Summer Reading Challenge Volunteer and aspiring writer and illustrator Hannah from Bristol offers further insights into her creative process.

Ok, I have the basic story written down, edited and a basic idea of what the pictures will look like.

You can draw the images on paper and scan them onto the computer, but I prefer to draw them straight onto the computer, it looks more professional and it's a bit easier. I'm not talking about a mouse and 'Paint'; to get the proper effect you need a Tablet and some proper software. I use a 'Wacom Bamboo Pen' tablet and 'Manga Studio Debut4' as my software. It takes a little while to get used to the tablet and learn to use the software, but when you do it's very rewarding.

Unfortunately, with it being on a computer, something is bound to go wrong sometimes. For example, when you realise you have 9 days less to finish the book than you thought you had and your computer decides it doesn't want to run your software anymore. Yes, this happened to me. It took my Dad 2 days (for him to get round to) transferring the software from the computer to my laptop, 2 days less to draw. Not good.

I think it would be good to explain a bit about my drawing process. First, I sketch out stick figures and try to get the composition right. Then I sketch in the detail, ink it in and colour.

One of the most important tools on my software is the 'layer' tool. Imagine you had some tracing paper, on the 1st piece, the sketch, on the 2nd, the ink, and so on. Put the pieces together and shine a torch through the back, it should show the entire picture. Each of the sheets of paper is a 'layer'. That's the basic principle.

So, that's my digital art explained, I'd better get back to work.

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