Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

My visitor for breakfast this morning—designer, editorial illustrator, children’s book illustrator, and sequential artist Marc Rosenthal—has a brand-new illustrated title coming out … well, actually today. (Really. I don’t plan these things. I’m hardly that organized and haven’t even seen the book yet. I just have really lucky timing sometimes.)

But I have to say: He illustrated an early 2011 title that I still claim to be one of the funniest books of the year. You haven’t forgotten it, have you, dear readers? Written by Eileen Rosenthal, Marc’s wife, I Must Have Bobo! (Atheneum, January 2011)—as I wrote in January—is the story of a straight up showdown between one young boy, Willy, and the family cat, the dilemma being that the object of their affection is one beloved sock monkey, named Bobo. Bobo, however, can only be with one creature at a time. In a book full of subtlety and understatement, which was also Eileen’s picture book debut (so promising, too, and I’m eager to see what she brings us next), Marc brings Willy and Earl (the aforementioned and very funny cat) to life with warmth and wicked humor, nailing the emotions of a young child. The Kirkus review wrote that it’s “an exercise in self-recognition and empathy for the intended audience.”

So, back to today’s release: You can read a bit more about it below and see a sneak-peek inside it. It was written by Alison McGhee and is called Making a Friend. As I said, I haven’t seen it, but according to IndieBound anyway, its publication date is today. And the School Library Journal reviews tells me this:

The digitally manipulated pencil illustrations have a retro look and are reminiscent of the work of Louis Slobodkin. There is a lot of white space, particularly on the pages where only the boy and the snowman are depicted, giving the impression that they are in their own special private world. A simple but deeply nuanced story that should resonate with children.

Sounds promising. I look forward to it.

And let us not forget that Eileen and Marc will be bringing us some Bobo sequels—score!—and that previous to these newer titles, Marc has had a busy career of illustrating children’s books and creating editorial art. So, let’s get right to breakfast and have him tell us more about that. “I make my own granola,” he told me, “which I eat almost every day, mixed with other cereals, and several cups of strong coffee with steamed milk.” Ah, yes. An illustrator after my own heart. Strong coffee. Let’s do this breakfast thing.

And I thank him for stopping by.

Note: The interview is interspersed with some of Marc’s editorial art, as well as some of his personal pieces of artwork.

Jules: Are you an illustrator or author/illustrator?

Marc: Illustrator / Author.

Jules: Can you list your books-to-date?

Marc: Books I have illustrated:

• Where on Earth: A Geografunny Guide to the Globe by Paul Rosenthal (my brother!) (A.A. Knopf)
• Peter and the Talking Shoes by Kate Banks (A.A.Knopf)
• First, Second by Daniil Kharms [Farrar Straus Giroux]
• The Absentminded Fellow by Samuel Marshak (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux)
• The Straight Line Wonder by Mem Fox (Mondo Publishing )
• Yo, Aesop! by Paul Rosenthal (Simon & Schuster)
• The Runaway Beard by David Schiller (Workman Pub)
• Dr. Broth & Ollie’s Brain-Boggling Search for the Lost Luggage: Across Time and Space in 80 Puzzles by Michael Abrams and Jeffrey Winters (Simon & Schuster)
• Dig! by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha
• I Must Have Bobo! by Eileen Rosenthal, 2011 (Atheneum)
• Making a Friend by Alison McGhee, coming out in 2011 from Atheneum
• I’ll Save You Bobo! is also by Eileen Rosenthal, and will be coming out in 2012

Books I have written and illustrated:

• Phooey!, HarperCollins, 2007
• Archie and the Pirates, HarperCollins, 2009

Jules: What is your usual medium, or––if you use a variety—your preferred one?

Marc: My mediums have changed and continue to change. I had mostly worked in ink and watercolor, adding pencil shading for Phooey! and Archie. For the Bobo books, I used a much more casual pencil and digital process. I am not sure what I will use next. Maybe I will draw with my own blood.

Jules: If you have illustrated for various age ranges (such as, both picture books and early reader books OR, say, picture books and chapter books), can you briefly discuss the differences, if any, in illustrating for one age group to another?

Marc: I think the differences are mostly in the complexity of the writing. The approach to the art seems more connected to the feeling of the story. That said, books for older kids need to have lots of levels of engagement. I like to put in elements that might not be noticed until the third or fourth reading.

Jules: Where are your stompin’ grounds?

Marc: I live with my exceptional wife, Eileen, in Lenox, Massachusetts (the western edge of MA in the Berkshire mountains/hills). It is very pretty and quiet.

Jules: Can you briefly tell me about your road to publication?

