Creating Characters with Melquea Smith

 

Photo by Pablo Izquierdo - Capturing Belief

 Melquea Smith (pronounced "Mehl-kwee-yah”) is an award-winning children’s book illustrator based in New York. She is an administrator for BlackCreatorsHeadquarters and also a PAL member of the West-Central New York SCBWI region, which is how I met her. And – she has two books that release this fall: The Time Machine (October 2) and The Biggest Gift of All (November 16).

I’ve been wanting to chat with her about illustrating kids’ books, and we finally got together (virtually) a few weeks ago. It was a delightful chat; Melquea bubbles over with joy when she talks about the characters she has illustrated. I asked her all kinds of questions about how she goes from an author’s manuscript to creating a three-dimensional, very much alive character on the page.

Cardinal Rule Press

Me: What’s the first thing you do when creating a character?

Melquea: I start with the story, and after reading it over a few times I begin thinking about what sort of character might inhabit the story. In particular, what sort of character haven’t I created before? I think about their features: are they light-colored or darker? Is their hair kinky or curly? Who is in their friend group, and how do they fit in? How do they dress? For example, in The Time Machine the main character, Bailey is very sciency. She’s not the type of girl to wear frills – but her best friend, Nia, is.

Also important for me is to find a way to add the experience of black girlhood, from the accessories they wear to how they act. This is where I bring my lived experience, growing up a Black girl.

Includas Press

I also think about what I don’t see in the media. I want to showcase the spectrum of personhood, celebrate the soft, dark-skinned black boy, for example. So many times we focus on spunky characters or those who have been hardened by life experiences. This is why we need more books, because one single book can’t be the catch-all to represent the spectrum of experiences.

Me:  I notice that you illustrate characters from diverse ethnicities and cultures…

Melquea: Yes, and I do research, just as an author does. Tia and Mia, in The Biggest Gift, are twins. They are also Asian. Whenever I create characters, I pay close attention to stereotypes of marginalized groups and steer away from them. Stereotypical images are like when you write a cliché. The other thing I do is try to add a little bit of myself to my characters. Mia, for example, wears cat ears. I’ve done that – and continue to do that!

Me: Once you get your idea for characters, what’s next?

Melquea: I begin working on “discovery sketches” – just to learn who my characters are. I grab a sheet of computer paper and a marker and I start playing around with shapes for their face. I might snap a photo with my phone for sketches I particularly like, Then when I get a good feel for the shape and language of my character, I’ll go deeper. I might play around with proportions, sketch different body types, try on some different hair styles: afro? ponytail? locs? I’m looking for what feels right for that particular character. 

At the same time, I want to make sure that my character doesn’t look like others I’ve drawn in previous books. I’ll also put them in a line-up with other characters in the book to see how they complement each other, as well as how they differ.

When I get their looks down, I play around with how they move through space. I might invite them to go out for ice cream with another character, and sketch them together. I’m also attentive to visual and personality quirks that help them interact with other characters.

Me: I’ve invited a character or two to share hot cocoa and cookies with me…

Melquea: Yes, like that. Illustrators need to sit with our characters. We need to know how they move both within the story and outside the story. How are their fingers positioned when they talk to a friend? Sometimes adding a small detail to a face can really make their emotion come through – and we have to capture that emotion on the page.

Me: Thank you so much for inviting us into your illustrator’s life!

You can read more about how Melquea designs characters over at her blog. Learn more about her and her books at her website and on her  Instagram .

Jannie Ho Talks Chickens and Art

by Sue Heavenrich

I was introduced to Jannie Ho through her Chickengirl comics. I love them – and there’s a whole alphabet’s worth.

And then I read her very funny book about a bear who finds a chicken frozen in the winter snow. Being a kind bear, he brings it home to thaw – I mean, warm up. As he’s waiting, Bear begins slicing and dicing. He tosses carrots and potatoes and a sprig of basil into a soup pot. A pot which, Chicken realizes (as he begins to wake up) is just the perfect size for a chicken! Bear wants company for lunch – but is Chicken the company? Or lunch?

