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| "Wake Up, Mermaids!" began as a picture book concept that all toddlers (and their parents!) can relate to: helping little ones settle down for the night with a routine of songs, bedtime stories, and goodnight kisses. But I wanted to give it a twist. What happens when one mermaid won't wake in the morning? Now, there's a mermaid that I, and many others, can relate to! I ran my manuscript by my critique group, a lovely group of talented writers and illustrators who I met through SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). Critique partners are great at asking questions, finding inconsistencies, and proofing--all the stuff that I'm blind to as I edit my own work. Also, creating children's books can also be a lonely ordeal, so if you don't have a critique group, I advise that you find one! Next was submitting "Wake Up, Mermaids!" I was thrilled that it was picked up by BeachHouse Publishing because I love working with the editor. Jane had some great suggestions, and with minor editing, the manuscript was ready for the next stage: illustrating! Every story has natural breaks and scenes, so I plot it out on a storyboard with thumbnail sketches.
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| Here's a sketch of the layout that you can compare to the finished art above. Each character has an avatar for their Shark Gram. And social media is no fun without emojis! |  |
Another idea derived from my nerdy childhood was to use the endpapers to illustrate the relative size of sharks as compared to Kai and Lehua.
 Growing up in Hawaii, you'd think I'd know a little about sharks--but there was much to learn! Threshers and great whites, blacktips versus whitetip oceanics (not to be confused with whitetip reef sharks)--so many sharks! This meant a lot of research and a lot of sketching.  | |
| My favorites were the deep-sea sharks. Did you know that Hawaii has two bioluminescent (glow-in-the-dark) lanternsharks? One was recently discovered in 2017. I studied photos of dried specimens and brought them to life through illustration. |  |
 The final illustrations were done in Procreate on an iPadPro. For more information about Shark Patrol, visit Mutual Publishing. And stay tuned...more videos from the creation of Shark Patrol will be posted on my YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnNilsL1o_gI_SReou04B9A | |
