Sam
3 weeks before my daughter was due I received an email from Ann Starr, Publisher for Upper Hand Press based in Ohio. She was interested in branching out into children's books & had a wonderful story called 'Sam' she wanted me to illustrate. The story is about a little girl who moves to Iowa & is narrated by Sam's elderly neighbour who tells us about his brief time living next to Sam & the grandfather/granddaughter relationship they form. After a couple of months to get the hang of Motherhood I started work on the drafts for the interior illustrations & the cover. By July the book was around 3/4 of the way there when unfortunately it was decided there was not enough funding to continue with the book. It was very unfortunate that this commission had to end this way as I was very excited to have my first children's book published. However I have been left with some beautiful children's book illustrations & some valuable experience in the world of publishing. These are a selection of finished & nearly finished pages from the book. I have blurred parts of the text to protect the authors story, but have left a few sentences clear for you to get a taste of what the book would have been like.