That Greedy Goat Just Cannot Stay Picture Book : Character Development

Marie is working on character development illustrations/art for our children’s picture book “That Greedy Goat Just Cannot Stay, or Where Has All Our Stuff Gone?”

That Greedy Goat Just Cannot Stay! Character Development Daughter 01 Color Illustration -by Marie Law-

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“That Greedy Goat Just Cannot Stay, or Where Has All Our Stuff Gone?” is a 450ish word read aloud rhyming picture book about a greedy goat that eats anything. The family who owns the goat tries to find him a new home (farm, petting zoo…), but he keeps eating things and has to move on. The goat eventually finds a new home at a boutique where his unique talent is utilized.

The text supports the story line above, but the illustrations will suggest a subtext that most of what went wrong wasn’t the goat.

Children’s Picture Book Character Development

We thought we’d have a little fun and go over the top on the character development, giving them a persona way beyond what’s in the manuscript :-)

This will help Marie with the illustrations, easier to illustrate people with a personality of their own.

Note: The sketches and illustrations are far from finished characters, we thought it would be useful/interesting to show the development of the characters and illustrations from early concept to finished product. The good the bad and the ugly will all be included!

The first character is the daughter who is on a quest with her Dad Arthur Addison to find a new home for the family’s greedy goat.

The first sketch was very early in the development, Marie was toying with the name Sally May…

That Greedy Goat Just Cannot Stay Early Lilly Addison Sketches -by Marie Law-

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Daughter Lilly Addison Character Details
Name: Lilly Addison
Age: 8 and 3/4s
Favorite Animal : Goat, no not goat, erm, sheep, no erm, bunnies
Favorite Book : Matilda of course
Favorite Celebration : Easter, likes bunnies
Favorite Color : Rusty yellow like dad’s old truck
Favorite Food : Chocolate chip ice-cream
Favorite Music : Doesn’t want to talk about it since One Direction split!
Favorite Movie : Frozen
Favorite School Subject : Sport for tennis
Favorite Sport : Tennis, wants to win Wimbledon championship
Favorite TV Show : Shaun the Sheep

Some of this character was created due to Marion Lilian Addison (AKA Lily Addison) an Australian tennis player who competed in the 1919 Wimbledon Championships. Pretty cool the info you can stumble upon while creating a fictitious character.

That Greedy Goat Just Cannot Stay! Character Development Daughter 01 Black and White Sketch -by Marie Law-

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The above is a pencil and pen drawing that was scanned to use as a template for creating a digital color version.

I’ve lost a button from my coat,
it MUST have been our greedy goat.

That Greedy Goat Just Cannot Stay! Character Development Daughter 01 Color Illustration -by Marie Law-

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Marie used the black and white scanned in drawing as a guide for a color version. She used a graphics tablet to create new layers for the colors. When complete the original black and white layer was removed.