw, that is.

The reality is that Photoshop is incredibly complex.

The image below shows some of the various palettes Robbi uses to do her thing. She picks colors from the swatches palette (that little grid of colors). She does all the linework on one “layer” and all of her coloring on another “layer.” Think of layers as two pieces of glass with different elements on them. Looking at them together, they seem to form one image, but each only contains part of the information.

The image below is the same content as the black and white sketch from above, with the color blocks filled in (think back to the bucket tool from Mac Paint, if any of you played with that back in the day).

As much as I like how the image above looks, it’s just a step along the way. By creating solid color blocks, Robbi has a base on which to create a separate watercolor texture for each of the individual elements.

This is how the final looks.

The book is now called Sisyphus Rex, and it will be mailed to subscribers a few weeks from now.

I leave you with this detail. Soon it will be textured and will look very different. But I like the pink king and green horse and blue boy.

Sometimes it’s the undercoat of things that are even more interesting than what we deem fit to share with the world.