Actual layout is a work in progress and the scale is a bit off (the pictures will be larger), but here are the first two images with roughly the text that will accompany them. For Book One, I will try to keep it as visually interesting as possible using different angles and points of view, as well as mixing in close-ups and wide shots, but I am looking forward to working on illustrations for the later books, where my plan for the book will allow for more variety and more visual flights of fancy. One step at time…

Guten Morgen, Class! For our first lesson, we will talk about what war is, why we go to war, what we get from war, what some of its primary characteristics are, and a little of what it takes to be successful in war.

Guten Morgen, Class!

War is the use of force – Yes, Otter?

-What’s ‘force’ mean?

Violence, threat of violence, physical advance on territory, etc. – use of force to make the enemy do our will, to make him do what we want him to do. The aim is to disarm the enemy, to – Yes, Otter?

-What’s ‘disarm’ mean?

It is to make it so he cannot strike back at us. In war, you place your effort against the enemy’s resistance – Yes, Otter?

-What’s ‘resistance’ mean?

Yes, Otter?

His resistance is both the men and resources he has – please save your questions! – and how much he wants to resist. War does not just happen out of nowhere, and it does not happen on a perfect chessboard. Your resources will nearly always be spread out, trees and mountains and rivers in your way. Even if you want to, you will not likely be able to use all of your resources at once….Yes, Otter?

-What are ‘resources?’

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A little gift in parting, something that made me giggle. I use reference photos when I’m working on the illustrations, to keep consistent and to make sure I am getting the angles right. I will look at a number of pictures of each animal I am drawing from angles as close as possible to the ones I am planning on using. Anyway, you know how sometimes you’ll type something into Google image search and one or two of the results will be totally off in left field? Well, while looking for reference pictures for the boar for one of these illustrations, I came across this:

Not a Boar