Behind the Scenes with Children’s Book Illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky
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If you read a lot of children’s books, you already know (and love) illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky’s work. You probably love his art in Z Is for Moose and Toys Go Out, or at least those are a few of my favorites. But wait until you see his newest picture book project, Still Life written by Alex London! It is yet another masterpiece of visual storytelling that will delight and entertain you and the children of many ages with whom you’ll share this book.
In this story, the narrator is the artist who explains to the readers that a still life is a painting of objects that are not moving. And that there are NO mice or dragons or knights or princesses moving around AT ALL. (Guess what? There are!)
Zelinsky illustrates the still life art as detailed and painty, then adds cartooney action characters which makes for an enjoyable and playful reading experience.
I had an opportunity to interview Paul over email about his new book, Still Life, and his work as an illustrator. Let’s dive in…
Children’s Book Illustrator Interview with Paul O. Zelinsky
Melissa: Thanks for doing this interview with me, Paul. Still Life is a delight – full of humor, adventure, and information, plus it’s a feast for the eyes.
Paul: Thank you so much, Melissa! I appreciate your asking about it, and even more, your liking it!
Melissa: Did you communicate with Alex [the author] about the plan for the illustrations, or were there art notes? What was the artistic process like for this particular project?
Paul: Well, the standard practice for picture books, at least in the U.S., is that the author and the illustrator both work with the same editor, but separately. (And usually, the illustrator also works with an art director.) Since the writing is usually finished by the time the illustrating starts, I think “working together” would mean that the illustrator has to deal with reactions and advice both from the editor and the author, and this could get complicated! As it is, the author and the editor stay in touch, and if the author has concerns with what the editor is sharing about the illustrator’s progress, the editor should handle them.
When STILL LIFE’s editor Martha Mihalick sent Alex’s manuscript to me, she didn’t know that we happened to be friends! So Alex and I might have arranged to work differently, but we pretty much stuck to the standard practice. The manuscript did contain art notes, a practice I sometimes don’t appreciate, but when the words in a story say one thing while unspoken things are happening instead, the notes are as important as the text! I recall having some questions about the text, but I asked Martha and she then asked Alex. I don’t remember him having many comments other than that he liked what I was doing—but that is probably just my selective memory! He did point out (through Martha) some things I had missed in my illustrations, or hadn’t gotten around to, and that was helpful. So I did work with Alex, but much more directly with the editor, and with the art director Sylvie Le Floc’h, with whom I’ve made many books over many years. I found it all very collaborative and fun.
Melissa: How do you choose which projects to illustrate?
Paul: I’ve written some books on my own, but for the most part, I have depended on the kindness of publishers thinking of me when they have a manuscript that needs illustrating. And even back when I wasn’t really in a position to turn anything down, I have to say that I declined projects that didn’t excite me. I guess it comes down to not much more than my level of excitement. Although sometimes part of that excitement has just been the thought that I’d finally have to learn how to draw or paint some particular thing: say, hair, or horses. But mainly what I respond to is the writing. I’ve been incredibly blessed and lucky in the literary quality of the manuscripts that have been offered to me.
Melissa: Do you have any extra special books you’ve illustrated that stand out from the others?
Paul: I don’t like to think that I do; in fact, even if I did, I wouldn’t like to admit it. I tell kids that if I picked any favorites from among my books, all of my other books would get so jealous, and I don’t want to do that to them.
Melissa: HA! We wouldn’t want that. Let me ask you more about Still Life.
Can you briefly explain to me, a non-illustrator, how you created the illustrations for Still Life with the cartoon style of the alive things and the contrasting still life artwork? (I must say, I loved it!)
Paul: Alex’s manuscript seemed to be about the play between what is real and what isn’t, or between what someone (the narrator) wants to be true, which is one reality, and a different reality that intrudes anyway. I don’t know if it could have been done differently, but I was sure from the outset that the still life painting, which is so obsessively described, needed to look as realistic as possible, really finely done, with everything else feeling loose and messy and, I guess, cartoony. I thought this might make the illustrated book as funny as the text was by itself. I still haven’t remembered to ask Alex whether he intended for the narrator to be the actual artist, but that’s what I drew. It has nothing to do—nothing, mind you—with my being an artist myself!
Melissa: What’s your work process like? Do you storyboard before you get started? Play with different style approaches and mediums? Or do you just know how you want it to look once you read the text?
Like any other book illustrator I know, I need to work out the whole book in rough sketches before starting to make any of the finished art. Usually, I’ll draw a sort of very very small storyboard (called thumbnail sketches), or sometimes I go straight to the stage of making a dummy. Which is like a storyboard except it has actual pages that you actually turn, except when it’s digital, in which case you click from one spread to the next. Even when I’m making a digital dummy, I print it out and assemble it as a book. It’s important to be able to feel what it’s like to turn from one page to the next. I do often try out different mediums, and as to style, I don’t know— it kind of happens on its own, if I’m actually feeling the story. I will do a lot of sketching before deciding I know my way.
Melissa: What are the tools and programs you generally use to create your illustrations?
Paul: I never intended to stop making art on paper, but I seem to be doing that; all of my books recently have been completely digital, and I use Photoshop with a Wacom tablet— one of those solid black plastic panels you draw on with a special stylus, which acts like a mouse so your hand movements on the tablet show up on screen. I’m comfortable with that, even if people wonder why I don’t move to a tool where your drawing appears where your hand is actually drawing it. I am lucky that my sister is an expert in Photoshop and other programs, and she helped me learn so much about it, with all kinds of tips and secret methods.
My first thought about STILL LIFE, a text completely about a painting (except that it sort of isn’t), was that the art should be an actual painting, and maybe nothing should be digital. But even as I began my sketches I started seeing that this would be impossible, and so I found myself once more in the land of Photoshop. Still, I hope, as I always hope, that the book doesn’t have a digital look. I think if you’re experienced enough in making art on paper, you can see ways to achieve a similar feeling with digital tools.
Melissa: What’s your best advice for aspiring (young) illustrators and artists?
Paul: Let your passion be your story and your pictures. It’s okay to copy art that you love, in fact it can be very good training, but remember that you may be just echoing someone else’s art, someone else’s style, so keep trying different ways to draw things; there is no one best way!
Paul O. Zelinsky is the illustrator of many acclaimed books for children. He is the illustrator of Kelly Bingham’s Z Is for Moose and Circle, Square, Moose, Jack Prelutsky’s Awful Ogre’s Awful Day, Emily Jenkins’s Toys Go Out, and Anne Isaac’s Dust Devil. He is also the creator of the now-classic interactive book The Wheels on the Bus. His retelling of Rapunzel was awarded the 1998 Caldecott Medal. Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, and Swamp Angel, with different authors, all garnered him a Caldecott Honor. Paul O. Zelinsky lives with his wife in Brooklyn, New York.
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