Q: What was your first illustration?

A: Although at the age of 14, I drew a hand that was used in a diagram in a math textbook written by my father, I was first published on my own merits when I was in college. As an 18-year-old sophomore, I got an appointment to show my work to the art editor of the New York Times, who asked me to make a drawing for an article called something like "Autumn is a Woman." It was written by Verlyn Klinkenbrook, who still writes editorials for the newspaper.

Q: What was your first book?

A: I illustrated a novel by Avi. The title was "Emily Upham's Revenge, or How Deadwood Dick Saved the Banker's Niece, a Massachussetts Adventure." The cover looked like this:

Q: Did you always know you were going to be a children's book illustrator?

A: No. I thought I might be a painter. Or maybe an architect. Or one of a dozen other things, not all of which were related to art. And I also knew as a child that I liked to make books, often collaborating with friends. But somehow it didn't dawn on me that I could become a children's book illustrator.

Q: Which of your books is your favorite?

A: I can't answer that question because if I chose one book, it would be unfair to all my other books.

Q: Where can we learn more about you?

A: Look for Talking With Artists, Volume III, by Pat Cummings.

Q: Where and how do you speak about your work?

A: I very much enjoy giving presentations about almost any of my books. These include lots of pictures, along with explanations of the stages of bookmaking, research, technical challenges, and other issues that relate to what I do. Much of it is pretty funny. I often draw to illustrate points, either at an easel or straight into my computer for projection on a screen; I can draw very fast (though not as fast as Stephen Kellogg, if you've ever seen him give a presentation!) I find I generally communicate well with all ages of audience, and try to adjust the content of my talks accordingly, whether they be Kindergartners, graduate students, or the general public. This is the part of my website for people who might be interested in arranging a visit from me.

Q: Do you use yourself as a model for the characters in some of your illustrations?

A: Yes and no. The only time I really did this on purpose was for one of my first books, What Amanda Saw, where I somehow photographed myself as the little girl Amanda's father and drew realistic pencil drawings from the photos. After that, I've resorted to posing when I couldn't invent a figure convincingly, and needed some real-life reference. So although I tried to disguise myself, photographs of me were the basis for the fathers in both Hansel and Gretel and Rapunzel, and I even put myself in Rumpelstiltskin's reclining position for that book's title page, to see how legs and elbow go together. People have thought that I drew myself for the guitarist in The Wheels on the Bus, but I didn't. If he came out looking like me (some say he does, some say he doesn't), it was by accident!

Q: Is it fun writing and illustrating books?

A: Yes, it is! The two most fun parts for me are: 1) just sitting down and having ideas at the very beginning of a project, and 2) seeing a finished book, all printed and bound, for the first time. No matter how well I know what I put into it, and no matter how many times I've seen my drawings and printouts showing how the book will look, seeing it as an actual book always feels like a surprise.

Q: Could you tell me how you created the illustrations for Rapunzel? (oil paint, computer, etc.)

A: Although this question is indirectly answered in the question below about media, I can add a little to its statement that Rapunzel was illustrated in oils.

In my effort to create the effect of Renaissance painting, I modified a Renaissance painting technique. Painters like Raphael would make an underpainting without color, often painting in egg tempera on wood panels. Tempera is fast-drying, and a very interesting painting medium; traditionally, you start by rolling a raw egg yolk around in your hand to get all the white off of it before puncturing its membrane and squeezing the contents into a bowl with dry pigments. I didn't use egg tempera, but watercolors, on watercolor paper, to paint an underpainting all in grays and browns. This is called a "grisaille." Then I painted colors in oils, transparently, except that it was necessary first to seal the surface of the paper so that the oil could not soak into it. I first tried this technique for Hansel and Gretel, and have used it a number of times.

Q: In your book"The Wheels on the Bus," there are the initials REM on a building. Is this referring to the band R.E.M.?

A: Claudia, this was one of several little nuggets that I stuck into The Wheels on the Bus just for the amusement of my friends and family. Unfortunately, you've asked about the one (the only one, I think) whose meaning I have completely forgotten! It was not a reference to the band R.E.M. (though if any band members or fans have thought it was, I'm happy to let them think so). I remember putting those initials there for a friend, and it might have had to do with the friend's business, but I'm afraid the answer to your question is going to remain a mystery. If you check through Wikipedia's list of possible REM's, you find some interesting ones: an Egyptian fish god, a unit of radiation dosage, an android from the TV series "Logan's Run." None of these ring a bell. But thanks for asking!

Q: Who are some of the people that influenced you as an artist?

A: I'd say that three artists who actually taught me were big influences, as much on my wish to be an artist as on the way I wanted my art to look. These were: my high school art teacher Robert Kuennen; the painter William Bailey whose classes I took at Yale College, and Maurice Sendak, who also taught a course there. Then there are dozens of artists whose work I've admired so much that it has affected the way I painted or drew, or at least tried to paint or draw. Some examples: Piero della Francesca, Pierre Bonnard, Max Beckmann, Paul Klee, Lynton Park (a very obscure untrained American painter), and more and more...

Q: Will you write any more love stories? My family and I are huge fans of Rumpelstilskin and Rapunzel but those are the only ones of yours we have. :(

A: If so, it won't be for a long time, I'm sorry to say. Right now I am working on the pictures for a sequel to Swamp Angel, (this link takes you to the Swamp Angel page on author Anne Isaac's website) and it isn't a love story.

Q: What media do you use for most of your illustrations?

A: I guess my books don't give that information on the copyright page, as some publishers' do. I try to choose a medium that best illustrates the feeling of each text, so that I've tried a lot of different materials. I 'm probably most comfortable with oil paints, which are the medium for the realistic pictures in my fairy tale books, as well as for the very different art in The Wheels on the Bus and Knick-Knack Paddywhack! For The Shivers in the Fridge, I used pencil, pastel, watercolor and computer printout.

Q: Each book you illustrate has a totally different style - how did you learn so many diverse techniques? Or do you learn as you go?

A: I pretty much learn as I go. Usually the stories tell me what the pictures should look like, or at least what they should feel like, but I don't necessarily know how to go about making those pictures. Often I look very hard at other art, in books or in museums, and when I want a book to resemble a real historical artistic style, I will copy some examples of it. It's amazing how much you can learn by copying. Other times, when I don't have examples to follow from the history of art, I just try different things and see if they work.

Q: What kind of bicycle do you ride?

Q: What is brown and sticky?

Q: What is your favorite color?

Q: What was your best Halloween costume?

A: I was in third or fourth grade and made a traffic-light costume out of a big box. I went trick-or-treating holding a flashlight inside it with me. When I got to a house, I would point the flashlight at the inside of the top light, and the words "trick or treat!"would show in the red translucent lens; then I would hold the flashlight up to my middle, yellow lamp until I received a treat, and then "Thank you!" would show in the green, bottom lamp.

Return to top of page