Charli and Jett's Big Move
I cannot recall when this idea came about, but definitely some time before February. I vaguely remember talking about it with my externs, Meagan and Delaney, who knew about the book I made with a student a few years ago.
One of my counseling students, who has since left the district, expressed interest in writing a book. I helped her iron out her idea for the story and she described, in detail, what each character should look like. I took all of that information and created a picture book for her and had it printed through Barnes and Noble Press. It's adorable and she was so proud of it and I hope she still has her copies of it. I have it displayed on a shelf in my office and it makes me so happy that I was able to help her achieve that dream.
Charli and Jett's book started out as a general idea to write and illustrate a book about their move from Dallas to Fort Worth. It didn't take long for the page ideas to form. For some of the pages I had the ideas for the text first and other pages I knew what the illustration should look like first. I typed out an outline and knew that I wanted each two-page spread to blend together. I put the full text of the story into ChatGPT for proofing and Chat offered a version from the pups' perspective, so I went with it. It changed the tone of the story and made it much more fun. I like that this gave me a model to work with and now I'll be able to write the next one in their perspective from the start.
I knew from the previous book that I would need to go to Barnes and Noble and choose a book size first. I settled on 8" square and sized my Procreate canvas accordingly. I sketched out and drew the two-page spreads together for uniformity and later separated them for uploading.
I used a ton of reference photos of dogs in different poses as well as mashed together various photos of Tracie and Cheryl to get them into poses that made sense for the pages. I perused so much of their content to put together the backgrounds with their furniture, fixtures, and decor. As I was drawing each page, I made a list of Easter Eggs to include such as money guns, a Lost in Separation t-shirt, the wig T wore in a prank video, a bowl of Werther's, the actual interior of a G-wagon, and even a spider on the ceiling. All of the flower arrangements are drawn from ones that they've shared in pictures. Adding in all of those details was my favorite part! And special thanks to Sara R. for being my springboard for ideas.
I started the outline in February and uploaded the book for printing a few days after Easter. I finished up the cover art while on vacation in San Diego! The dogs are walking away from the Dallas skyline on the front and are walking toward the Fort Worth skyline on the back. I know books should have the author's name on the cover, but I just didn't care for any of the placements and I wasn't planning on selling it anyway. I made a cover page and put my name there.
After uploading it to B&N, I had to wait about three weeks for processing and printing. When it was time to ship, I got an email that it was delayed. I was super annoyed because I was getting very impatient and just wanted the book in hand to send to T and C! I eventually got a shipping notice and on the day of arrival I couldn't wait to get home. I was a bit confused when I saw the big box because I only ordered two small books. Turns out B&N sent me a box of books created by students in a school in Indiana. I was panicked and emailed B&N, tried to contact them through their website chat, immediately put in an order for replacements, and started reading horror stories on Reddit about people not getting their books. I contacted the teacher in Indiana to let her know that I received her books and got her info to ship them to her.
I believe it was two days later that my books arrived unexpectedly and B&N said they would ship out replacements. At the end of this, I ended up with 6 copies from B&N. I opened the box and was immediately disappointed in the quality of the printing. The paper didn't have that slight shine like picture books have and there were random orbs throughout. In my panic after the shipping issue, I started researching other printing sites and found one called Lulu. I made an account and figured I would give them a try. I couldn't send subpar quality books to T and C. Lulu didn't offer an 8" square option, only 8.5, so I had to resize all of the book pages which wasn't quite as difficult as I had anticipated. Lulu offered full color printing on heavier, coated paper and cost about $5 more per book. I put in my order and waited about 2.5 weeks for them to come in.
Thankfully, the Lulu books were perfect! The color of the cover art was brighter and the pages were bright and shiny. I was also very pleased with the emails I had gotten from Lulu in the meantime about the history of their company and their values. I packed up the books and other gifts for the pups and sent them on their way, eager for the Aunties to open it on live. I think it took about two weeks before they opened gifts on a live and it was the longest wait ever. :)
I knew they would like it, but C's reaction was everything. She immediately knew that I drew it and was so excited for every page. She noticed many of the details and stumbled a bit on the first page, but that's an issue with the way it was written. It started out in Jett's POV (which is why it says, "I'm older.") but then changed to Charli for the rest of the book, which is pretty on par with their personalities.
All of the TCFAM in the chat immediately asked where they could buy the book. I was never against selling it, but since it uses T and C's name, image, and likeness, it didn't feel right to make money off of it. This was meant to be a gift, not a money-making scheme. We eventually settled on selling the book through Lulu's website, which is so simple to set up, and marking up the book by about $5. All of the money made will be used for future TCFAM Gives Back initiatives. As of August 2025, we've sold 29 books for about $191 in profit!
It has been extremely fulfilling to have my art be so appreciated by T&C and the entire TCFAM. They have all encouraged me to continue pursuing this passion that has only ever felt like a hobby to me. I've never felt that I was really that talented, mostly because art doesn't feel difficult to me and I believe that anyone could do what I do. Downplaying my abilities has always been the norm, but I'm working on changing that. Tracie asked me if I was proud of the book and I replied, "Yes, but..." I need to work on saying, "Yes, and..." Yes, I am proud of this book and I am going to continue learning about illustration so that I can grow my talent.
I already have ideas for another book, including how I can improve the illustrations. I am going to subscribe to Skillshare (the next time they have a sale...) to learn more about illustration and really take my time with the next book.