She’s illustrated lots of books by other authors, including the new picture book, Mitzi and the Big Bad Nosy Wolf (written by Teresa Bateman and released last fall). It’s a small book about a big topic: digital citizenship. Mitzi is one smart lamb, and when a wolf asks for her personal information she refuses. But in a nice way: “Would you like to dance?” she asks. Maybe she can figure out how to escape while tiring the wolf out with the Charleston and the Tango. 

So I just had to ask Jannie a few questions about illustrating. 

Sue: Hi Jannie, and welcome to the GROG. I’ve noticed that even when Chicken is not a main character in a book, you’ve managed to sneak in a chicken somewhere. Do you put them in every book you illustrate? And what's with the chickens?

Jannie: Thanks for noticing! I do try to sneak in a chicken or so, but only if it works for the story. It doesn’t work for every single book, but I think it is fun for the reader to enjoy some “Easter eggs” in the illustrations. Whether it is a little bird in every spread, or some squirrels hiding in the bushes, my job is to create visual delight to the reader.

I actually get that question a lot- what’s with the chickens, ha ha! I don’t know when it started but I had a chicken alarm clock growing up that clucked when it went off. Perhaps it did something to me subliminally. Chickens are fun and I started drawing them in art school. They showed up a lot in my artwork and people started calling me “Chicken girl.” The name stuck with me ever since. 

Sue: Chicken story or not, what goes into your determination of how to portray characters (including secondary characters) in a book? Do you add gratuitous chicken characters to see if the art director is paying attention?

Jannie: A good art director is always paying attention! I don’t add random chicken characters for the sake of adding them for my own amusement. It must support or add to the story in some way. I enjoy creating animal characters and I love thinking about the personalities they represent.

Sue:  Please talk about the media do you use in creating your art.

Jannie: My picture book art is mostly digital. I use to hand sketch with paper/pencil and scan them in, and work digitally on top of it. But now I skip that step as it is more efficient to do the sketching directly on the computer, too. For my board and picture book art, they are mostly vector art created in Adobe Illustrator. My comic art, which has a different look and line art heavy, is created using Procreate on the iPad, with an Apple Pencil. So it is a mixture of all of these techniques I use when creating my art.

Sue: How do you (or do you) decide which projects to take on? What is it about a manuscript that grabs you and makes you know that "I have to illustrate this one"? And once you've taken on a project, what is your creative process?

Jannie: I absolutely love when a project comes my way and I know the art director or editor has been paying attention to what kind of art I enjoy doing and it just feels in sync. The best projects are the ones where there is an ease but also a good challenge to push outside of what I’ve been doing. The same sense of humor is really important to me too; I want to get what the author is trying to do, and vice versa!

The creative process- it is a little different for each project. I always like to explore the character designs first. Once I have the characters worked out, I like to explore the environment design further. For Mitzi and the Big Bad Nosy Wolf, for example, it takes place in the meadows and forest with lots of greenery. So I like to start looking and collecting references on Pinterest and also think about the color palette of the book. I usually do thumbnail sketches for the entire book, and then work on each spread individually later to refine the sketches. I like to hop around and can’t work chronologically, but it all ties together in the end!

Sue: Do you get feedback from authors on your illustrations? And does the art director ever ask you to revise something?

Jannie: I don’t get much feedback from the authors during the process; usually it is very minimal. I am happy when authors put their trust in me. I receive nice notes from authors when our books come out though! It is always a great feeling.  And I do get feedback from art directors and revisions are part of the process. I always appreciate great art direction to make the book even better.

Sue: I love Bear and Chicken. Do you have any more chicken adventures coming out? What books do you have coming out in 2023?

Jannie: Thank you! I have other chicken stories, but not the same chicken. Super Chicken and Shelly is regular comic feature that I write and illustrate in Highlights High Five magazine. So please do read their adventures there! Books that are coming out in 2023 are both graphic novels that I’m excited about. The Lost Mitten, written and illustrated by me, is an early reader graphic novel about a rabbit and a mouse that follows tracks in the snow to return a lost mitten. Fry Guys, written by Eric Geron and illustrated by me, will be about my other favorite thing to draw: anthropomorphic food!

