Turning My Art Into a Crinkly Baby Book
A few months ago I purchased a fantastic handmade crinkle book from Pretend Bookshop, and it inspired me to convert my own illustrations into a fabric book for my sister’s baby shower. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at this one-of-a-kind baby gift!
Book Cover of “Linus & Louie Teach Their Brother…”
My Process
My sister has two adorable Ragdolls, who of course had to be main characters. I practiced drawing a lot of cats in different poses and styles. Sketchy, painterly… and ultimately decided that a graphic and flat approach would best translate to being printed on fabric, since the weave adds a lot of texture. I also wanted to incorporate a bold color palette inspired by the high contrast colors in my babies’ favorite Indestructibles book, “Touch Your Nose.”
The princes themselves, and reference photo for my back cover.
Painterly cat was fun, but for the book I wanted the background to be a flat color for flexibility while adjusting each page layout.
Kitty line drawing for our baby shower invitations.
It was a challenge to find cat reference photos in the poses I was looking for, especially since cat anatomy is kind of wild – HOW are cats so flexible?! After drawing multiple versions, I started to see characters with consistent traits emerge, like pointy chest fur, dainty feet, and wide pentagon-shaped heads.
For weeks I was sketching lots and lots of cats!
I made a loose “book map” with the text, rough sketches, and color layout. I wanted to ensure that pages looked different from one another by varying the viewer’s position (up close, bird’s eye view, etc.) and by including scene elements (bassinet, cake, berets).
I used Procreate on my iPad to create my illustrations, specifically with brushes from Bardot Brush’s Midcentury Illustrator’s Kit. I used Adobe Illustrator on my laptop for creating templates and playing with text/layout. There was a lot of exporting, switching programs, nudging, and re-working to this process.
I knew I wanted to print my artwork using Spoonflower (Signature Petal Cotton). I used Adobe Illustrator to create a pattern that would be printed directly on the fabric, so the seamstress (my mom!) would know how to assemble the spreads with appropriate seam allowance and bleed.
I shipped the printed fabric to my mom, and she took it from there. She purchased cotton batting and crinkle paper, sewed up a few copies, and even included a ribbon “scratching post” in the center spread as a nice sensory touch.
This is the image I uploaded directly to Spoonflower.
Finished Crinkle Book
Here’s a full flip-through of the finished book. I can’t wait for my nephew to arrive and for his big kitty brothers to read this to him!
Linus & Louie Teach Their Brother…
How to Chase and How to Climb
How to Scratch with ribbon “Scratching Post”
The ribbon is a fun tactile detail!
How to Stretch and How to Bake
How to Nap
