No Time to Make Mistakes
When I began exploring how to create a colouring book, I remember repeatedly telling myself, “I don’t have time to make mistakes.” I felt like I was starting this project too late in life and didn’t believe I could afford the luxury of learning through trial and error. In my search for guidance, I discovered a Vancouver-based company called TellWell. They support authors who want to self-publish, and their value proposition is clear: they help take the guesswork out of getting your book published. They offered a complete package, including their own ISBN number.
Although I had already obtained a free ISBN number from the government website, TellWell encouraged me to use the one included in their package. It wasn’t until several years later that I realized my first “self-published” book was actually listed as being published by TellWell. Even now, I’m still upset about that, and I’m determined to find a way to correct this mistake at some point.
For anyone reading this, you can supply your own ISBN numbers, which you can get from the government for free. Here’s the link for more information: Government of Canada ISBN Information.
Working with TellWell taught me a lot. The major lesson: no matter how hard you try, there’s no way to avoid making mistakes. They’re simply part of the journey
The Illustrators
Although I’m a colouring book creator and author, I’m not an illustrator. I can draw well enough to bring my ideas to life, but when it came time to publish my work, I knew I needed help. So, I called on my brother Nic, pen name, Ennay White. I also reached out to Ashley, the daughter of my good friend Shelly, and Clayton Ffolkes, a friend from my call center days. They all contributed illustrations to the first book, Soulful Colour: An Affirmation Colouring Book for Your Inner Child. Don’t ask me what I was thinking when I came up with that title, actually, as I write this, you’d think TellWell would have advised me better in that respect! LOL, but I digress.
While I didn’t draw any of the images myself, I was definitely the art director. I gave each illustrator a selection of affirmations I had written, along with my ideas and directions, which served as their creative inspiration. Of course, there were a few edits and some back-and-forth, but we completed image after image, focusing on making the illustrations positive and relatable. We paid close attention to body type, hairstyles that reflect Afro-Caribbean culture, and simple depictions of everyday life.
Representation & Collaboration
At the time, I was determined to ensure the illustrations represented Nubian, African, melanated people. But what I’ve come to realize through experience is this: The pages are white, the lines are black ink, and the culture is in the eye of the beholder, or in this case, the colouring artist. Similar to the phenomenon of pareidolia, people see what they need to see. With skin-tone pencil crayons in hand, they will colour what they perceive, which may not always result in a dark skin tone. This emphasizes that art is subjective, and that’s one of the wondrous beauties of art, the art of colouring is no exception.
I’m incredibly grateful to Ashley and Clayton, but by the time I started working on the second book, due to what we’ll call “creative differences,” the project became solely a brother-sister endeavor. The second book, Soulful Colour: Mindset•Money•Matters—An Affirmation Colouring Book for Your Inner Child, was created entirely with Nic. And no, I still didn’t learn my lesson about the long titles, but this time it was intentional. I wanted continuity between the two books. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!
Check back for part 3…