Another book I’ve written and illustrated which is dear to my heart is a board book called Happy Chinese New Year, A Festive Counting Story. I’ve always wanted to write a book about my Chinese culture and this book took years in the making. It is about the Chinese zodiac animals getting ready for Chinese New Year and also a counting book that teaches the numbers in Mandarin Chinese. Funny enough, this book also has a chicken (rooster) in it!

Sue: And there’s still a few days of celebrating the New Year – so definitely time for folks to get a copy! Thank you, Jannie, and Happy Chinese New Year!

If you want to learn more about Jannie Ho and the books she writes, check out her website (www.JannieHo.com). Here’s where you can find her on social media:

Instagram  http://instagram.com/chickengirldesign

Twitter  http://twitter.com/jannieho

Facebook  http://facebook.com/chickengirldesign

Butterflies are Pretty Gross!

 by Sue Heavenrich

Tundra Books, April 2021

What with the days getting longer, insects are flitting and buzzing, whining and zipping about the yard. Among them are butterflies, pretty and – according to Rosemary Mosco – pretty gross! They taste with their feet. They lick salt from muddy puddles. Some of them even eat poop! And their kids! Butterfly larvae can be rude, stinky, and sneaky. 

Truth is, butterflies are complicated. And Rosemary and Jacob do a great job getting that information across to readers of all ages. They highlight the science and shenanigans of seven species, including the Monarch who narrates the book. And believe me, he’s none too eager to give up Secrets of The Order (Lepidoptera). Granted, this is a picture book, but it’s got enough humor in it to entice adults to read it again and again. Plus Back Matter!

I “met” Rosemary through her online Bird and Moon cartoons. I met Jacob at our regional SCBWI conference (west-central NY). So I am really happy they are able to join me here on the GROG blog today and share some of their secrets – which are not gross at all! Imagine that we are sitting around a table slurping coffee through our long, tubular butterfly tongues (Rosemary, do butterflies drink coffee?) and chatting about words and art.

Sue: So Rosemary, What made you want to highlight the gritty side of butterfly life?

photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz

Rosemary: I got the idea for this book when I overheard someone say "I like bugs, but not butterflies. They're just boring and girly." Well, I'm a girl (okay, a woman), and I know butterflies to be gross, funny, beautiful, and wonderful - just like us. I wanted to highlight the complexity of these familiar critters. I was hoping to show that everything is much more complicated and interesting if you take a deeper look.

Sue: What sort of research did you do?

Rosemary: I started with a big list of strange butterfly facts. Then I whittled it down to my favorites. I read books and papers, and I also spoke with two experts. I talked to Phil Torres, who is a true renaissance man: he's an adventurer, researcher, TV host, and butterfly expert. He has taken great tropical footage of butterflies eating jaguar poop and drinking turtle tears. Phil read an early draft of the book and provided footage that helped the fabulous artist Jacob Souva nail down the strangest scenes. I also talked to Professor Naomi Pierce of Harvard - she has a wealth of knowledge, and she's particularly interested in butterflies that let ants babysit their caterpillars. The facts about alcon blue butterflies in this book come from her research.

Sue: And you watch butterflies too, right?

Rosemary: Yes, enthusiastically! I even travel to other places to watch them. I've been to the National Butterfly Center in Texas twice for the Texas Butterfly Festival. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I love zebra swallowtails. They're these beautiful black-and-white-striped butterflies that like to drink from puddles in the middle of hiking paths. 

Sue: And Jacob, you did research, too for the illustrations.

Jacob: This book took a lot more in-depth research than a normal project would. We cover a lot of ground. Tundra’s art director, John Martz, had me walking the fine line between fiction and non-fiction to weave the book into a whole. For example, Monarch Butterflies have small little legs that sit up near their heads. I made a run at it, but couldn’t make it look reassuring enough for young readers! So we compromised and pushed them down a bit to take on a more recognizable form. He also wears sneakers and drinks coffee …. Also, Rosemary pointed out a few inaccuracies here or there after I turned in the finals. There was a “butterfly” on the cover that turned out to be a sneaky moth! I am so grateful for her knowledge and was happy to make changes where needed. This book was a team effort in the truest sense.

