Even though there are pages in the book with several hundred running hares, these eleven hares are the only ones I actually painted.

Likewise, these are the only
reeds I painted.

For The Rumor, which includes huge crowds of animals, enlisting the help of a computer was a no brainer. Though I have, in fact, painted a thousand tadpoles (The Wildlife 123), and a zillion maple leaves (A Tree in a Forest), the idea of painting the ridiculous numbers of animals required on almost every page of The Rumor seemed a bit too insane even for me to attempt.

I spent a few months learning how to use a couple of visual programs (and a design program, too, so I could design the book as well), but I wasn't yet ready to do absolutely everything digitally. So first I painted each of the elements (the animal characters, grass blades, leaves, tree trunks, reeds, etc.) off computer with gouache and black ink on white paper. I then scanned these elements onto the computer, cleaned up the edges (a very slow process, like cutting things out carefully with a fine blade), and then made them into layers by "floating" them.

Once I had all the elements ready, I began assembling the illustrations on the computer. Using a painting program, I made backgrounds to give each illustration a base. Then I started bringing in my elements one by one by copying and pasting. The process is much like doing a collage of cutout pictures, though much more complex - at times I was juggling more than two hundred floating elements at once. Trying to keep track of which ones were where, and what move to make next was just plain insane.

I painted the above palm tree parts & then "built" a bunch of palm trees.

Finished palm tree from The Rumor

I began by floating lots of reeds on a plain blue background. One by one, I brought in my animals, starting at the top since closer elements need to be layered over those that are further away. The reeds lying on the hare's side either had to be partially erased or moved behind the hare.

While elements were still hovering above the background, I added water swirlies with a digital pastel tool. I digitally airbrushed shadows on each of the animals wherever they were overlapped by other animals or reeds. Bit by bit, I was able to "drop" floating elements, merging them with the background.

To make the illustration more dynamic, I also added water-drop splashes. These were clusters I made using only three water droplets I actually painted. I created the base of the border by turning reeds pink, then added blue flowers and yellow mangos. Just the assembly of this illustration took more than a week.