I contacted Oliver Jeffers a couple of weeks ago after posting some of his work on my blog. As his work is so popular I wasn’t holding up much hope for a reply but I felt it would be useful to gain some insight into becoming an author and illustrator, and he combines the two very well. He sent a reply with a list of frequently asked questions and his responses to them, which fortunately pretty much covered what I was hoping to ask. I’ve selected the relevant questions and answers from his list:-
Which comes first, the writing or the illustration of your picture books?
Neither really. They both mostly happen at the same time. (I answered that at a book reading once and a 5 year old thought I meant it literally- a pen in each hand!) I wouldn’t really consider myself a writer. I know enough talented writers to know not to claim the title for myself. Rather I think of my self as an artist who uses words in their art, I try to say that I make picture books, instead of writing and illustrating them, as I believe it is truer to the process of how they are created. I begin with a concept, often a single idea, and start unfolding it by making notes and making drawings. One of the advantages I feel that I have over picture books that are written and illustrated by separate people is that instead of a finished manuscript existing before the story is visualized, I have the opportunity to have the illustrations inform the text. Often, the text for my books, when looked at in isolation, might seem quite flat and matter of fact, almost separated, and when the illustrations are looked at without the text, they are quite heavy with emotion and narrative. So, when you put the two together, they work off each other creating an overall effect that is neither and both. Emotive and engaging without being sickly sweet. This is gives an idea to the process of how they are made. The language of the text and its positioning over an illustration dictate the composition, and vice versa, so both are very much at the front of my mind in the development stages; sketching and writing together, working in unison as a partnership.
Do you test your ideas on children before finally going to a publisher?
Yes. Adults too. It’s very important to keep yourself on target without disappearing down tangents when generating a picture book concept so, of course I ask other peoples opinion, anyone who’ll give it. It’s very easy sometimes to work so long on something that you can’t see it anymore. That’s when fresh eyes from someone you trust are essential. With regards to my books in particular, I frequently test them on primary and nursery school children at each stage just to make sure, because if there’s something amiss, they’ll spot it faster than anyone. But ultimately it’s down to me trying to satisfy my own sense of curiosity that is the predominant drive of the story.
What age group are your books aimed at?
The books have a rough demographic in order to market them, but ultimately, they are supposed to be universal. My first two books were aimed at the 2-4 age group, whereas The Incredible Book Eating Boy was aimed at 4-6 year olds, and made with a leaning toward the palette of the more aesthetically sophisticated. I buy well made children’s books for myself as well as a ton of art books, so I always wanted to make a book that would satisfy my design/ art sense, and something that would push the safe boundaries established by the first two books. I didn’t want to become typecast as always making emotional / sentimental books and fought hard to make IBEB happen.
One of the reasons I think its been successful is that it has been picked up by people interested in art books, appearing on design blogs and is being sold in places like Magma, Tate Bookshop etc. This is always something I wanted to happen. In fact I’ve been fighting hard since its publication to market it on two fronts and even convinced my publisher to let me make an ad for the weekend Guardian that targeted this group directly. It was the first time they’d done anything like that.
I think one of the reasons that they work also, is that they’re not overly forced. There’s a natural simplicity and curiosity that fortunately seems to appeal to both parents and children. If I’ve satisfied my own curiosity then that’s the benchmark. I try to make the sort of books I’d have wanted.
Are strong morals important to your picture books?
The objective of my books is to entertain. I think children are possibly getting strong moral messages from every angle, and often they can come across as fake and preachy. Obviously I wouldn’t want to offend anyone, so try to steer away from anything that may be highly illegal or needlessly dangerous. But, I think the ‘good moral message’ is secondary to the entertainment value.
In my experience, Children are much smarter than they’re given credit for, and curios too. In fact, they’re often more observant than adults, as they give a different amount of time and consideration to something that is in front of them. They see straight through attempts at education dressed up as fun. My books are all about satisfying my own imagination; about the things I’m curious about and would’ve liked to see in books when I was young. But I try not to be completely wreck less, and if education can happen naturally then it’s a bonus, and a successful satisfying story usually will have a few good morals intertwined through it anyway.
Why did you decide to work in children’s book illustration?
