I threw everyone's names up in the air, and out came the winner of the Tip-Top Pop book giveaway!
Congratulations Anette! And thank you to everyone who visited and commented. It was nice to see all the positive response. Valeria was touched too - she thanked you all over at her blog.
I recently interview Argentinian illustrator Valeria Docampo about her work in Tip Tap Pop - newly released from Marshall Cavendish. What seems like a simple story, written by Sarah Lynn, about a shared love of dance turns tender as a girl's grandfather's memory of everyone fades.
I loved Valeria's thoughtful answers, I hope you enjoy! Oh, and I'll choose one comment at random and give away my review copy of this beautiful book!
1. As an illustrator, I'm always curious about material choices. Would you share some of your specific tools (brushes, brand of paint, pencils, paper, etc.)?
Every project entails its own unique world of sensations. I believe that the challenge, as well as the fun, lies in finding the materials that are most helpful in portraying the emotional climate or atmosphere where the action takes place in each book. This is the part that calls for specific technical requirements.
For example, if I want to emphasize the light, I use oils to create limpid, transparent layers. If I don't have enough time for oil paint to dry, I use acrylics. For Tip Tap Pop, a story that deals very sensitively with a difficult topic, I chose gouache in order to create velvety textures and a sweet atmosphere. Gouache also allowed me to portray a sense of melancholy, whenever the story dealt with memory and the passage of time, or a dynamic atmosphere in the dancing scenes.
The only constant is that I always use Fabriano paper. As for the other materials, they change according to the nature and demands of the project.
2. How much planning went into the color palette for Tip Tap Pop? I appreciated how your vivid colors faded during Pop's loneliest moments on the porch. Was this intentional?
The text of Tip Tap Pop deals with memory and the passage of time. Grandpa POP is losing his memory of the past, a youthful time when he lit up the dance floors as a tap dancer, which he recounts to his granddaughter through dancing. To recreate this past in the present, I chose a palette of colors reminiscent of the American soda fountains of the 50's.
When POP begins to lose his memory, his inner silence adds yet another dimension to the story. To represent this transition, which culminates in the double page where POP is on the porch, I chose more realistic lighting and softer, more subdued colors. The light surrounding POP on the porch instills a sense of emptiness in the story, the silence that begins to take over the grandfather's mind and which is noted by all the other characters.
3. You use pattern and texture in such a smart and unique way. What (or who) are some of your inspirations?
The textures and patterns in my illustrations come about randomly, as the result of improvisation with various types of materials. In fact, this is the part of the creative process that I enjoy most of all.
To create the world of Tip Tap Top, where past and present are woven together, come unraveled and are then woven anew, I searched my memory to find the textures of the lace-edged clothing that I used for the grandmother and the diaphanous tutus that I used for the little girls who are just beginning to learn how to dance. I chose simple textures because my intention was to focus deeply on the facial expressions of the characters and on their interactions with each other.
4. Were there any particular challenges in illustrating this story?
One of the biggest challenges presented by this story was how to portray the internal changes in Grandpa POP, depending on whether he was losing or regaining his memory. This is why I included a character that isn't in the text: the dog.
The dog accompanies the characters throughout the story and establishes a relationship with the reader, highlighting what is taking place. For example, when Grandpa POP begins to regain his memory, the dog has one eye closed and the other one open, looking at POP's foot, which seems to recall a dance step. In the two-page illustration on the porch, the dog is asleep, just like POP's memory. Throughout the book, the dog intensifies the emotions and transitions in the story.
The character of the dog also serves as another way of approaching the story, perhaps a more innocent perspective on the difficult subject matter of the book, which would be easier for children to identify with.
Besides the symbolism, I also enjoyed representing the spiritual connection between the dog and the grandfather.
5. What is your early process like when illustrating a picture book? Do you spend a lot of time on character design or do you dive right into thumbnails?
The character that I spent the most time studying was Grandpa POP. I sketched more than thirty grandfathers. Some looked too serious, while others looked too old. POP is senile, but he is also a dancer, which means that he must be very dynamic. When I gave POP his unruly fringe of hair, he looked like a mad scientist, and I realized that I was onto something.
I then worked on the character of the dog. It needed to be a dog that wouldn't draw attention away from the other characters and one that was also capable of expressing feelings. The long ears that I chose allowed me to portray his emotions in a very entertaining way.
The little girl and the grandmother came about the very first day I read the story.
Once all of the characters had taken on a life of their own, the challenge was to unify their features, giving them some family resemblance.
6. What is your favorite spread in Tip Tap Pop? (Mine is her 6th Birthday. I love the shift from the 5th Birthday in so many details, including the sad doll in the box and the strong composition isolating Pop in the background. <see 2 pictures above>)
My favorite double page is the one with Grandpa Pop on the porch. As I mentioned earlier, when Pop begins to forget, silence becomes another dimension of the story, a sort of ambiguous, internal setting. When the past that lives on in our memories begins to fade, it leaves behind an indescribable sensation, a static emptiness while the world around us goes on about its business. I tried to represent this as the flight of a dragonfly on a sunny day, a sleeping dog and a pair of gazing eyes, lost somewhere in time.
