The latest COPE book is out in the world! It’s all about Avalanches and how to be prepared when you go to areas where they may happen. The book is set in New Zealand/Aoteaora and the COPE team witness an avalanche there and help out afterwards.
We worked with UNICEF NZ, as well as the New Zealand Met Services, and the Avalanches book is available on their website too. You can take a look at what they’ve said about the books here.
When I get a COPE project I always start with a full book storyboard. Here’s an example of my storyboarding process: this is the very first stage, when I go through the story text and work out what needs to happen on each page, what sort of location it will be, and what sort of space I need to leave for the words.
And this is the final stage of storyboarding, where I’ve worked out the backgrounds and locations, and drawn in the COPE team in the right places for their actions and dialogue. Things can still change after this point, but this is where I start when I begin the final drawings.
And here’s a final double page spread in colour, with the text and speech bubbles in place. I really enjoyed making this image of the beautiful Milford Sound. I hope I can go there one day! Most of the pages towards the end of the book are snowy, so there’s alot of white, and it was great to be able to add in some full, colourful pages to contrast with them.
Here’s the trailer for Avalanches. Please spread the word about the books, and read them with your kids, you never know when the information may be helpful.