I never really intended or decided upon that direction. As an artist I’ve always been interest in the nature of words and their relationship with pictures. Much of my early art experimented with this relationship. My first picture book actually began from a composition sketch for a body of paintings I was preparing to exhibit in Sydney, Australia, but the potential for narrative was so strong that I couldn’t help but see where it took me. Before I knew it I had the bones of a picture book without realising it. Once it occurred to me, however, the transition was easy. I’ve always loved and collected picture books, using them for reference for my art, and I knew a good one when I came across it. Applying this sense of judgement and edit to my own work became quite natural.
How do you promote yourself?
When starting out, I created a disposable portfolio that could be posted to people and I wasn’t dependant on getting it back. How you present and design your self- promotion reflects on your visual ability. My website is absolutely essential, an accessible and immediate means of showing my work, and these days I use past publications and self designed catalogues from shows as promo material. When you are self-employed, you are either working for someone or promoting yourself. The ideal scenario is when the work you do for other people is working to promote you as well.
How do you treat the relationship between text and image in your work?
It is one of the most important aspects of my work. It affects everything about the tone and flow of the art or story
In terms of design, there are a couple of technical rules I wasn’t aware off until the production stage of my first book. The main one is that all the text has to be black. This is so it can be translated into different languages (the text is printed separately and after the image has been printed for the sake of expense). Another is that basically all picture books are 32 pages (again a cost issue), and this limits the flow of your story.
In terms of narrative, the relationship between words and pictures is always something I’ve been fascinated by and it comes rather naturally. It isn’t always the case that a single person writes and illustrates a picture book. For some people, they prefer to purely visualise someone else’s idea), and find the generation of narrative ideas tricky. Personally, I think I’m at an advantage by doing both, in that the words and pictures can compliment each other more cohesively, and create a third middle tone in the cases where they contrast. It also means that I can construct the direction of a story toward things I like to draw.
How long does it take you on average to complete a book?
I begin with a single idea, which usually comes from a drawing, and then tease that out in my sketchbook with hundreds of other drawings and pieces of writing that explore how the narrative can grow and extend into something that is satisfying. Once I’ve got a basic plot, I work with the HarperCollins Editor in streamlining everything down to fit the 32 page format (all picture books, with very few exceptions are 32 pages. Including end papers, every book printed has a page number that is a multiple of 4 as it reduces the cost of printing. 36 pages are considered too long for a picture book and would probably be way more expensive because of how the whole printing industry is set up)
Getting the story to flow over 32 pages is probably the most difficult part. It’s like directing a film, where the pace needs to be set and decisions made of what goes where. It’s at this point that many of the compositions get cut. There is a careful balance between what the picture is showing and what the words are saying, and if something is shown it often doesn’t need to be said. This is a great advantage of both writing and illustrating stories, as someone who just writes comes up with the entire manuscript before it is considered visually and much potential for interaction has gone.
So once everyone is agreed on the layout, I make black and white line art of every illustration. I then work with a designer on laying out exactly where the text will go before I go to final art. The writing can only be black and this can affect how an illustration is coloured. The reason for this is to allow for foreign languages to be published. The book will be fully printed with knowledge of what foreign translation will be done and how many, this is why book fairs exist, so all these deals can be made before final print, as again if they’re all getting done at once it reduces the cost.
So once all the text has been properly designed and laid out, I lock myself in a room for about 6 weeks, transfer the line art onto watercolour paper using a light-box, and just get stuck in. The whole process takes about a year.
How did you get your first book published?
I had known for a long time that I liked to draw pictures and I liked to write, and I had been putting the two together for a while in my paintings. I even bought and collected children’s picture books both for my own enjoyment and for research for my paintings, but it wasn’t until my final year of college that I attempted a children’s book of my own, and seriously considered it as a direction to take my life. I had my first idea for a children’s book while sitting on the pier of the Sydney Fish markets on a year out from studying, about a boy who tries to catch the reflection of a star in the water, much like the Brer Rabbit story of the Moon and the Mill Pond.
I carried the idea into my final year studying Visual Communication at the University of Ulster in Belfast in 2000. I developed self portrait drawings to narrate my thesis that year, which eventually developed into the character used in the book, and in the second half of my final year I used my picture book concept as a piece of coursework, deciding to see how far I could take it to a finished product. This involved getting the words right, and the pictures right, and more importantly, the balance between the two right.
