Creating the world of Tubba and Friends has always been a hands-on, heart-first process. Each character began as a simple sketch, shaped by imagination, curiosity, and a lot of trial and error. One of the trickiest parts? Choosing the right colors, ten characters, ten personalities, and no repeats. Every shade needed to match who they are, how they move, and how young readers might feel when they meet them.
Most of the early designs came from spontaneous sketch sessions with my daughter sitting beside me. She’d say, “Draw a penguin!” or “Draw a bear!” and I’d try to capture the idea from memory. From there, the real challenge began:
How would a bear hold a guitar? How should a tiger bounce while playing an accordion?
Drawing each pose meant figuring out shapes, angles, and gestures until everything felt natural and alive. It took months, sometimes weeks on a single pose, because the characters weren’t done until they felt right.
Every page of the first book was hand-drawn using pencil, markers, and colored pencils before being scanned and redrawn in Photoshop. It was a long process, but a joyful one, especially the day Dotty Pig’s farm came to life, rows of corn and all.
This is how the magic begins: not with perfection, but with patience, heart, and the belief that every character can become someone a child will love.
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