I received this beautiful envelope from India the other day. Every piece of the mail was lovely, not the least of which are these Ripple cards. Thank you Justdoodleit !
Please continue to visit Ripple - especially as this month is Great American Illustrator month. Have you seen the schedule? I'm excited for the big reveals to come, starting tonight!
You may recall my baby beets piece from earlier this year. It will be exhibited as part of the above show at the Children's Museum of NH this summer. I saw a bit of it being installed as we played at the museum last weekend - it looks superb. I adore the painting above, by Fleur Palau. I can't wait to see the whole exhibit next week myself. See below for more details and the list of talented artists participating. It also doesn't hurt that the museum is such a wonderful place to visit with little ones. If you want to go just to see the art, visit the front desk and they'll let you view the show without paying admission for the museum.
I'll keep this brief, because we should all just be drawing.
The above is an illustration by Frank Dormer. His workshop at this year's NESCBWI conference put the work back in workshop. Entitled, 'Think before you draw', he posed a very simple phrase and objects and asked us to draw for just a few minutes. Then we shared. Simple, right? Nope. Oh, it was fun to stretch my brain and think of a way to show something with really tight parameters. What will everyone else draw? What is unexpected? How can scale and environment tell the story? How can I do this without drawing a face on my egg? Yes, you had to be there. And if ever you see a workshop available to you with Frank at the helm, do sign up! He was warm and observant and planted little seeds in all of us in how to look at things differently.
Want to hear more about the conference? I blogged about it here the other day. I'll blog about it here tomorrow too.
Have you heard the news? Picture Book Junkies are back! We've got a new and fabulous member, a fresh website, and are the sammich to follow on Twitter.
I'm so excited for our renewal. These ladies are so talented and supportive, I think we all knew it was only a matter of time before we relaunched. This week will be a bit of a reintroduction. Come check us out!
After reading so many great 2009 recaps and 2010 resolutions I've decided to draft my own - several days late, of course.
Last year I knew enough to not make resolutions. With a baby on the way, I just wanted to be prepared for a crazy year as a new mom. Deep down, I did think I'd have time to keep up the momentum of my illustration career.
But the best laid plans are nothing in the face of a baby and I spent a lot of time grieving over expectations. I bit off more than I could chew at times and felt really conflicted about my roles as mother and artist. I survived the year, and looking back I actually feel pretty good about what I did accomplish in 2009:
I find it easy to turn resolutions into more of a wish list rather than an short list of attainable goals. I feel like I'm already reaching here, but there needs to be a little stretching for the stars, right?
Forgive me for not blogging before the holidays. It's not too late to celebrate, is it?
Look at the beautiful package of goodies sent to me by Kathy Weller! It was more than I expected as a runner-up to her blog giveaway contest. Thanks Kathy, you're super talented AND a packaging dynamo!
Look at those beautiful holiday cards - I just love them all. And what better way to display them than on our FLOWERING Jade tree. Like last year, but with 10 times the number of blossoms. I hope it blooms every Christmas.
Speaking of which, look who else has been blossoming:
It was strange to not illustrate a holiday card, but can you blame me for just wanting to share his smiling face? We had a wonderful Christmas. I hope you all did too.
Miles and I have this book in heavy rotation:
Lots of little windows for little hands to explore. Big foldout. Fun popup. He's really fascinated and I love finding the little sub-plots throughout. It's holding my attention really well considering we've read this at least 20 times in a week. And of course I'm a huge fan of Delphine Durand which doesn't hurt. *I just discovered this book is only available used, so maybe I shouldn't be so casual about Miles' tugging on windows, haha.
I just got Kathy Griffin's memoir today so I plan on diving into that when I find a free moment. Not sure when I'll have one of those since I'm spinning a few too many plates right now. All fun stuff, but why do opportunities present themselves in avalanches rather than trickles? Hmpph.
Miles is reading Jannie Ho's The Haunted Ghoul Bus (written by Lisa Trumbauer). He's getting great at turning pages and loves the bright colors and shiny spot varnish in this book.
I finished reading Lucky Breaks, a beautiful follow-up to Higher Power of Lucky. I actually forgot that one of the main characters was named Miles, can't remember if I was pregnant when I read HPOL.
Our rotation for naptime board books are Freight Train, Charlie Harper's 123 Book, and Leslie Patricelli's Quiet Loud. Every time I read Freight Train I marvel at it's structure and rhythm. And the illustrations in Quiet Loud charm both Miles and I. It's a new education for me, reading aloud with the age-appropriate audience. Books I may have passed over before because I wasn't drawn to them visually now stand out for their true, active value.
What are you reading?
