Olivier Dunrea's Blog

Working on a new picture book that I have had in my mind for a few years now. I wrote the story in September of this year and have been experimenting with the colour layouts.

The buildings will be a bit brighter. But I do like the contrast between the bright figures and the background.

This was the very first practice piece.

I love working with cut-out figures so that I can quickly see if a layout works or not.

The cut-out figures are all in the archives here in the studio. When I do the finished artwork all new figures will be created and used for the book.

Here is the original piece of artwork.

If this was a finished piece of art the ‘ghost tree’ would be larger.

The idea started on a scrap piece of kraft paper. I liked the starkness of this composition.

Playing around with adding other figures. I would move the text block to a higher position. I wanted to see how the figures would look overlapping the text block.

I experimented with making the book more appealing for the youngest readers. As much as I like this idea I like the black background layouts better.

And, of course, the cat’s legs are completely wrong. But I like the idea.

I like the shape of the hill in this layout better than the other one.

The trim size for the book would be 9 ½” x 9 ½” or 10″ x 10″. The font is Papyrus. The medium is gouache.

As I work on the layouts I saw a pattern emerging that I will definitely use in the finished art. At first I thought the Old Woman would have a cow, then I decided she would have a large pig (Guardian), but then when I found the old cut-out of the Old Woman with here little dog pulling a wooden cart with a pumpkin in it I knew this was the right combination. The pumpkin in the cart provides the motivation as to WHY the Old Woman was out and about on All Hallows Eve.

A couple years ago my editor asked me if I would consider writing a mystery novel for middle readers. At the time had no ideas for the story, characters, setting, etc. But, now I do. I have to finish a long overdue picture book deadline and then I can concentrate on writing the mystery. It took me about two hours to come up with the idea, the plot, the characters, the title, the setting, etc.

I have written the Overview as well as the thirteen chapter headings and basic progression of the story in each chapter.

Because I am too well known as the author/illustrator of the Gossie & Friends books I will write the mystery novel under a different name—just to prevent confusion.

Here are a few front cover layouts that I did just for fun:

The Vampyre Room Boxes continue to grow as more details are added. In the Spring 2025 we are building a new barn studio just for the projects and work I do creating the Vampyre Room Boxes. It will also provide much more room to display the room boxes. My Illustration Studio will go back to being just for illustrating books and doing graphic design and board game design.

Here are a few recent photos. These two Vampyre Room Boxes are in our bedroom nestled in amongst all the vampyre books.

We hope that everyone had a festive and snowy Yuletide season with lots of snow! We had snow here at Henwoodie. Our herd of deer has grown to about 40 and keep us busy throughout the winter months keeping them fed and close by and safe.

Summer is here and that means spending a good amount of time in the gardens. The gardens this year are the most lush and beautiful than ever. It’s going on 30 years since we moved here from Philadelphia and the gardens and trees are maturing and have become established.

We bought two new weathervanes: Sperm Whale and Great White Shark. We spend a good amount of time on Cape Cod and in Provincetown. The new weathervanes remind of us of our most wonderful times on the Cape.

Henwoodie at dusk.

I have been hard at work in the studio finishing book deadlines and working on the Vampyre Room Boxes. The large Room Box (that houses both Indiana Jones and a few of the vampyres is coming along nicely.

I took a couple quick photos with my iPhone this evening and John tweaked them in PhotoShop.

My original iPhone photo.

John’s tweaked photo.

My original photo.

John’s tweaked version.

Here is the Room Box as I’m working on it:

I recently found the antique miniature globe that is made in Italy and it’s perfect for the Indiana Jones scene.

Here are a few of the leather tubes that I made.

This is the mummy that I made to chase after Indiana Jones.