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First, get your ingredients . . .

BEN Galbraith reckons that creating illustrations for a children’s book is much like concocting a delicious stew. First you get together the best-quality ingredients you can. Then you mix them all up and simmer gently until it is just right.

The Gisborne artist did just that when creating work for his most recent project, illustrating the Western-themed Fandango Stew, by United States writer David Davis.

The result — a colourful, rollicking tale of sharing and making something out of nothing — was released this month . . . but Galbraith has still not met the author, or his representative at New York’s Sterling publishers.

The project came about when, attracted to Galbraith’s website — which showcases earlier work, including the award-winning Fishing Brothers Gruff (2007) children’s book he both wrote and illustrated — Sterling asked him to create the images for Fandango Stew.

It all sounds very simple, but making the work is no easy process.

First, you must find your ingredients, says Galbraith, who looked for inspiration to everything from weather-beaten shacks around the East Coast to Western films and books about Mexican textiles.

“Then you have to develop all your characters, which need to be signed off by the publisher before you can really get to work,” he says. “Then you sketch the entire book in pencil . . . and that can take several months.”

To create his unique style Galbraith takes a collage approach to his work. Elements from characters and animals to plants and clouds will be hand-painted, after which he will load each image into his trusty Mac and start piecing everything together.

“At this stage I’ve got a pretty clear idea of where things are going to go and what’s going to be going on because I’ve already sketched the whole book and gathered up all my ingredients,” he says.

“It’s a great way to do it because I piece everything together in layers, meaning I have the flexibility to move stuff around and make objects bigger or smaller. Some illustrations can have hundreds of layers!”

The result for Fandango is a series of quirky, humorous images which, though set in the Wild West, reflect the artist’s distinct style. The worst thing that could happen, he says, is if he got too good at what he does.

“I really like my artwork to have a rough, collage look, so I’m always conscious that if I get too competent at Photoshop my illustrations will look too polished and digital. That’s why I always try to hand-paint parts before I get onto the computer.

“I’d say most illustrators these days work digitally, but I think I still prefer the traditional hand-painted look.”

■ Ben Galbraith will give a reading from Fandango Stew at Muir’s Bookshop this Saturday (11.30am).

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