Earth Day!

Today we are celebrating Earth Day 2011 with a visit behind the making of Compost Stew: An A-to-Z Recipe for the Earth, by Mary McKenna Siddals, illustrated by Ashley Wolff. It’s the perfect book to share — and not just for its timely ecological theme. The artwork — beautifully composed collages created from recycled materials — really walks the earth-walk with cheer.

To set the groundwork for a visual narrative, illustrator Ashley Wolff opens with the setting — an outdoor homestead featuring 6 recurring characters (2 girls, 2 boys, a dalmatian, and a goose), all busily enlisted to carry out culling together the ingredients for making compost in a huge caldron-like bin.

Preliminary sketch for text opening spread

This revised sketch is tighter, with the dog engaged with newly-added goose.

You can see all six characters in the final version (below). Make sure to click directly on the image to check out the red-haired girl’s attire. . . .

Final art for spread 4-5

Here’s the source for the storyline: The real compost stew.

Author Mary McKenna Siddals lively rhyming text instructions for cooking up dark, crumbly, rich, earth-friendly compost begins by calling out ingredients alphabetically.

Preliminaries are begun with a thumbnail storyboard.

Thumbnail storyboard for "Compost Stew"

Compost is layered. The same goes for assembling recycled papers and other assorted bits and pieces for each character.

Here is an early character study. Note customized tailoring of the dress.

Early sample for establishing characterization and art style

We follow all 6 characters as they team up on their endeavor. As we get to know them, we look out for them on each page.

By the end, they celebrate their success, against the background of a vast vegetable field. And when they check their compost caldron,  it’s filled with rich, crumbly compost, and happily wiggling worms!

Worms contribute to the sweet scent of compost

"Apple cores; Bananas, bruised; Coffee grounds with filters, used..."

Final art for pages 6-7

Here’s G, as in Grass clippings; and H, as in Hair snippings, plus “… an Insect or two…”

Preliminary sketch for "G"

Check out the dog, writhing in the grass. And the goose — its wings are edged with marbleized paper!

Final art for "G"

It’s clear that Ashley developed an organized system for categorizing her recycled materials by color, texture, pattern — exactly the same way any artist would store their paints.

Preliminary sketch for entries "H" and "I"

This would serve her well in maintaining a consistent appearance between each character. For example, the red-headed cover girl wears the same green striped dress and newsprint apron (with dates and type patterns varied in delightful ways) throughout most of the narrative, and the other characters are handled the same way.

Final art for entries "H" and "I"

Here’s Ashley hunting down potential art supplies while researching ingredients for Compost Stew.

Preliminary sketch for entries Q, R, and S

Revised sketch for Q, R and S entry

Final version of Q and R

Final art for S

Rough sketch for W

Revised sketch for W

Final art for "Wiggly worms with compost cravings..."

Hmmm. Doesn’t the red-headed heroine look like Ashley?

Published by Tricycle Press, Compost Stew came out right at the time the company was subsequently acquired by Random House. While its original acquiring editor, Joanne Meivi Taylor, is no longer on board, the book is gradually gaining traction.

Spread the word to friends and colleagues about composting (and ingenious art creation through recycling) with Compost Stew!

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