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Gail Heisler has spent most of her working life drawing for children. In her corporate career she designed characters and patterns for children's clothing, and after she retired she started an online t-shirt, home decor and gift company. Then two baby great-granddaughters came along, Miley and Charlie, and she began drawing for two children in particular.
"Creativity has always been part of my life, but creating Pickles gave it a new purpose."
Pickles is a curious little dachshund. Three books into the series, she has a best friend named Petey, a neighborhood to explore, and a sign-off Gail uses on every post in her Pickles Book Corner: "Keep asking questions... Love, Pickles." Books four and five are already scripted.
Pickles and Petey
Pickles the Curious Dachshund is written for children ages 2 to 5. In Pickles Meets Petey, the two friends meet for the first time. In Pickles Explores the Neighborhood, they head out the front door to see what's there.
"My hope is that my Pickles stories will celebrate curiosity, kindness and friendship with my cute little characters exploring the world together. I hope my books will bring smiles and happy moments between the little ones and their parents or grandparents or caregiver."
The Same Dog on Every Page
Designing Pickles was the part Gail already knew how to do. A series asks for something else: the same dachshund and the same best friend on every page of every book. She was new to AI when she started.
"I am new to AI, so the only other thing that I tried was ChatGPT."
With Neolemon, the characters held.
"I have been able to keep my Pickles & Petey characters consistent! I really love Neolemon."
More Time for the Story
Once the characters stayed put, Gail spent less time correcting images and more time on what Pickles and Petey actually do.
"I could focus on imagining a scene, giving Pickles & Petey their personalities with their actions and expressions. I could spend more time thinking about the story, layout and less time refining."
Two Giggling First Readers
Miley and Charlie were the first to see the finished book.
"It was really exciting to hold a physical book and then watching my great Granddaughters giggling while holding and looking at the pictures. Now there are three books."
She later wrote on Trustpilot:
"Seeing the characters I imagined become part of my published books has been incredibly rewarding. I'm excited to keep creating and sharing more of Pickles' world and Neolemon has been the link that has helped me achieve this. Their customer service is outstanding."
You can find the Pickles the Curious Dachshund books on Amazon and at pickleshasbooks.com.
What Gail's Story Shows
Gail came to picture books with a career of character design behind her. What she needed from AI was narrow: keep Pickles and Petey the same from page to page and book to book, so her time could go into the stories.
Christine Simpson, a retired painter, also found a second creative life in children's books. Read how she built a whole storybook village one book at a time.
Ready to Start Your Own Story?
If this story has inspired you to bring your own characters to life, Neolemon can help you get started. Create your characters once, keep them consistent across every page, and spend your time on the story.
