Many years ago, at Auchenfoyle Camp (between Greenock and Kilmacolm in the West of Scotalnd), I illustrated the story of Joseph on a roll of blank wallpaper.
I got a big roll of wallpaper backing paper and drew the scenes each day, with black & white felt tip pens. Donnie Black, one of the camp leaders, very practically hit on the idea of mounting the roll of paper on two sticks, so that the illustrations could be progressively unfurled each day as the speakers told the next part of the story to the boys.
By the end of the week, the illustrated ‘scroll’ stretched halfway round the walls of the dining hall!
After camp, I stuck it in a cupboard and, apart from occasionally sharing it with friends who wanted to use it in Sunday School, it lay there gathering dust.
Over the years, in my job as an art teacher, I became familiar with the potential of computer graphics and learned how to scan in hand-drawn artwork and enhance it digitally.
After I retired, I self-published a few books, including my autobiography and some old diaries my father’s maternal grandparents had kept. The process of compiling and publishing these books made me aware of the new digital tools available to the author/illustrator. Then, I came across the Dr Seuss books, which my grandchildren really enjoyed reading with their dad. I thought to myself, if I re-wrote the story of Joseph in verse, I could use the old drawings I did at Auchenfoyle camp to illustrate the story as a children’s book!
Thus was born the idea of “JOSEPH The Epic Poetic!”
The first job was to put the story into verse. Easier said than done! I spent many hours writing and re-writing a poetic reinterpretation of the story in verse, to go along with my illustrations. After two years of trial and error, I had a reasonable draft, and was ready to marry the verses to the illustrations. Meanwhile, I scanned the original illustrations into Procreate and embarked on a year-long journey, first teaching myself Procreate, then adding realistic texture and colour to the original drawings.
I published the first version as an A4 sized paperback and then reduced the drawings slightly for the more compact 7″ X 10″ hardback edition.
Here are the ISBN numbers:
Hardback (7" X 10") ISBN: 978-1-7397443-5-9
Paperback (8.5" X 11") ISBN: 978-1-7397443-4-2
See more details in the book2look biblet:
https://www.book2look.com/book/gtdEvBWOcG
My next task is marketing the book via Youtube, email, TikTok (maybe!) - we'll see how that pans out!









https://www.book2look.com/book/gtdEvBWOcG