Meg Hunt’s Character Development of WEREWOLF? THERE WOLF!
For almost a year Meg Hunt has been working away on a secret project...and now we get to share the colorful news! She has a new book out from Hazy Dell Press called Werewolf? There Wolf! Written by Kyle Sullivan.
In this rhythmic revitalization of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale, a distracted Red wanders off the Safe & Sound Track and into the Wolf-Filled Woods. When she’s confronted by the biggest and baddest wolf of them all, she must keep her wits and remember her inherent power if she’s going to make it to grandmother’s house alive.
When Meg Hunt received the brief for WEREWOLF? THERE WOLF! she was excited, although from working on fairy tale renditions with Chronicle Books (for INTERSTELLAR CINDERELLA, READING BEAUTY) Meg knew right away this book needed some visual distinction so it was clear the characters were from different worlds. And part of the key was in Red’s design— she needed to be a very contemporary kid, adventurous and comfortable in her skin. In the initial sketches, she played with some different ways to design her to push her stylistically. But in retrospect, early sketches felt a little too similar in proportion to previous characters. As the Big Bad Wolf became bigger it made better sense to shrink Red down and give her oversized clothes she might grow into later— which also made her shapes a lot of fun to draw. Meg closes, “I now just want to draw all my characters with sneakers.”
Okay, now let’s talk wolves. Meg knew from the start there’d be plenty of wolves to draw- some goofy, some scary, some downright weird ones too. Sign me up!! Her early exploration for the book was pure shape-play to see how far she could go. There are so many ways to draw a wolf and Meg wanted to make sure each one was filled with personality. Typical shadowy wolves would not do in the Wolf-Filled Woods— we needed dancing, howling, silly and scary wolves. But the biggest and baddest of them all needed to stand out— so Meg looked at how she could exaggerate and make a compelling character. With wild fur, a powerful chest, and a giant snout and tail to balance him out, the Big Bad Wolf's personality started peeking out. As she kept refining his design, every iteration got bigger and more extra! This made for an expressive and tough character who has a hint of softness and curiosity too.
In addition to working on several titles with Chronicle Books, Workman Publishing, and Bloomsbury, Meg Hunt has had the good fortune to collaborate on the Hazy Dell Flap Book series, exploring the worlds of Alien Baby, Bigfoot Baby, Pumpkin Baby, and Yeti Baby. Meg concludes, “It’s been a thrill to bring Kyle's newest wolf-filled story to life.”
Next up, Meg Hunt shares how Hazy Dell Press and Meg Hunt narrowed down a style for the book!