Sue: one of my favorite spreads shows the “sneaky caterpillars”. How did you decide to turn this spread into a filmstrip?

Jacob: This book presented some unique storytelling challenges. The narrator (monarch butterfly) speaks directly to the reader and then takes them on a journey into the strange facts. How does that look? How do you weave the strange and gross details into a narrative that makes sense? The thumbnail stage for this book was very important.

I landed on the narrator using a few different devices as a narrative tool to get into a set of images. The first is binoculars, second an old retro film projector, and the third is a top secret room. The “sneaky caterpillar” illustration worked best as a series of images that show how the ants take in and adopt the caterpillar over time. We had some dialogue back and forth about whether a film strip would be clear enough to work. 

Sue: You create your illustrations digitally. Any pros and cons you’d like to share? 

Jacob: There are a lot of benefits to working digitally. I love how easy it can be to change things and tweak color or texture after the fact. It’s a bit like working in oil paint that never “sets.” I really enjoy working with color so Photoshop is a bit like a giant playground. Texture files can be reused! And no mixing paint! It really is great.

On the downside, you can easily overwork an image to get it ‘just right.’ Sometimes this can drain the life from the work and it can become kind of stale. I combat this by not using the undo button too much and living with the imperfect lines and bits of unintentional collage. It’s something I’m very aware of. I also sometimes miss getting my hands dirty or spilling paint water!

Bird & Moon comics

Sue: Back to bugs. Rosemary, in one of your comics you listed animal body parts you wish you had. Do any butterflies have some superpowers – or body parts – you would like to have?

Rosemary: Butterflies can see ultraviolet, and they have special ultraviolet patterns on their wings that humans can't see. I'd love to be able to see even more butterfly colors. And of course I'd love a pair of big colorful wings. But they'd need to fold up for easy storage. It'd be hard to go through doors!

Sue: Any words of advice to readers?

Rosemary: I'd like to urge anyone reading this to go and explore their local insect populations. You'll be shocked, disgusted, and overjoyed by what you find - and you'll banish boredom forever.

Thanks for joining us today. Folks can find out more about Rosemary Mosco at her website, https://rosemarymosco.com  and Jacob Souva at his website, www.twofishillustration.com/my-work

Pedro's Pan ~ a chat with illustrator Jacob Souva

by Sue Heavenrich

Pedro’s Pan
by Matthew Lasley; illus. by Jacob Souva
32 pages; ages 5 - 7
Alaska Northwest Books, 2019

A few years ago my dad and mom began panning for gold. They never found the motherlode, but they had a lot of fun exploring new places and meeting fellow enthusiasts. So I was excited to discover Matthew Lasley's new picture book about panning for gold.

From the point of view of the pan! Here’s how it begins:

He is Pedro. I am Pan.
Up here, on Pedro’s pack!
I’m not a Frying Pan.
I am a Gold Pan. You can call me Pan for short.

character sketch, used by permission of Jacob Souva

Yep! I fell in love with this small, round character at first read. Pan is a hard worker, swishing and swirling gravel from icy cold streams. But finding gold is tough, and Pedro is growing sad because he can’t find any. And Pan wonders if he is broken.

I like a lot of things about this book, beginning with the end pages (red plaid like a wool shirt). The language is fun. Having Pan tell the story is brilliant. And there is Back Matter: information about the real Pedro, tips on panning for gold, and some solid gold facts.

I really like the illustrations – and was so fortunate to run into illustrator Jacob Souva at our region's SCBWI Spring Conference last month!  He agreed to share his thoughts about Pedro’s Pan with us today.

Jacob: Thank you. It was lovely meeting you at SCWBI!

GROG:  How did you come to illustrate Pedro's Pan? Have you ever been to Alaska? Panned for gold?