Marc: I had been an editorial illustrator for many years before I tried my first book. Eileen was once a children’s book designer at Knopf and is friends with a wonderful editor, Frances Foster. Frances asked me to illustrate [Kate Banks’] Peter and the Talking Shoes in 1992. I brought my next project, Where on Earth, a wonderful book my brother wrote (a sort of anti-textbook on geography), to her.

Jules: Can you please point readers to your web site and/or blog?

Marc: www.marc-rosenthal.com.

Jules: If you do school visits, tell me what they’re like.

Marc: I have done some library and school visits with small kids. I generally read a book or two and then draw pictures on an easel. I enjoy showing kids tricks about drawing—stuff that seems very simple, like making a square into a three-dimensional-looking box really goes over big with 6-year-olds.

I have been volunteering at our local elementary school, teaching a five-week cartooning class to third graders. That is a great age.

Jules: If you teach illustration, by chance, tell me how that influences your work as an illustrator.

Marc: I have taught a few college workshops and will be teaching a class in conceptual illustration at RISD this fall.

Jules: Any new titles/projects you might be working on now that you can tell me about?

Marc: I have just finished illustrating the next Bobo book, I’ll Save You Bobo!, which will come out January 2012. I will be drawing pictures for the almost-written, third Bobo book (where Willy and Bobo go outside!).

I also illustrated Making a Friend by Alison McGhee, coming out fall 2011. This was a real change of pace and a challenge for me. I was looking at very early Sendak drawings for inspiration.

I am in the early stages of a new book idea which is top secret, though it looks like it will be lots of fun.

Coffee’s ready, milk is steamed, and the table’s set now for six questions over breakfast. Let’s get a bit more detailed, and I thank Marc again for visiting 7-Imp.

1. Jules: What exactly is your process when you are illustrating a book? You can start wherever you’d like when answering: getting initial ideas, starting to illustrate, or even what it’s like under deadline, etc. Do you outline a great deal of the book before you illustrate or just let your muse lead you on and see where you end up?

Marc: Generally, I start by finding the character — or characters. Then I start laying out the book: the pacing, where the page turns are, what becomes a spread, etc. One of the last things is deciding on the style/medium, though sometimes that’s in my head from the start.

If it is a book I am writing, I write it as if it were a comic strip, words and images happening simultaneously. When Eileen and I worked on the Bobo books, I would be drawing pictures as we went along. Sometimes the pictures would suggest to her a new line of text.

2. Jules: Describe your studio or usual work space.

Marc: My studio is the third floor of our Victorian house — lots of space and lots of light. It is a bit like the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party—I have several drawing tables, and I tend to move from one to another.

3. Jules: As a book lover, it interests me: What books or authors and/or illustrators influenced you as an early reader?

Marc: For picture books, Babar was my favorite, though I also loved Garth Williams (The Sailor Dog) and Robert McCloskey.

When I started reading chapter books, the Oz books (they were SO strange) and Doctor Doolittle were ones I loved. I hadn’t realized what a socialist Hugh Lofting was until I read them to my son. There were long passages about workers in the factories.

4. Jules: If you could have three (living) authors or illustrators—whom you have not yet met—over for coffee or a glass of rich, red wine, whom would you choose?

Marc: Maurice Sendak, Mo Willems, Philip Pullman.

5. Jules: What is currently in rotation on your iPod or loaded in your CD player? Do you listen to music while you create books?

Marc: Currently on my iPod: Vampire Weekend, Édith Piaf, Leon Russell, Fats Waller, Steve Earle, various Cuban and Italian singers from the 1950s.

6. Jules: What’s one thing that most people don’t know about you?

Marc: People who don’t know me don’t know that I am a bit of a yoga fanatic (Ashtanga) and that I love gin martinis.

Jules: What is your favorite word?

Marc: “Hapless.”

Jules: What is your least favorite word?

Marc: “Loser.”

Jules: What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Marc: Creatively: looking at art; spiritually: a beautiful day; emotionally: sharing a good meal with Eileen.

Jules: What turns you off?

Marc: Pomposity.

Jules: What is your favorite curse word? (optional)

Marc: “Fuck” (of course).

Jules: What sound or noise do you love?

Marc: Light rain.

Jules: What sound or noise do you hate?

Marc: Leaf blowers.

Jules: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Marc: I would like to be a cabinet-maker.

Jules: What profession would you not like to do?

Marc: I would not like to be a surgeon.

Jules: If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Marc: “All your friends have been waiting for you.”

All artwork and images used with permission of Marc Rosenthal. All rights reserved.

I MUST HAVE BOBO! Copyright © 2011 Eileen Rosenthal. Illustration © 2011 Marc Rosenthal. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York.

The spiffy and slightly sinister gentleman introducing the Pivot Questionnaire is Alfred, © 2009 Matt Phelan.