How to Illustrate the Bible in Picture Book Format
In this post you will learn how I illustrated the picture book version of the Bible, Branch: A Resurrection Story written by Rebecca Janni.
Peak Christian children’s book
When I received this project, I immediately asked myself what else could top this story in the Christian children’s books genre that I have been illustrating so far. In Praise Him! by Lauren Chandler, I interpreted the song through a day in a life of a child. In Lullaby for the King by Nikki Grimes, I created the whimsical animal art for the nativity. In Past Watchful Dragons by Rose John Sheffler, I created scenes complete with dragons out of the fairy tale retelling of Biblical stories. With Branch, I was practically tasked with illustrating the Bible in picture book format. As soon as I read the manuscript I knew the assignment right away. It’s the kind of religious themed stories that I would say “yes” to because it is not a straightforward and literal retelling of the Biblical events. Rebecca Janni’s poetry used branches as a metaphor to the growth and spread of the Christian faith. I was attracted to the challenge of illustrating in my own decorative style the Bible story in picture book format.
Research and references
As a standard practice of mine, I dove right into research. I knew I had to incorporate trees and plants but I also wanted to use Christian symbolisms and West Asian regional flora and fauna as well as culturally and period appropriate costumes and objects.
The idea was to represent the Biblical events as plants: the fig tree in the Old Testament, the olive tree in the New Testament, and the grape vine for Easter. The stylized “Tree of Life,” which depicts a growing tree symbolized the cycle of life on earth became the dust jacket art and the stylized palm trees that form like the arched entry ways of Christian churches featured the hardcover.
My research ranged from searching for West Asian flora and fauna, especially the birds habituating this region including North Africa to the origins of the universe. I cross-referenced the Biblical timeline to the Big Bang and cosmological timeline while being fully aware that they won’t match. I brushed up on my understanding of evolution and then compared the genealogy of Jesus. All of these are extra, I know, but my curiosity could not be satisfied. I learned about Jewish burial traditions to 1st century Palestinian clothing and Roman crucifixion methods including tools and materials used in the crown of thorns. The research I had already done for Lullaby for the King was especially substantial for the birth of Jesus spread. I read books about Christian art and mapped out the verses in the Bible described in Rebecca’s manuscript to keep me on track.
Since the climax of this story is the Christ’s resurrection, I wanted to incorporate gold, the color of Easter. I then took inspiration from the magnificent Byzantine mosaics, medieval tapestries, insular manuscript illuminations from Ireland and Great Britain and East Asian gold leaf screens to the awe-inspiring masterpieces of Hieronymus Bosch and my forever idol, Gustav Klimt. Contemporary fine art such as Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes’ densely layered ornamental pieces and German artist Olaf Hajek’s surreal tree paintings as well as my own ornate fine art work all lend to the overall decorative visuals of this book.
While traveling to Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and Germany I visited churches to study the Christian medieval art and architecture and feel that awe and resulting neck pain from tracing the patterned tiled floors and pillars to the intricate stained glass windows all the way up to the glorious cathedral domes. I kept in mind the whimsical architecture of Antonio Gaudi and Friedensreich Hundertwasser and skimmed through the snapshots from my past travels in Barcelona and Vienna. In Belgium I attended a workshop by acclaimed French illustrator Rébecca Dautremer to pick her brains out in creating the unorthodox art for Une Bible, during which she showed her original work. Gasp! I also heavily referenced one of my favorite illustrators, Austrian and Hans Christian Andersen Literature awardee Lisbeth Zwerger, who incidentally also have an illustrated version of the Bible. I wanted to understand how they treated the visual storytelling and to also note what had been already done.
At lunch breaks, I watched documentaries, movies and series about the Biblical creation, birth and passion of Christ and of course scoured the Internet on any related topic that came up while working on the sketches. As for ambient music, I was hooked into Hildegard von Blingin’ (not the German nun von Bingen, the OG superstar of the Middle Ages) and Hans Zimmer's epic soundtracks for months. It was all fun!
Gold was my choice of dominant color to symbolize Easter and early Christian art.
The cover art
At the start of the briefing, I asked if the client would be open to gold foil or Pantone gold ink. Gold was my choice of dominant color to symbolize Easter and early Christian art. Think of the Book of Kells, Lindisfarne Gospels, medieval book of hours, Byzantine icons and the mosaics of Ravenna, which inspired Klimt’s golden period. Personally I have been wishing for a gold cover art since I held Charlotte Gastaut’s Sleeping Beauty and if I’m being honest, to finally veer away from most of my children’s book covers in shades and tints of blue. The mood board I created reflected this look and palette.
