3: Telling The Story Without Using Words

In addition to creating the cover, Staake produced a couple of sample page spreads. In these he showed a more realistic bird, but would later change it into the more graphically stylized bluebird that appears in the published book. His goal at this stage was to find a way to tell the story of Bluebird without using words. Staake discovered that, by breaking up the pages using randomly-sized frames, a sense of passing time could be achieved and a natural flow occur within the visual story. Even though he had "written" the wordless book in his head and could see how the story would unfold, Staake's busy career as a freelance illustrator made it difficult to finish Bluebird. However, he never forgot about the idea and would work on the book every now and then, but would always be forced to put the story aside.

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