To get the words right, I read my manuscript to as many 6 year olds as I could find, slowly tweaking the story based on the feedback I was getting. To get the pictures right I used the unending help of my older brother Rory who basically has a lot more sense than I do. And to get the balance right we both looked at hundreds of other picture books to see what everyone else had done.
In the process of getting the balance right, I noticed a few things about how good picture books seem to work. The one that sticks out most is about how they seem to appeal across all ages without being forced. They aren’t condescending, but at the same time they aren’t inaccessible. There just seems to be a natural universal appeal to both children and adults, and lets face it, they need to appeal to adults, as however well a 6 year old is doing, they’re unlikely to stick their hand in there
In the second half of 2001,after I had finished developing my idea, and had finished my degree in Visual Communication, specializing in illustration, after the initial euphoria of never having to write another thesis in my life wore off, and during that slightly intimidating ‘I actually have to do something with my life now!’ phase, I decided I would get my book published. I looked at what was around in the book shops and thought that what I had created was as good as, if not better, than anything else that was out there, and confidence and self –belief are important tools when you are self motivated. My first step was to buy the Writers/Artists Yearbook, and see where to send my manuscript. I knew I was in for a long and trying road of numerous attempts contacting publishers, repeatedly saying ‘have you read it yet?
Apart from using the Writers and Artists Yearbook to research which publishers I should send my idea to, I also referred to my own collection of children’s picture books. I looked to see who had published what, paying particular attention to my favourites, and which publishers popped up more often.
My next step was to figure out what exactly to send them. There are hundreds and thousands of unsolicited ideas that reach publishers every year- the slush pile, and my objective was to stand out among those. To be noticed. By asking, I found that what publishers like to see in a proposal for a new book was the manuscript and a few samples of the illustrations, a broad idea of the feel for the book. I invested a bit of money into producing 100 copies of a small spiral bound ‘sample’, with the manuscript at the start and 10 full colour illustrations after, which I put into an envelope with a letter outlining who I was and what I was trying to do, and a self addressed envelope for them to contact me. I also included a small portfolio (and I mean small, 8 prints that were 14 cm square each) of other examples of my paintings and illustrations in the hope that if a particular publisher didn’t pick up on my book idea, at least I might be able to get a few commissions while I was waiting.
A few phone calls later and I had found out who looked after the children’s division in each appropriate publishing house, and addressed my envelope to them. The point being that it would arrive at a real persons desk instead of some anonymous Slush Pile. I spent a while drawing up a big chart showing which publishers I had sent an envelope to, contact name and number, date last contacted, and room for comments. I sent an envelope to the 10 biggest publishers in the UK, and the 10 biggest in USA, figuring I’d start at the top and work my way down.
Expecting a healthy dose of being ignored and avoided, I was extremely surprised when I received a phone call from Harper Collins the next afternoon expressing their desire to publish my book. It arrived on the desk of a young editorial assistant; she opened it, liked what she saw, and immediately decided to do something about it. That offer was followed a week later by one from Philomel Books, a subdivision of Penguin in New York City, where something similar happened.
And it was as simple as that. I met with both Publishers, and between the three of us we were able to devise a cunning plan that would enable both of them to publish the book.
Although I was very lucky, I had set myself an objective and was quite methodical and logical in my efforts to get there. Like most businesses, I had an idea, I developed it, then invested time, thought, and money in selling it. But if I hadn’t already sold it, I’d still be trying to, and I’d still be having the same ideas for my next books, only wearing cheaper shoes, and eating weetabix for dinner.
Has illustration for children changed much since you began and do you think it will change much in the future?
All illustration changes. There are always trends and styles that ebb and flow in and out of fashion, and these are usually attached to advances in technology. When some new development or software is introduced, the tendency is to completely absorb the illustration in that particular style, before it rights itself again. Think of the introduction of vector based graphics, or flash websites. People liked to show off what they were technically capable of without much sense of restraint. This doesn’t usually make for the most successful image. After a while when it’s a given that these skills are accomplished, they become the means to an end, and not an end in itself. Take my illustrations for The Incredible Book Eating Boy’ for example. Here, almost everything is hand made. But I digitally created the majority of the shadows because the contrast between the clean sterile nature of line worked well with the scratchy organic nature of everything else. It would have been easy to go to town on these, but I feel like I knew where to stop. Someone wiser than myself once said that good manners and good design shouldn’t be noticed, its only when they’re bad that they stand out.
