Illustrating Dieses Buch ist LEER | Needle Felting Picture Book Art
It was a rewarding experience to illustrate and bring to life with felt Dieses Buch ist LEER(This Book is EMPTY) by Daniel Fehr, published on October 26, 2022, by Penguin Junior. It is available in German.
The premise involves twelve hamsters hiding in what initially appears to be an empty book. However, it soon becomes clear that there is something else lurking within its pages.
A page from Dieses Buch ist LEER
Initially, I planned to make puppets that could be posed differently for each scene, but ultimately, every hamster body was newly crafted, reusing the heads to preserve character likeness. This approach enhanced the storytelling by allowing for unique poses and gestures that would not have been possible with puppets.
A full page spread from Dieses Buch ist LEER
What I enjoyed most about this brief was the opportunity to create my own narrative alongside the authors, with the hamsters doing their own thing, oblivious to the text. As a result, the book features many noisy, playful hamsters drawing attention to themselves. I won’t reveal who they are hiding from—that’s for you to discover when you buy the book. ;)
Back cover from Dieses Buch ist LEER
A video showing the process of needle felting and how the characters for the book were made.