Jacob: My agent let me know of a possible book with Graphic Arts (recently rebranded as West Margin Press; Alaska Northwest Books is an imprint ). She said it was about the Alaskan gold rush. I admit that I knew a little bit about it - but not enough! I set out gathering info and images to help me understand what that period in Alaskan history was like. I love history so it was not a tough sell.

GROG: Talk about the medium that you used for illustrating, and why you chose it for this book.

Jacob: I work digitally and modify my style a little based on what the story needs. It tends to look like collaged paper with a healthy amount of stray pencil marks and rough painting. I think in big shapes.

Pedro’s Pan was a book that seemed to contrast the excitement and beauty of Alaska and gold with the hard work and many disappointments of gold panning. I picked a color palette that would allow for this juxtaposition. For example, Pedro and Pan are both mostly earth tones (dirty) while the sky and mountains and streams are all bright and full of hope

GROG: In an instagram post you said, “I was truly sad to wrap up the final illustrations as I loved living in this world.”

Jacob: Yes, I think that books require a consistency where it’s a believable world to the reader. It’s not hard to get lost in that as the illustrator! The illustration process can be a kind of immersion in the story that is pretty deep. Not quite like the Alaskan wilderness, but maybe close?

GROG: Can you share some spreads and talk about your process?

sketch for spread 2, used with permission of Jacob Souva

Jacob: My process is not that unlike a lot of illustrators. I start with research, then sketches of the main characters. I took some time to study the colors I wanted to work with. I really felt like Pedro and Pan needed to look great together - a real team - so I spent a lot of time on their shapes.

Thumbnailing the book was my favorite step. It was a true challenge in that prospecting and gold panning requires a lot of time in and around streams, but I didn’t want to get repetitive. I think I solved it!

final artwork for spread 2, used with permission of Jacob Souva

GROG:  You mention that the night scene was the spread you were most nervous about.

Jacob: In every page before that final spread it wasis clearly daytime and was a much lighter palette. I was nervous about making it look like it fit, while also clearly showing a kind of “long day, well spent” vibe to the environment. Campfires tend to be just that! But it was tricky.

GROG: How often did you talk to Matt?

Jacob: I didn’t communicate with Matt until the artwork was handed in. I did a lot of googling about gold panning and the Alaska wilderness. I’m surprised I’m not seeing ads for trips to Alaska!

GROG: Got a project in the works that you can talk about?

Jacob: I have two more books with West Margin Press currently in process. They are a little lighter and funnier! I also am working on a beautiful book about a boy with a big heart and another about how beautifully gross butterflies can be. It’s all been a lot of fun and a dream come true.

Thank you for dropping by for a chat, Jacob. Good luck with your books!

Check out the trailer for Pedro's Pan here. You can find more of Jacob's work at his website. Here's a fun video filled with tips and techniques on how to pan for gold, and here's a list of places where you can still pan for gold - and maybe find some!

ALL THINGS ART: AN INTERVIEW WITH CALDECOTT HONOR WINNER R. GREGORY CHRISTIE

                                  


     When I got an email from SCBWI Southern Breeze that a fellow Georgian had won a Caldecott Honor for his book, Freedom in Congo Square, 

                                                              

I knew I wanted to interview him. His list of awards is way too long to mention here, but suffice it to say he is making his mark in children's books. He was gracious enough to take time from his busy schedule to answer some questions for the GROG. 

                                               

     On a recent youtube video I watched, you mentioned you had been an artist since you were six. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey, and how it led to picture books?

     I was a very shy child growing up and spent a fair amount of  my playtime copying comic books. As I got older I worked in an art store, then for a framer, then at Star Ledger Newspaper in Newark as an intern doing spot illustrations. Eventually I curbed my shyness by doing live paintings in NY city night clubs. Which lead to meeting DJ's and eventually creating album covers. One cover, in particular, Justice System's "Summer in the City," caught the attention of editors at Lee and Low Books back in 1996 and I was asked to do a series of paintings for a book titled "The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children." It won the Coretta Scott King Award Honor in 1997, which eventually brought more projects and more awards. I'm extremely thankful for the opportunity that Lee and Low gave me.

     Is there a certain process you go through once you get a manuscript that you are illustrating?