I also feel that the Children’s industry is on a creative upturn at the minute, where, unlike 10, years ago, many people are becoming more and more creative with what can be done with picture books.
What other artists have influenced your work?
Many. Off the top of my head, here are a few: Edward Gorey, Maurice Sendak, Saul Steinberg, Tomi Ungerer, Edward Hopper, Tim Burton, Quentin Blake, Ralph Steadman, Sempe, Michael Sowa, John Currin, Gary Baseman, Vermeer, Julian Opie, Yoshitomo Nara, Norman Rockwell, Eduardo Recife, Mark Tansey, Alan Baker, Michael Gilette, Studio AKA, Neasden Control Centre, Alex Kanevsky, Lucian Freud, Eric Carle, Marc Boutavant, Cy Twombly, Peter Doig, Peter Blake, Ron Muick, Vermeer, Carrivagio, Chuck Close, David Hockney, Shel Silverstein John Singer Sargent, Eduard Manet, Yoshitomo Nara, Martin Kippengerger, Adrian Johnson, Mr Bingo, Neil Gaimon.
Why do you think your work appeals across a range of people?
I try not to think about it too much, but I think possibly because they’re not overly forced, and I ask their opinion as often in the process as possible. There’s a natural simplicity and curiosity about them where children don’t feel they’re being spoken down to (hopefully) and that, fortunately, seems to appeal to both parents and children. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I make the sort of children’s books I’d have wanted when I was small, and If I’ve satisfied my own curiosity, then that’s the benchmark.
I’m very aware of an adult’s opinion. I also think children aren’t as stupid as many people assume. If kids take a moral or value from my books, that’s all well and good, but that also ultimately comes second to entertainment. I aim to entertain anyone who opens the pages of my books. Kids are pretty clued in to whenever they’re being sold a con, a thinly veiled lesson, and I think that is something I have noticed about how good picture books seem to work; they seem to appeal across all ages without being forced. They aren’t condescending, but at the same time they aren’t inaccessible. There needs to be an appeal to adults, through subtle humour and references, as it’s the adult who buys the book, and it’s the adult who has to read it repeatedly every night.
Which comes first, the writing or the illustration of your picture books?
Neither really. They both mostly happen at the same time. (I answered that at a book reading once and a 5 year old thought I meant it literally- a pen in each hand!) I wouldn’t really consider myself a writer. I know enough talented writers to know not to claim the title for myself. Rather I think of my self as an artist who uses words in their art, I try to say that I make picture books, instead of writing and illustrating them, as I believe it is truer to the process of how they are created. I begin with a concept, often a single idea, and start unfolding it by making notes and making drawings. One of the advantages I feel that I have over picture books that are written and illustrated by separate people is that instead of a finished manuscript existing before the story is visualized, I have the opportunity to have the illustrations inform the text. Often, the text for my books, when looked at in isolation, might seem quite flat and matter of fact, almost separated, and when the illustrations are looked at without the text, they are quite heavy with emotion and narrative. So, when you put the two together, they work off each other creating an overall effect that is neither and both. Emotive and engaging without being sickly sweet. This is gives an idea to the process of how they are made. The language of the text and its positioning over an illustration dictate the composition, and vice versa, so both are very much at the front of my mind in the development stages; sketching and writing together, working in unison as a partnership.
Do you test your ideas on children before finally going to a publisher?
Yes. Adults too. It’s very important to keep yourself on target without disappearing down tangents when generating a picture book concept so, of course I ask other peoples opinion, anyone who’ll give it. It’s very easy sometimes to work so long on something that you can’t see it anymore. That’s when fresh eyes from someone you trust are essential. With regards to my books in particular, I frequently test them on primary and nursery school children at each stage just to make sure, because if there’s something amiss, they’ll spot it faster than anyone. But ultimately it’s down to me trying to satisfy my own sense of curiosity that is the predominant drive of the story.
What age group are your books aimed at?
