All Steve Light needs is a few rainy days and a stash of simple supplies to make the story A Boy and His Red Umbrella come to life. Using a sage Kolo Noci album as a base, Steve added carefully cut black paper and a touch of gouache to complete the illustrations. On each page prior to an illustration, Steve cut shapes into the Noci pages, showing a glimpse of what was on the page below. The shapes leave just enough of the illustration hidden to let the reader’s imagination run wild.

I liked trying to relate the first cut-out shapes to the second more illustrated page. It is fun to look through the first page to view the illustration below.

Check back for more pages from Steve Light’s story “A Boy and His Red Umbrella.”

To see more from author and illustrator, Steve Light, visit his website. Also, maybe you remember a few of his other projects, like the tea-soaked Kolo Cortina Lux or the Kolo Newport “Sweetness and Light” baby book.

-Kate