Where is the Cat?
Dear reader,
It’s been a while. Instead of apologising for waiting so long to write you here again, I’m just going to jump straight ahead and share a few things with you that you might want to know about.
First of all, my latest picture book Where is the Cat? is now published and available in the UK. Here is a lovely review in the Guardian, and here is a spread from the book (the right image will soon also available as a small risograph print in my webshop, including a few more new risograph prints from Where Happiness Begins).
For some insight into my creative process for this particular book you can read and see the posts I recently shared on my Instagram. The algorithm doesn’t like me very much at the moment (unless the insecure part of me is right and ‘people’ don’t like me anymore). The upside of this is that it gives me an opportunity to distance myself from social media a little, instead of being lured in by likes and comments that can be very addictive. It’s a strange world we live in, no? I wish I was above (or at least more detached from) it all and was instead walking barefoot in the grass somewhere with my children, or reading a book in front of a fireplace, or nurturing some plants… Feeling connected to nature and the more elevating parts of myself, rather than having FOMO because I wasn’t eating ice cream and meeting with fellow authors and illustrators in Bologna, during the international children’s book fair, or feeling a little downbeat just because my recent posts haven’t gotten much traction. You get the gist. I don’t think a day goes by that my husband and me are not talking about radically changing our lives and moving somewhere we can live more connected to nature, escaping the busy neighbourhood in Amsterdam we currently live in. We just don’t know where, and with which money and what steps to take first… and if we’re really ready to let go of our life in Amsterdam. Do you have similar dreams? Have you taken steps already?
Here’s another peek into my creative process that I haven’t shared anywhere else yet. For some reason I have stuck with drawing at least half the size of the actually illustrations in my books. It makes it trickier to get small details like eyes and noses right, so I usually end up drawing the characters and other details in the illustrations quite a few times. This way of working however does help me to avoid any ‘performance anxiety’. I draw on cheap copy paper and I don’t have to know beforehand which drawing is going to be the final one and can just quickly draw the character many times (using a light table and a previously drawn and worked out rough of the illustration). This way I can also bring a bit of energy back into the line, after having made quite precise and detailed roughs. I don’t really have to work like this maybe, but apparently I’m a bit of a perfectionist and ironically enough, not the most confident drawer. I don’t inspire myself by this way of working and I envy and admire those with big and lush sketch books or those that can draw and paint final artwork on one piece of paper. But it works for me. And it works for the books I make and for the risograph prints I make of the linework and other colour layers. It takes quite a lot of planning to get the colour distribution just right and since I use three colours I need all these tools, including the iPad, to work out all the colour overlaps beforehand so I can make vibrant yet balanced illustrations.
I do dream of incorporating a freer way of working but have currently also arrived to the point where I can accept where I am and that my working methods are simply part of organising and managing the more wild and free part of my brain and creative process. For those that create as well, does this resonate or are you able to paint and draw directly? How do you capture some of the energy of your initial sketches and ideas into the final artwork?
For those that are even more curious about my creative process and influences, I’m going to give an online talk as part of the Venster Storytelling Session Evenings. It’s with my dear friend Ellen Vesters (founder of Venster, Academy for Illustration and Narrative, where I’m currently also coaching a few students) and the lovely Emily Haworth-Booth and Rachel Stubbs, both excellent hosts and great picture book makers (we love their books The King Who Banned the Dark and My Red Hat in our home). Tickets are available here and a recording of the event will remain available for 48 hours afterwards. Will I see you there?
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading a bit more about my creative process. Let me know if there is anything else you’d like to learn more about.
With love,
Eva