The books have a rough demographic in order to market them, but ultimately, they are supposed to be universal. My first two books were aimed at the 2-4 age group, whereas The Incredible Book Eating Boy was aimed at 4-6 year olds, and made with a leaning toward the palette of the more aesthetically sophisticated. I buy well made children’s books for myself as well as a ton of art books, so I always wanted to make a book that would satisfy my design/ art sense, and something that would push the safe boundaries established by the first two books. I didn’t want to become typecast as always making emotional / sentimental books and fought hard to make IBEB happen.
One of the reasons I think its been successful is that it has been picked up by people interested in art books, appearing on design blogs and is being sold in places like Magma, Tate Bookshop etc. This is always something I wanted to happen. In fact I’ve been fighting hard since its publication to market it on two fronts and even convinced my publisher to let me make an ad for the weekend Guardian that targeted this group directly. It was the first time they’d done anything like that.
I think one of the reasons that they work also, is that they’re not overly forced. There’s a natural simplicity and curiosity that fortunately seems to appeal to both parents and children. If I’ve satisfied my own curiosity then that’s the benchmark. I try to make the sort of books I’d have wanted.
Are strong morals important to your picture books?
The objective of my books is to entertain. I think children are possibly getting strong moral messages from every angle, and often they can come across as fake and preachy. Obviously I wouldn’t want to offend anyone, so try to steer away from anything that may be highly illegal or needlessly dangerous. But, I think the ‘good moral message’ is secondary to the entertainment value.
In my experience, Children are much smarter than they’re given credit for, and curios too. In fact, they’re often more observant than adults, as they give a different amount of time and consideration to something that is in front of them. They see straight through attempts at education dressed up as fun. My books are all about satisfying my own imagination; about the things I’m curious about and would’ve liked to see in books when I was young. But I try not to be completely wreck less, and if education can happen naturally then it’s a bonus, and a successful satisfying story usually will have a few good morals intertwined through it anyway.
Why did you decide to work in children’s book illustration?
I never really intended or decided upon that direction. As an artist I’ve always been interest in the nature of words and their relationship with pictures. Much of my early art experimented with this relationship. My first picture book actually began from a composition sketch for a body of paintings I was preparing to exhibit in Sydney, Australia, but the potential for narrative was so strong that I couldn’t help but see where it took me. Before I knew it I had the bones of a picture book without realising it. Once it occurred to me, however, the transition was easy. I’ve always loved and collected picture books, using them for reference for my art, and I knew a good one when I came across it. Applying this sense of judgement and edit to my own work became quite natural.
How do you promote yourself?
When starting out, I created a disposable portfolio that could be posted to people and I wasn’t dependant on getting it back. How you present and design your self- promotion reflects on your visual ability. My website is absolutely essential, an accessible and immediate means of showing my work, and these days I use past publications and self designed catalogues from shows as promo material. When you are self-employed, you are either working for someone or promoting yourself. The ideal scenario is when the work you do for other people is working to promote you as well.
How do you treat the relationship between text and image in your work?
It is one of the most important aspects of my work. It affects everything about the tone and flow of the art or story
In terms of design, there are a couple of technical rules I wasn’t aware off until the production stage of my first book. The main one is that all the text has to be black. This is so it can be translated into different languages (the text is printed separately and after the image has been printed for the sake of expense). Another is that basically all picture books are 32 pages (again a cost issue), and this limits the flow of your story.
In terms of narrative, the relationship between words and pictures is always something I’ve been fascinated by and it comes rather naturally. It isn’t always the case that a single person writes and illustrates a picture book. For some people, they prefer to purely visualise someone else’s idea), and find the generation of narrative ideas tricky. Personally, I think I’m at an advantage by doing both, in that the words and pictures can compliment each other more cohesively, and create a third middle tone in the cases where they contrast. It also means that I can construct the direction of a story toward things I like to draw.
How long does it take you on average to complete a book?
I begin with a single idea, which usually comes from a drawing, and then tease that out in my sketchbook with hundreds of other drawings and pieces of writing that explore how the narrative can grow and extend into something that is satisfying. Once I’ve got a basic plot, I work with the HarperCollins Editor in streamlining everything down to fit the 32 page format (all picture books, with very few exceptions are 32 pages. Including end papers, every book printed has a page number that is a multiple of 4 as it reduces the cost of printing. 36 pages are considered too long for a picture book and would probably be way more expensive because of how the whole printing industry is set up)
Getting the story to flow over 32 pages is probably the most difficult part. It’s like directing a film, where the pace needs to be set and decisions made of what goes where. It’s at this point that many of the compositions get cut. There is a careful balance between what the picture is showing and what the words are saying, and if something is shown it often doesn’t need to be said. This is a great advantage of both writing and illustrating stories, as someone who just writes comes up with the entire manuscript before it is considered visually and much potential for interaction has gone.
