I decided to refuse the Hide-and-Seek book about Paris, mainly because (a) big top views of a rather flat place do not work well in my twodimensional “dollhouse” perspectives (if Paris had more hills and stairs, it might actually have worked!), and (b) drawing a whole city which really exists makes me want to illustrate absolutely every detail I discovered there – but unfortunately, this would take several years. Besides, I realised that there are illustrators whose whole style is a much better fit for such a project – and that I don’t have to be able to draw everything.
At least the time I spent on this book which will never be published doesn’t feel wasted at all, because I learnt so much along the way (including a new, lighter and faster style!), I look at places differently, and I now have this huge archive of sceneries, details and characters I can use otherwise – not only for other projects, but also to rearrange excerpts to scenes I can show here, and which might become another, non Hide-and-Seek, book.
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