There were minimal tweaks in some spreads but there was a few back and forth with the background color of the dust jacket. I defended my decision up to a point of suggesting another color way except blue but upon request of my art director, I cave in, on the condition that I get to keep the yellow-gold hard cover. At the end of the day, the book has to sell and for that to happen the cover must really catch attention not only on the shelves but also on web thumbnails and so I digitally alchemized gold into what I baptized as “Genesis blue” to tie in with the dark space in the first spread.
At the end of the day, the book has to sell and for that to happen the cover must really catch attention not only on the shelves but also on web thumbnails...
The “Tree of Life” was to be the focal point on the cover largely based on my earlier stylized tree paintings. It is a melange of the foliage and animals from the manuscript and Christian symbols. For example, the fish, or the Greek Ichthys (ΙΧΘΥΣ) was codename for “Jesus” by early Christians in hiding, whereas the lion denotes Jesus as the “Lion of Judah” or the “King of the Universe” in the book of Revelation. The white dove is the Holy Spirit, giver of gifts to the faithful while a lesser known iconic bird, the peacock, was a symbol of resurrection as well as glorious spiritual renewal for early Christians. Coincidentally in Lisbon, I stalked a wandering peacock out of nowhere to understand its form and feather distribution when viewed from above, which is now immortalized in the pages of this book.
I wanted to repeat my style and design of a bird themed deck of cards box featuring stylized trees for the hardcover.
The hardcover layout echoed the case artwork of The Beginner Birder’s Deck. It was meant to look like an entrance to a church and the beginning of this story. The palm trees with stylized trunks stood in for the towering patterned pillars, the fronds formed pointed arches and the rising sun reflected the rose window, reminiscent of Gothic style churches. You will remember that the palm was also the foliage that welcomed Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
The art
What makes this picture book stand out from other picture book versions of the Bible is the use of the tree metaphor. My illustrations honored the botanical motif. The chapters are represented by Biblical plants: the fig tree, olive and grape vine. The manuscript did not specify which tree I should feature. It was my creative decision to divide the Biblical events into trees and plants that were ubiquitous in the scriptures. Although unverified, in Jewish tradition the fig tree was thought of to be the “Tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” whereas an olive branch signaled the resurgence of land after the great flood that paved the way to the new lineage of ancestors in the New Testament until the scene at the Garden of Gethsemane, which was aptly an olive grove. Meanwhile, Jesus referred to himself as the “true vine” and so I associated that to his resurrection and the spread of Christianity, like a trailing but structured grape vine, all through the modern world. I tried to create this dynamic zooming in and out movement as you turn each page as though the branches are really spreading out because the lyrical text of Rebecca was simply calling for it.
Before I began conceptualizing and sketching, I asked several questions to guide my work. I wanted to know if the art direction is going to be entirely symbolic and abstract or should there be a balance between figurative and decorative elements. I had to make sure if I was expected to personify God similar to Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” and show Jesus’ crucifixion as well as Adam and Eve in the nude. Learning from my experience in Lullaby for the King, where the characters were revised in the last minute, I verified which ethnicity must I represent the people. Lastly, how scientifically, historically and geographically accurate should we be?
I intended from the beginning to use my own decorative paintings of trees and mandala-like organic structures. The rounded form is a universal symbol of continuity and regeneration, two concepts that are emphasized in this story.
As for the overall look, the art leaned heavily on ornate and epic magical realism that follows a zooming in and out flow of scenes as you turn the pages. Dominant colors are gold, blue and green with pops of vermillion. I even used real lapis lazuli pigment, which to my dismay was not ultramarine enough for Mary's garment as well as mix bronze pigments to produce a golden hue even though I knew the texture and sheen will translate incorrectly in digital scans. This was intentional as I was after the grainy texture of the pigment on paper imitating the mosaic walls of Byzantine churches.
To add more visual interest I also stole graphic elements from across the 2 millennia of Christian art like the patterned borders and minuscule medallions that decorated the pages of illuminated manuscripts.
Jesus' family tree needed to be addressed since the manuscript enlisted the ancestors. However, I was not particularly keen on illustrating a portrait of each individual as is commonly seen in religious paintings, and so I chose birds found in the region instead. This way, I can show how crowded a tree can become that may cause its downfall, which then leads to the great flood double-page spread. In this manner, I was able to hit several story points in one brush stroke. The red ark was basically a nod to Lisbeth Zwerger’s work in Noah’s Ark by Janisch Heinz plus the fact that red earth, aka ochre, aka iron oxide is an ancient pigment used in ship building throughout human history because it’s a natural rust inhibitor. Red also catches the viewer's attention and pops right out of the page.