     It really isn't too technical or out of the ordinary. I break down the words to fit a 32 page picture book format and then start the visual research. I need to know hairstyles, clothing, the wild life indigenous to the area, social mores of the time period, plausible scenarios and also to figure out an artistic style that I'm inspired to make the voice of the book. I keep these things in mind and in a folder in my computer. I study these images and eventually as I start to paint my illustrations, I keep them up on the wall with the hope that one work will influence the other work being created. It also serves s a kind of metaphysical visual cheerleader who lets me know that there's only 10 paintings left, then nine, then eight, etc until I take a break and then do the cover. I take a break in order to be fresh in terms of my instincts and sensibilities. I believe the cover is the most important aspect of such projects. It can make or break all the hard work you've just finished, so I want to be at my strongest.


     What elements of a manuscript make it fun or exciting to illustrate?     

     The unpredictability of it all. I've worked with various authors and each one has their own way of relaying information. The various authors have various voices and I love illustrating their ideas.

     
    Is Mousetropolis the only book you have both written and illustrated? How did that come about? I love the mice--they have personalities.

     I saw a photograph of Coney Island Beach by the artist Weegee(Arthur Fellig). It was taken in 1940 and I couldn't believe so many people were ever there at one time. It made me think of Times Square and that perhaps one day it will be a shell of its former glory. Maybe it will not have the same lights or iconic sentiment that it has today. I brought this up to editor Grace Maccarone at Holiday House and a week or so later she suggested that I write a book on Aesop's "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse." I could do Times Square there as well as any other expansive cityscape. As the project developed I decided to make the city New York influenced rather than specific and chose more universal urban scenes. I had lots of fun creating that book and really pushed my skills, especially on the moving train scene.

     I see that you have illustrated several books by Tonya Bolden and Nikki Grimes. How has that been working with the same author on different manuscripts?

     It's like what I'd imagine a character actor would go through. I take each project as its own entity. I try not to just produce a product or to copy myself from book to book. Even when I did the Dyomande Daniel series based off Nikki Grimes' books, I tried to outdo myself with each book. I try to keep it interesting for me and for the viewer of the art.


     You have traveled to quite a few different countries. How has that impacted your art?
                      

     In the past I've been able to keep a balance of work and play. It's amazing to "work" while right outside your door is a Turkish food market or a sunny Thai beach with crystal clear water. Living in other countries allowed me to live in the present as opposed to the past or even what I consider to be more life numbing, the future. Each day that I got up was a gift and routines were not the norm. So in a way things were simplified and allowed me to keep focused.  I feel that successful art needs craftsmanship, luck, and discipline. I struggle with the latter and in my experience I've known that each artist will generally struggle with one or two of these aspects. Traveling to far away places did wonders for me as I was able to sit down and to create. But I suppose at the end of the day everyone has to discover what is going to be their best personal way of examining their life and creativity.

     Your 2017 illustrating awards include a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and a Caldecott Honor Book Award. Was that a surprise? What do those honors mean for you as an artist?

     Although it's never going to be as good as the first time, that 7 AM phone call is always a surprise. I wasn't expecting it, but a large part of me was hoping for it. I got a call from the Coretta Scott King committee and shortly after, was called by the Caldecott committee. It was an excellent start to my day in the morning and the adventure came for me in getting down to the convention center in spite of the Atlanta morning traffic.

They wanted me there at the center to hear it actually being announced. 
     The awards mean a lot to me. It's amazing to get recognition from librarians, whom I hold in great regard. Each person makes their own parties in life; for me, it's being able to create worlds from words. It's all even sweeter when someone actually gets it and cares about it enough to preserve what I'm doing.


     Can you tell us something about yourself people might now know?

     I have a bookstore and art school inside a mall in Decatur, GA. It's where I am right now in life and it's not something I imagine I'll retire into, but it's making a difference in the community. Anyone can come in to look right over my shoulder as I freelance as an illustrator and hopefully create the next great title for children.


     R. Gregory Christie is a three-time recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award for illustration and a two-time recipient of the New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year. He lives in Georgia.