One of my favourite parts of illustrating a book is helping to design the cover – you get to sum up the whole story in one image.
Here’s how the cover for My Dead Bunny came about.
The first step was brainstorming. Here’s a bunch of little sketches (called ‘thumbnails’). I sent these to the team at Walker Books, and they picked their favourite 5.
I sketched up the 5 ideas in a little more detail and added some quick colour. 
Walker wasn’t sold on any of the 5, but wondered if a combination of version 3 and 4 might work. So I combined those two to make version 6:
… which became our final version. I was really happy with how this one turned out.
Buy ‘My Dead Bunny’ now
Booktopia (Australia)
Readings (Australia)
Dymocks (Australia)
Angus & Robertson (Australia)
Book Depository (UK)
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Author: James Foley
James makes books for courageous kids. He’s the author/illustrator of the S.Tinker Inc graphic novel series for middle primary: Brobot (2016) and Dungzilla (2017) star Sally Tinker, the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve, and Joe Tinker, her stinky baby brother. The third in the series, Gastronauts, will be published in late 2018. James’ earlier books My Dead Bunny (2015) In The Lion (2012), The Last Viking (2011) and The Last Viking Returns (2014) have all scored several honours, including children’s choice awards, shortlistings in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year awards, and selection to the International Youth Library’s White Raven list. James comes from a long line of queuing enthusiasts. Follow him on FB/twitter/insta @jamesfoleybooks, or at www.jamesfoley.com.au .
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