Where Does Kitty go in the Rain
Written and Illustrated by Brigette Barrager
Random House, 2019
Medium: Photoshop
This book gets around somehow. It just goes to show that whenever you work on something that is going to go out into the world, you have no idea where it may end up.
When I illustrated this book it wasn’t going to be a book at all – well, not a printed book. It was meant to be an e-book that you would look at on a device, like a Kindle or iPad. I didn’t bother about the gutter (the crack in the center of the book) or a bleed edge because there would be no gutter or edges to cut. It would only exist in a digital format.
Some time later, to my surprise, I received a box of books. Paper books! With gutters, and edges! I never got a straight answer from anyone at the publisher as to how or why it switched formats, but there it is, and there it remains.
It also represents a moment of stunning humility for me. I had just signed on with my agent and when I sat down to speak with her about my career goals etc. I blurted out “I’m broke and I’m bored! Please find me some work!” and this was the most recent project in her inbox that needed an illustrator. I was SO HAPPY to have a project, a paid project, for the first time in I don’t know how long.
Recently, while doing a search on Youtube for adaptations of popular picture books to animated shorts (there are many!) I came across an animated and narrated version of this book. I was mystified – no one told me that this was happening, either.
You may be thinking that I ought to be getting very mad, or calling up my lawyer and demanding this and that, but honestly…to what end? I don’t think anyone is making millions off of these endeavors. Anyway, I’m still happy with the art that I created for this project, and if it entertains some children for a few minutes, that’s all it was supposed to do to begin with.
Post Script: Merely days after writing about this book, and over a decade after completing it, I received a royalties check from its sales. Not a life changing amount of money, but I just had to laugh. It continues to teach me that you just NEVER know!
