My latest project has come to fruition. An illustrated children’s book based on the story of Joseph in the Bible.

The story of the illustrations actually began about forty years ago, at the boys week at Auchenfoyle Bible camp, where I was asked to create a series of drawings illustrating the story of Joseph for the morning class that year.

I got a big roll of wallpaper backing paper and drew the scenes each day, with black & white felt tip pens. Donnie Black, one of the camp leaders, very practically hit on the idea of mounting the roll of paper on two sticks, so that the illustrations could be progressively unfurled each day as the speakers told the next part of the story to the boys.

 

By the end of the week, the illustrated ‘scroll’ stretched halfway round the walls of the dining hall. However, all good things come to an end. I took the rolled up ‘scroll’ of illustrations home and stuck it in a cupboard, where it remained for several years while I got on with life, with only the occasional outing when it was borrowed by an old friend who asked if they could use it in their Sunday School.

After I retired, I self-published a few books, including my autobiography and some old diaries my father’s maternal grandparents had kept. The process of compiling and publishing these books made me aware of the new digital tools available to the author/illustrator. Then, I came across the Dr Seuss books, which my grandchildren really enjoyed reading with their dad. I thought to myself, if I re-wrote the story of Joseph in verse, I could use the old drawings I did at Auchenfoyle camp to illustrate the story as a children’s book!

Thus was born the idea of “JOSEPH The Epic Poetic!”

The first job was to put the story into verse. Easier said than done! After two years of trial and error, writing and re-writing, I had a reasonable draft, and was ready to marry the verses to the illustrations. Meanwhile, I scanned the original illustrations into Procreate and embarked on a year-long journey, first teaching myself Procreate, then adding realistic texture and colour to the original drawings.

I published the first version as an A4 sized paperback and then reduced the drawings slightly for the more compact 7″ X 10″ hardback edition.

Now all I have to do is market the book. My YouTube video is here – next stop TikTok!