I’m delighted to introduce “Summy and Izzy in a Tizzy”. Julia Turnbull and I have written and illustrated this children’s book together, and I hand lettered it. Check out our website at www.thealynnandjulia.com.

When my friend Julia asked me to write a children’s book with her, I immediately said yes. Publishing a children’s book had been in the back of my mind for a long time. Julia’s idea for the book was based on a true story. She had taken her granddaughter to the park, brought along a banana for a snack, and a squirrel stole the banana. We cast ourselves as Nana and Gigi and developed the story to include our three-year-old granddaughters, Summer and Izzy.

Please let me know if you'd like to buy a copy.

Julia and I agreed vibrant intense colours were a priority. All of the backgrounds are alcohol ink on yupo or similar paper. We created many pages with interesting textures in brilliant hues and used colour photocopies of this original artwork to collage the characters, park equipment and of course the squirrel.

As a calligrapher, it was important to me that the text be entirely hand written. When most people think of calligraphy they think beautiful or elaborate writing. Lettering must suit the words and artwork. It was important that it be easily read by a young child learning to read and that it not look perfect. To develop the lettering, I created many samples of writing using different tools, inks and paper. The lettering needed to be consistent through the book and easily reduced in size for the pages with more text. We also wanted to be able to change the words from black to a lighter colour on some of the darker pages and therefore I avoided lines that were too thin. I decided to use my folded ruling pen and Sumi ink on Strathmore Charcoal paper. Sample lettering and pages from the book are below. Click on the image to make it larger.