So once everyone is agreed on the layout, I make black and white line art of every illustration. I then work with a designer on laying out exactly where the text will go before I go to final art. The writing can only be black and this can affect how an illustration is coloured. The reason for this is to allow for foreign languages to be published. The book will be fully printed with knowledge of what foreign translation will be done and how many, this is why book fairs exist, so all these deals can be made before final print, as again if they’re all getting done at once it reduces the cost.
So once all the text has been properly designed and laid out, I lock myself in a room for about 6 weeks, transfer the line art onto watercolour paper using a light-box, and just get stuck in. The whole process takes about a year.
How did you get your first book published?
I had known for a long time that I liked to draw pictures and I liked to write, and I had been putting the two together for a while in my paintings. I even bought and collected children’s picture books both for my own enjoyment and for research for my paintings, but it wasn’t until my final year of college that I attempted a children’s book of my own, and seriously considered it as a direction to take my life. I had my first idea for a children’s book while sitting on the pier of the Sydney Fish markets on a year out from studying, about a boy who tries to catch the reflection of a star in the water, much like the Brer Rabbit story of the Moon and the Mill Pond.
I carried the idea into my final year studying Visual Communication at the University of Ulster in Belfast in 2000. I developed self portrait drawings to narrate my thesis that year, which eventually developed into the character used in the book, and in the second half of my final year I used my picture book concept as a piece of coursework, deciding to see how far I could take it to a finished product. This involved getting the words right, and the pictures right, and more importantly, the balance between the two right.
To get the words right, I read my manuscript to as many 6 year olds as I could find, slowly tweaking the story based on the feedback I was getting. To get the pictures right I used the unending help of my older brother Rory who basically has a lot more sense than I do. And to get the balance right we both looked at hundreds of other picture books to see what everyone else had done.
In the process of getting the balance right, I noticed a few things about how good picture books seem to work. The one that sticks out most is about how they seem to appeal across all ages without being forced. They aren’t condescending, but at the same time they aren’t inaccessible. There just seems to be a natural universal appeal to both children and adults, and lets face it, they need to appeal to adults, as however well a 6 year old is doing, they’re unlikely to stick their hand in there
In the second half of 2001,after I had finished developing my idea, and had finished my degree in Visual Communication, specializing in illustration, after the initial euphoria of never having to write another thesis in my life wore off, and during that slightly intimidating ‘I actually have to do something with my life now!’ phase, I decided I would get my book published. I looked at what was around in the book shops and thought that what I had created was as good as, if not better, than anything else that was out there, and confidence and self –belief are important tools when you are self motivated. My first step was to buy the Writers/Artists Yearbook, and see where to send my manuscript. I knew I was in for a long and trying road of numerous attempts contacting publishers, repeatedly saying ‘have you read it yet?
Apart from using the Writers and Artists Yearbook to research which publishers I should send my idea to, I also referred to my own collection of children’s picture books. I looked to see who had published what, paying particular attention to my favourites, and which publishers popped up more often.
My next step was to figure out what exactly to send them. There are hundreds and thousands of unsolicited ideas that reach publishers every year- the slush pile, and my objective was to stand out among those. To be noticed. By asking, I found that what publishers like to see in a proposal for a new book was the manuscript and a few samples of the illustrations, a broad idea of the feel for the book. I invested a bit of money into producing 100 copies of a small spiral bound ‘sample’, with the manuscript at the start and 10 full colour illustrations after, which I put into an envelope with a letter outlining who I was and what I was trying to do, and a self addressed envelope for them to contact me. I also included a small portfolio (and I mean small, 8 prints that were 14 cm square each) of other examples of my paintings and illustrations in the hope that if a particular publisher didn’t pick up on my book idea, at least I might be able to get a few commissions while I was waiting.
