I recently had the opportunity to talk with artist and illustrator Cynthia Aldrich. Cynthia made her illustrating debut in 1989 when she drew the beautiful illustrations for Chara M. Curtis' All I See is Part of Me, which just so happens to be the very first title in our collection of children's books! She and Chara teamed up again in 1992 with the release of Fun is a Feeling. Cynthia had many insights to share about her artistic inspirations for these books and about the illustrating process. She even shared some of her favorite children's books with me, all of which are must-reads!
- You've illustrated two of Chara's Illumination Arts titles. What was it like working with Chara? The thing about working with Chara that was so incredible for me as an artist was that she left everything about the illustrations - from the initial inspirations to the style - entirely up to me. Her realm was in the words, so I had complete control over the illustrations. It was a very freeing experience and I couldn't have asked for a better situation to come up with the ideas for the illustrations.
- Where did you draw your inspirations for the illustrations to All I See is Part of Me and Fun is a Feeling?
My inspirations came directly from Chara's words and indirectly from the world around me. During the time I was working on All I See is Part of Me, my husband and I were living in an 80 year-old house in Kirkland, WA that we were in the process of refurbishing. Working on the illustrations was an escape from the madness of construction going on around me; they gave me peace of mind. After I received Chara's manuscript, I initially spent a couple of weeks simply reading and rereading the words, letting them sink in. One night, at around one o'clock in the morning, I woke up and had a movie reel of stills of each of the illustrations, one after another, right before my eyes. I immediately got up and sketched them down! In this sense, the inspirations for All I See is Part of Me came from somewhere through me, somewhere deep inside of me. The images came to me from parts of my life, triggered by Chara's words.I was living on Whidbey Island, WA when I did the illustrations for Fun is a Feeling. My husband and I had moved because we craved a more rural setting and I drew inspiration from the woods and natural greenery around me. I modeled the images of the inside of the house on our former house in Kirkland. I also drew inspiration from a scene in George MacDonald's adult fantasy novel Lilith for the illustration in which the boy's bedroom transforms into a forest.
To find out more about Cynthia's inspirations and artistic process, read onward!
- What materials did you use for these illustrations? I used colored pencils to illustrate All I See is Part of Me. I'm an oil painter and at first I played around with that medium but soon realized it wasn't going to work. I tried pastels and that wasn't the look I wanted and then I tried watercolors, which were better but still not quite right. I had always wanted to explore colored pencils so I tried colored pencils on textured watercolor paper and loved the result. I primarily used watercolors with colored pencil detailing for Fun is a Feeling. In exploring children and children's books, I found that they respond well to lots of bright color and that they like detailing. I was able to achieve this with these materials. I also used airbrushing for the magic dust that travels from page to page.
- What do you enjoy about illustrating children's books? What are some of the difficulties of illustrating children's books?
The difficulty of illustrating children's books is the length of time it takes to complete a project. Illustrating a children's book is a long process! I spent the course of two years drawing the illustrations for All I See is Part of Me. It is such a huge commitment of time that you really have to be on board with the project, one of the reasons I haven't illustrated another children's book since Fun is a Feeling. I have a couple of ideas for stories, but right now I'm focusing on painting so they're currently on the backburner. - All I See is Part of Me is an award-winning, international bestseller, not to mention one of our most popular titles. How has its success affected you?
It's always wonderful to receive praise and awards for a book - which of course helps sell books by increasing their visibility - but the feedback and stories that I've received from readers has been most rewarding for me. I'll give you an example: Soon after All I See is Part of Me was published, I met a woman who had purchased the book for her young daughter who suffered from terrible nightmares. After she read the book to her daughter, the girl asked to take it to bed with her. After a couple of nights of this, she told her mother, "Sister Star took away my nightmares." She didn't have any more nightmares after that! To touch people in this way and to receive letters and emails of readers' stories about how the book has influenced them has been priceless. - How did you come up with the idea to hide a kitty on every page of Fun is a Feeling?
The idea initially came to me when I was working on the illustration of the bug crawling on the boy's nose. I was looking at the illustration and all of a sudden I noticed that there appeared to be a cat hiding in the background of the leaves. I added some color to the image and brought it out so it looked more like a cat. The publishers liked it, so we decided to do a similar thing throughout the rest of the book and hide a kitty on every page. - What are some of your favorite children's books?
As a child I loved Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry. The illustrations fascinated me and inspired me to illustrate a children's book. Robert McCloskey's Blueberries for Sal was another favorite. The illustrations are entirely in blue and white! I also loved both the stories and outrageous illustrations in Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking series and in Cat in the Hat and other Dr. Seuss books. I enjoyed Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. His use of imagination and fantasy as a means of dealing with emotions is awesome. In terms of more recent releases, Barbara Berger's Grandfather Twilight is beautifully illustrated. Tuesday by David Wiesner is really cool. It doesn't have a single word in it and is composed entirely of illustrations! I also like Illumination Arts' One Smile and The Whoosh of Gadoosh.
The thing that I most enjoy about illustrating children's books is the incredible use of imagination, of having an inspiration come through me or from up inside of me. I also enjoy the drawing process itself. After working on the illustrations for All I See is Part of Me and Fun is a Feeling for so long, I had a new-found facility with drawing. I could draw anything! I was able to pull an image from my mind and draw it. I loved the facility that came with doing all of that work. I also enjoy seeing the project come to light, from the initial idea to the finished, published product - it is a very exciting process!
