Progressing from Rough Concept to Final Illustration

Working on a recent educational project, my client liked my black and white style but needed a full color illustration. They suggested that I colorize my black and white illustrations, same idea as hand tinting a black and white photo. So here's what we came up with, from the initial rough, to b&w to final full color illustration.

Abigail's Secret by Montrew Dunham

I've been fortunate to illustrate a few of Ms. Dunham's historical fiction chapter books for the Patria Press series. This time she's coming out with a novel, Abigail's Secret. It's based in the 1930's depression era and it's intriguing to parallel those days with today's economy and politics. On top of that it's just a fun mystery that you can't put down.
Here's an excerpt from Chapter One...
"Almost all week had been unusual. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as President of the United States just last Saturday on March 4, 1933 which had seemed so very special. And then the next day he proclaimed that all the banks in the country were to be closed. A bank holiday!
Abigail frowned as she thought about it... A holiday had a good sound... but for them there was nothing good about this holiday. It meant that they had no money!"