A few phone calls later and I had found out who looked after the children’s division in each appropriate publishing house, and addressed my envelope to them. The point being that it would arrive at a real persons desk instead of some anonymous Slush Pile. I spent a while drawing up a big chart showing which publishers I had sent an envelope to, contact name and number, date last contacted, and room for comments. I sent an envelope to the 10 biggest publishers in the UK, and the 10 biggest in USA, figuring I’d start at the top and work my way down.
Expecting a healthy dose of being ignored and avoided, I was extremely surprised when I received a phone call from Harper Collins the next afternoon expressing their desire to publish my book. It arrived on the desk of a young editorial assistant; she opened it, liked what she saw, and immediately decided to do something about it. That offer was followed a week later by one from Philomel Books, a subdivision of Penguin in New York City, where something similar happened.
And it was as simple as that. I met with both Publishers, and between the three of us we were able to devise a cunning plan that would enable both of them to publish the book.
Although I was very lucky, I had set myself an objective and was quite methodical and logical in my efforts to get there. Like most businesses, I had an idea, I developed it, then invested time, thought, and money in selling it. But if I hadn’t already sold it, I’d still be trying to, and I’d still be having the same ideas for my next books, only wearing cheaper shoes, and eating weetabix for dinner.
Has illustration for children changed much since you began and do you think it will change much in the future?
All illustration changes. There are always trends and styles that ebb and flow in and out of fashion, and these are usually attached to advances in technology. When some new development or software is introduced, the tendency is to completely absorb the illustration in that particular style, before it rights itself again. Think of the introduction of vector based graphics, or flash websites. People liked to show off what they were technically capable of without much sense of restraint. This doesn’t usually make for the most successful image. After a while when it’s a given that these skills are accomplished, they become the means to an end, and not an end in itself. Take my illustrations for The Incredible Book Eating Boy’ for example. Here, almost everything is hand made. But I digitally created the majority of the shadows because the contrast between the clean sterile nature of line worked well with the scratchy organic nature of everything else. It would have been easy to go to town on these, but I feel like I knew where to stop. Someone wiser than myself once said that good manners and good design shouldn’t be noticed, its only when they’re bad that they stand out.
I also feel that the Children’s industry is on a creative upturn at the minute, where, unlike 10, years ago, many people are becoming more and more creative with what can be done with picture books.
What other artists have influenced your work?
Many. Off the top of my head, here are a few: Edward Gorey, Maurice Sendak, Saul Steinberg, Tomi Ungerer, Edward Hopper, Tim Burton, Quentin Blake, Ralph Steadman, Sempe, Michael Sowa, John Currin, Gary Baseman, Vermeer, Julian Opie, Yoshitomo Nara, Norman Rockwell, Eduardo Recife, Mark Tansey, Alan Baker, Michael Gilette, Studio AKA, Neasden Control Centre, Alex Kanevsky, Lucian Freud, Eric Carle, Marc Boutavant, Cy Twombly, Peter Doig, Peter Blake, Ron Muick, Vermeer, Carrivagio, Chuck Close, David Hockney, Shel Silverstein John Singer Sargent, Eduard Manet, Yoshitomo Nara, Martin Kippengerger, Adrian Johnson, Mr Bingo, Neil Gaimon.
Why do you think your work appeals across a range of people?
I try not to think about it too much, but I think possibly because they’re not overly forced, and I ask their opinion as often in the process as possible. There’s a natural simplicity and curiosity about them where children don’t feel they’re being spoken down to (hopefully) and that, fortunately, seems to appeal to both parents and children. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I make the sort of children’s books I’d have wanted when I was small, and If I’ve satisfied my own curiosity, then that’s the benchmark.
I’m very aware of an adult’s opinion. I also think children aren’t as stupid as many people assume. If kids take a moral or value from my books, that’s all well and good, but that also ultimately comes second to entertainment. I aim to entertain anyone who opens the pages of my books. Kids are pretty clued in to whenever they’re being sold a con, a thinly veiled lesson, and I think that is something I have noticed about how good picture books seem to work; they seem to appeal across all ages without being forced. They aren’t condescending, but at the same time they aren’t inaccessible. There needs to be an appeal to adults, through subtle humour and references, as it’s the adult who buys the book, and it’s the adult who has to read it repeatedly every night.
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