“First, know well that I’m loved even though oh so flawed.
Next, spend time with the Lord and walk where he trod.
Offer all I possess, beg for my stony heart thawed,
And act from a deep love, the love that is God”
From Audacious Ignatius, page 15
One of the questions I got asked yesterday at an elementary school “Meet the Illustrator” Day was which page was the hardest to make. No question– the page depicting the Spiritual Exercises! Paul and I both sweated over this scene. Paul rewrote the words multiple times, and I struggled with showing the idea of the exercises with images. It’s such an important moment in the book; it’s the scene I thought about first when I read Paul’s words, and I returned to it again and again during the illustration process.
I had originally thought I would divide it up into four different panels, since there are four weeks in the Spiritual Exercises. One panel for each week. But the layout looked strange, the first picture looked too much like St. Ignatius hugging Santa Claus… it just wasn’t right.
The breakthrough happened one day (June 28th, to be exact– thanks, technology!) when Paul texted me a picture he had drawn of a layout. I know– Paul is the writer, not the illustrator! But he has a knack for thinking of good layouts. Here’s the picture he sent me:
Awesome, right?? Love those eyebrows.
It soon became this:
Having a strong visual connection between Ignatius in prayer and the images of his baptism and walking with Jesus was the key! We knew we had our layout.
The video at the beginning of this post shows my process of combining the images digitally, after they had been painted and scanned. I am so happy with how this page turned out, and I love asking my kids what they think about St. Ignatius’s imaginative prayer exercise!
Now if I could only learn to work as fast as the time-lapse video shows…