Problem: Article: These small, un-detailed sketches--only a square inch or two in size--will allow you to trace out the visual flow of the whole book. There’s no need to erase or revise these; just quickly draw and let your ideas flow. Focus on landscape design, focal points, and general scene layout. Focus on character development, exploring a range of potential expressions, postures, and moods for each character you intend to illustrate. You can use these as references throughout the whole illustration process. For example, if your main character begins the book in a sad state and ends happy, try drawing him or her in both poles of emotion, developing intermediate expressions in between. Each illustration you produce will eventually cover one or two pages of a physical book, so it’s important to match the dimensions of your sketch with those of your final product. Try creating a precise grid with a pencil and a ruler on your sketch paper before sketching your scenes.  If your illustrations cover two pages, make sure to mark the area occupied by the spine of the book, and avoid sketching important details in this space. Make sure to determine where the author intends to place the text on each page. Mark these areas with a grid, and avoid sketching over them with details. Your illustrations should seamlessly follow the plot of the book as printed on each page. Try to capture details portrayed in the story, and look for ways to subtly foreshadow events in coming pages with your images. Make sure each of your characters are easily identifiable across the entire book. Check for consistent clothing, coloration, and expressions. If characters are hard for children to identify across multiple spreads, they may struggle to follow the plot of the book. If you are illustrating for a client, be sure and run your sketches by them before proceeding. At this stage, images are relatively easy to alter or replace, and it is important to have the author’s full approval and feedback before you move on to painting. Using your study sketches for reference, resize your images to their target size and add any extra details--objects, textures, or scenery--you want to put in the illustration. To scale accurately, try creating a measured grid over your study sketches, and simply reproduce them one quadrant at a time in a larger grid scaled to your final dimensions.
Summary: Draw thumbnail sketches of the book. Draw some study sketches of your story. Create a sketching template. Work with the text. Check for consistency. Share your sketches with your client. Prepare final sketches of each spread.

Problem: Article: This is the most common reason students have for missing school. If you genuinely do not feel well or believe yourself to be ill, tell your parents and ask to stay home.  Many schools will ask that you stay home if you have an illness or other condition that could be contagious. Staying home allows you to recover and also prevents the spread of disease throughout the school. Generally, you should stay home if you have a fever, chills, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, sore throat, trouble swallowing, rash, unusual sores, unusual spots, earache, moderate to severe headache, moderate muscle ache, muscle pain, wheezing, difficulty breathing, red or burning eyes, or head lice.  You might also need to stay home if you are coughing, sneezing, or congested. Stay home until you are free of symptoms without medication for a period of 24 hours, if possible. For instance, if you have recently lost a family member, friend, or another individual who you were close to, your grief is a legitimate reason to stay home from school. Be honest with your parents about how deeply the loss has affected you.  If the tragedy affected you but did not affect your parents, you might worry that they will not understand your grief. Grief is a universal feeling, though, and most people can at least relate to it well enough to allow a grieving person time to work through it. Understand that, by necessity, your initial mourning period will need to have an end. Intense grief might last for a long time, and you might not be able to do anything about it on your own. If you do not feel capable of going to school after a few days to a week, though, you should consider talking to a counselor to help you work through your sorrow. If you are the victim of a bully or group of bullies at school, talk to your parents or legal guardians about it. Explain how difficult school life has become as a result of the bullying and ask to take a day or two off while the issues get sorted out.  Many students make the mistake of keeping quiet about their bullying. You might worry about seeming weak, being labeled a “tattletale,” or making things worse by talking about it. Nothing will ever get better if you do not take steps to put an end to the bullying, and during your adolescent years, getting help from parents, teachers, and other adults in your life is one of the most effective things you can do to get the bullying to stop.  Bullying can have long-term effects, such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Take care of your future self by speaking up about bullying when it happens. Tell your mom or dad that you’d like a special day with them, and ask them to call in sick from work. This plan might work especially well if you are graduating and moving away to college soon, or if it’s a light work day for you and your parent (e.g., you don’t have any tests or assignments due and your parent doesn’t have a pressing deadline). ” It’s important to talk to your parents about stress and anxiety. While adults occasionally forget just how stressful school life can be, the truth is that it really can be tough. If you are dealing with ordinary school-related stress, it might be more beneficial for you to push through. If stress, anxiety, and depression become more serious issues, though, let your parent or legal guardian know and ask for a day off. If you suspect that you might have a serious mental health issue, like depression or an anxiety disorder, ask your parents to schedule an appointment with your doctor, as well. Doing so can emphasize to your parents the severity of your stress, and if you do have an actual disorder, a trip to the doctor can help you get the disorder under control. In the event of a massive blizzard, major flooding, or other circumstances that make traveling to school dangerous, your school system might close for the day, regardless. If the conditions are hazardous and the school does not close, however, consider staying home. Usually, your parent or legal guardian can help determine if conditions are severe enough to justify staying home, so you might not need to do much persuading here. If your parents are staying home from work due to the weather, they will likely be more open to the idea of keeping you home from school, as well. A family vacation or visit from a relative who lives far away might give you a reason to be absent from school, but you should avoid missing school for reasons like this too often. Consider what you might miss if you go to school versus what you might miss if you stay home and work with your parents to decide of staying home is a valid option.  Note that many schools will not accept reasons like these as valid excuses. If this is the case with your school, you will need to let your parents know so that they can tell the school you will be absent without providing a reason. Typically, if you know that you will be home from school ahead of time, your parent or legal guardian should write a note for you to take in a day or two before your planned absence. This will give your teachers time to prepare work for you to take home over your absence.
Summary:
Let your parents know if you are sick. Stay home after a tragedy. Be honest if bullying is a problem. Ask to play hooky. Get permission for a “mental health day. Stay home if weather or other environmental conditions require it. Take other special circumstances into consideration.