One warm world, one bright bird

I built every page of The Bird in the Egg on one simple rule: the world is drawn in a single warm yellow with white linework, and Finch is the only thing in bold blue and black. Your eye always finds him first — and you can see what’s happening around him, even when Finch, hiding in his shell, can’t.

“The beautiful artwork juxtaposes a background of expressive white linework on a vivid single-color palette in warm yellow with a portrayal of Finch himself in bold, bright blues and blacks, underscoring the contrast between Finch and the world around him.”

— The Children’s Book Review

I’m also an architect, and I think it shows. Architecture taught me how to design spaces with intention, while storytelling and illustration allow me to fill those spaces with imagination and life.

From the sketchbook

My next picture book is starting the way Finch’s did: as a page of notes. Its working title is Life.

D.G. Alonso’s full concept sheet for the book Life: handwritten notes, three small bird sketches labeled main, secondary and third characters, and a color sketch of the characters together
My full concept sheet for Life.

Here’s the idea, as I wrote it down: using the same illustration style, the story will explore the meaning of the people in your life — told through animals — and the “gradients” between them.

What are the three kinds of characters?

Not everyone in our lives plays the same part, so I don’t draw every character the same way. In my notes I split them into three levels:

Sketch of the main character: a bird in vibrant red-orange with a thick outline

Main character

  • Vibrant color — your story
  • Main attention, the focal point
  • Defined shape, thick bold outline
  • Action and dialogue
Sketch of a secondary character: the same bird with a bold outline in the background color

Secondary characters

  • Thick bold outline
  • An important role in your life: guides, family, friends
  • Colored to match the background
  • They have dialogue
Sketch of a filler character: the bird’s outline blends into the background

Third characters

  • Outline blends with the background
  • People you meet who don’t play a big role in your life
  • Colored to match the background
  • No dialogue, or very brief

From sketch to scene

Concept art: a bold red bird in front, a blue bird drawn in outline beside it, and a faint outline of a third bird behind
The three levels together: the main character in bold red, a friend drawn in outline, and a passer-by fading into the background.

It’s the same principle that makes Finch stand out against his yellow forest. This time I want to use it to tell a new kind of story: who matters most in a life, shown through color and line.

Want to see how I finished Finch’s book? Read Finishing The Bird in the Egg.

Also on the drawing table

Cover of The Adventures of Finch, a coloring book by D.G. Alonso

Coming soon

The Adventures of Finch

A coloring book with Finch and his forest friends. Let’s paint! Free coloring pages

Follow along as I put new pages together on Instagram and YouTube.