IV Serpa International Award for Picturebooks

•

"Vamos ao rio?"

One of my goals for 2021 was to illustrate more and with a purpose. I enjoy creating individual illustrations, but finishing a collection~ is more fulfilling for me. Even though I was very motivated to start a big project, I felt stuck.

That is when I found out about IV Serpa International Award for Picturebooks, a contest where the Serpa City Council, in collaboration with the publisher Planeta Tangerina to create an award that values the artistic and literary quality of picturebooks while promoting the creation of new projects.

I was too close to the deadline, with only a month and a half left to deliver the book. So, I had a month to sketch the idea, illustrate the book, print, assemble and ship everything. And I did it!

The book «Let's go to the river» is a faulted and weak picturebook of a day spent on the river with three friends. It has no colour palette and no character or background studies. I just started and went with it. My only goal was to deliver with zero expectations.

I believe this was the best decision. One thing I wanted to change about myself was that I got lost in the details. This fear of disappointment (masked as a drive for perfection) made me feel overwhelmed and frustrated, which led me to drop the projects. I made this decision to avoid that.

Even though the book has many things I would change, I am happy with the result and I have learned a lot by finishing it.

Here are some of the illustrations for the book. I hope you like them.