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Behind The Scenes: The Making of The Train Rolls On To The North Pole

Since The Train Rolls On To The North Pole is about to be published, I thought it'd be fun to give you a glimpse into the book-making process by showing how the first three spreads evolved during the editing, illustration, and book design phases. This way, you can see a condensed view of the steps involved in creating the finished product. Let's start with the opening spread:


Spread #1


The Finished Spread

Final Designed Spread 2-3 for The Train Rolls On To The North Pole Book Design by Veronica Scott


How We Got There

Here are the steps that we took to arrive at the finished spread:


1. Write the text.

This is a photo of the original text that I wrote for Spread #1:


Original Handwritten Notes for Spread 2-3 of The Train Rolls On To The North Pole Written by Jodi Adams

I wrote this in one of my many writing journals while laying in bed one night. It's not pretty, but I don't worry about that at the beginning. I simply jot down any and all ideas that come to mind and clean them up later on.


2. Revise the text.

Okay...time to clean up those original ideas! 😊 My initial notes were a good start, but they definitely needed some refining. So, I revised the text (likely more than once but who can remember) and came up with this:


Revised Handwritten Text for Spread 2-3 of The Train Rolls On To The North Pole Written by Jodi Adams

Better...but I still hadn't decided what text to include in the first two lines. So, I revised it one more time before sending the following text to Editor Sarah Fabiny:


Rough Draft of Spread 2-3 of The Train Rolls On To The North Pole Written by Jodi Adams

3. Professionally edit the text.

Two months (and three more rounds of revisions) later, this is where Sarah and I landed regarding the text for Spread #1:


Final Text

The Animal Express

has got a new goal–

to transport eight reindeer

back to the North Pole.


They’ve been at a spa

getting pampered all day.

Now it’s time to return

to guide Santa’s sleigh!


As you can see, there weren't many changes, and most were slight word choice modifications. The biggest change that we made was to reduce the number of reindeer from nine to eight. Whereas I had originally written the story to include a certain red-nosed reindeer, Sarah reminded me that he is, of course, a copyrighted character. Thankfully, Sarah caught that! (That's why I hired a professional editor! 😊)


4. Sketch the illustration.

Once the text was finalized, Illustrator Christina Wald set to work on the initial thumbnail illustrations. (Thumbnails are small, simplified versions of each illustration that show their general progression, content, and viewpoint. Creating the thumbnails first ensured that Christina and I were on the same page (pun intended 😃) before she spent a lot of time sketching each scene.) Here is the original thumbnail sketch for Spread #1, showing the reindeer getting pampered at an Arctic spa on Christmas Eve day:


Original Thumbnail Sketch

Thumbnail Sketch of Spread 2-3 for The Train Rolls On To The North Pole Illustrated by Christina Wald

Again, it's pretty rough, but it provides a general idea of what the final illustration will look like and where the text will fit on each page.


Final Sketch

Once the thumbnail sketches were approved, Christina began creating full-size sketches for each illustration. Besides being much bigger, these sketches included significantly more detail than the thumbnails. (By the way, seeing the full-size sketches for the first time is my favorite part of the illustration process because the story finally starts to come alive on the page!)


Final Sketch for Spread 2-3 of The Train Rolls On To The North Pole Illustrated by Christina Wald

Compared to the thumbnail for spread #1, we resituated the text to make room for a view of the train outside the window (since this is the opening spread and all). We also added the cardinal next to the train. Isn't it adorable?! It's one of my favorite spreads in the book!



5. Convert the sketch to final art.

Once all of the full-size sketches were approved, Christina started cleaning up and digitally painting each illustration. Because of their intricate detail, this was a long, involved process. It took many months for her to convert all of the sketches to final art, but, in the end, it was worth the wait! She is one talented artist!


Final Art

Final Art for Spread 2-3 of The Train Rolls On To The North Pole Illustrated by Christina Wald

6. Design the final spread.

At this point, the finished artwork was transferred to Book Designer Veronica Scott, and she and I collaborated to turn the text, illustrations, and other components into a finished book. Here's a snapshot of what that process looked like for Spread #1:


Original Designed Spread