Multi-talented writer and artist, Christine Hang Panzer, explains the evolution of Bunster, An Easter Story from the Inktober Art Challenge to board book.

Sometimes you just fall into things. It was sort of the same with this project.

Honestly, I did not set out to write a board book. Typically, I have given myself open-ended ideas to follow, but that often lead to a bunch of unfinished projects. It was not until I was so fed up with myself that I suggested on a whim that my husband collaborate with me by writing short stories to go along with each of my drawings in the Inktober art challenge in 2019. That kickstarted my storytelling dreams. We were able to complete that challenge, and I started myself on an art challenge roll where I wanted to try to finish as many art challenges as I could. I was just wanting to join in an art challenge online that lasted 7 days during Easter. I posted my results online as I went, and my mother-in-law was actually the one who suggested I turn it into a board book. So here I am.

Sometimes you just fall into things.

So, it really is not super special. The art challenge happened to be called “Bunster”. I followed a prompt for each day, and so that might have been cheating. It allowed me to be creative within restraints, which I have had huge problems with in the past.  The Easter Bunster art challenge just happened to be a quick and enticing short art challenge that I could put more of my focus into since it was a lot shorter than a month-long one, and easier to come up with something as I went along. Because Bunster fits the entire story in 8 pages, it seemed to make sense as a board book. Also, the size of the art fit better in board book dimensions than a normal children’s book. To be honest, the most challenging thing was finding a publisher that made board books. With the previous Inktober art challenges, we had self-published the compiled art and short stories, and I had worked with a publisher for a long-form children’s book. It took a lot of research and phone calls to find a company that would publish my story as a board book.

For more information about Christine Hwang Panzer and a chance to WIN her latest book, visit Book Review + Giveaway: Bunster, An Easter Story.