As for the life of Jesus, I did not want to resort to clichéd imagery nor show gore and blood for the young readers. We see those everywhere anyway: in books, movies and likewise inside churches and museums. The reason why I studied Zwerger and Dautremer's versions of the Bible was to see what else is possible. Moreover, I'm not particularly fond of utilizing vignettes, a book design device used by illustrators to divide the pages into smaller scenes. It breaks the visual flow and the lyrical poetry. To break the page, I used the negative space within the scene. The decorative elements, the red teardrop shapes, symbolize the blood of Christ, which denotes his sacrifice that saved humankind from sins. Honestly, I can spend an entire day explaining the meaning of each element on every page!
The olive tree represented the New Testament and it functioned as a living witness to Jesus' ministry and passion. In the spread where I could have used vignettes showing his life's work, I chose to illustrate the beginning of his ministry as "fisher of men." Not only were his future disciples literally fishing, the birds were expert catchers as well. The olive branches continued to the next page and chapter of his life, the passion of Christ, without showing the violence of crucifixion. Note that the branches formed a cross on his broken back. Note that the crow signaled death. Note that I also posed for this scene.
The reason why I studied Zwerger and Dautremer's versions of the Bible was to see what else is possible.
The process
My technique is hybrid, meaning I combine traditional and digital techniques. For this project, I had to make some changes in my usual workflow. I wanted to make large scale paintings so I made sure that the sketches were clear and easily traceable. First, I hand drew the rough idea, scanned, digitally traced over the pencil drawing and tweaked when necessary. In my experience, detailed sketches also reduce elaborate explanation to the client as well as the rounds of feedback before coloring. Once the concept was defined and sketches were approved, extensive technical steps were needed to color each spread.
After tracing, everything was hand painted using watercolors. Usually the elements of the scene are painted separately with the exception of a few full paintings done up to 200% scale than the actual book format. For instance the resurrection spread and the Earth spread were done in one go as though it was a fine art painting although I still needed to add the background and a few more details digitally. These were scanned in 600 DPI to capture more details and then composed and finalized in Photoshop. I can have more than 100 layers in a file but with Branch, I decided to minimize the steps to save time because I had two more books lined up and I was already getting sick.
Ars gratia artis
An interviewer asked about what surprised me when making this book. My response was that it was astounding how much ingrained in my memory the Bible stories were, when I thought I was just daydreaming during Religion class or Holy Mass. That’s what I meant by understanding the assignment right away.
The irony of being an illustrator of four Christian books to date is that I have been a non-believer for quite some time now and the prospect of illustrating the Bible initially conflicted with my non-existing belief. Should I be doing this? Can I do this? My natural response was, why not? I was merely illustrating not preaching. Unlike the talented and gracious authors I had the pleasure of working with, who wrote through the gift of divine inspiration, I simply created for art's sake. The Renaissance masters were not commissioned because of their faith. They got the job because they were willing to travel abroad when summoned, carve marbles from mountains and climb up to the ceilings of those basilicas. Art was the medium to communicate God's message to the illiterate. Grandiose cathedrals were built not only to commune them but also to make them stay and marvel and look up the heavens. All because a picture paints a thousand words.
My job was to make it easier for the young readers to understand the metaphor of branches as a growing Christian family tree through my illustrations. Besides, I illustrate myths and fairy tales all the time without believing in mythological creatures and fairies. I treat these genres and all of my book projects with equal respect and dedication through research and representation. Of course I will treat this beautifully written text the same way! The Bible is one of the most significant literary works based on a major period of human history that brought great influential change to the world as we know today. I was a practicing Catholic and religious person for most of my life. I was born into, raised and educated in the moral teachings of the Gospels. We didn't have a variety of picture books, but we had the ten volumes of the Bible Story by Arthur S. Maxwell. Weekdays are for school catechisms and Sundays are for homilies. I was even the lead in the village choir and high school rock band. I know the verses, the psalms and the terminologies. I even studied art history and wrote a paper in Byzantine Art. The visual culture of Catholicism is still one of my special interests. All of these were foundational to make these pages come to life. So I asked myself again, should I make this book? I said, let's do this!
I know these stories by heart and I’m all for telling stories through making good art. I only hope I had brought fresh perspective to the Bible stories and rendered Rebecca's lyrical poetry justice.
Creating the art of Branch was an epic undertaking yet the most fulfilling I have done so far, because it led me to this definitive point in my artistic growth. I’m grateful this project found me, and I hope to continue exploring this style of visual storytelling.
“It was apparently really difficult to find an illustrator of this book since they needed someone capable of tackling both the literal and metaphorical in their art. Michelle Carlos came through in a big way, and there’s an illustrator note at the end of the book that discusses the depth of research she did to create this art. For example, she did a survey of 2,000 years of art before creating this. Absolutely beautiful results.” (Betsy Bird, School Library Journal)
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