I am thrilled to introduce four characters that will appear in the first story in a series of picture books I have been working on since last year. In the book titled When the Sun Came Out At Night, Koa lives on a small island with his wife Hana and their children Elio and Aolani.
Very soon, you will be able to pre-order signed copies of When the Sun Came Out At Night. These picture books are inspired directly by my award-winning book Sun Night. The sun is an important character in each story in the series set in different scenarios around the world. The children’s book audience is 5- to 8-year old.
THE STORY
When the Sun Came Out At Night takes us to a quiet night on an island far away from our realities, perhaps in a different time in the past or the future. The only inhabitants, Koa and his family are neighbors of a massive and mysterious volcano. Okay, I won’t spoil the story, you’ll have to wait and see what happens.
THE ILLUSTRATIONS
I have felt so driven and inspired to support, highlight, and elevate the incredible talent of our Latino artists, and was lucky to come across Costa Rican artist Sergio Gillén. I discovered an immediate connection to Sergio’s work when thinking about the styling and visual direction for this children’s book project. Through his conceptual portfolio, you can quickly make sense of his level of artistic intuition when illustrating scenes and landscapes in a very unique style. For me, it is such a special gift and opportunity to collaborate with another Latino artist and to see how the story comes to life through this partnership. Follow Sergio on Instagram @sergioguillenillustration or his fine arts personal page @sergioguillenberrocal.
After the arduous work of character development, we moved on to illustrate the pages of the book, then worked on the layout and typesetting. The finished product is inspired by light and color, something that I hope also elevates storytelling to new heights.
