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Find your favorite toddler or preschooler for sharing Perfectly Percy<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, to be released this week by HarperCollins. (If the web links I’m seeing are correct, that one is released today, which I didn’t even plan<\/em>, but I guess my timing is lucky.) This book answers the question of precisely what happens when a porcupine has a deep love of balloons. Oh yes, balloons. The sturm und drang of Percy’s predicament is both funny and sweet, while never saccharine. And his solution? Just right. As with many of his previous books, Paul delivers here with soft pastels, endearing characters, and confident line work in a story that will resonate with very young children. <\/p>\n Following Percy’s tale this year will be Randall de S\u00e8ve’s Peanut & Fifi Have A Ball<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, also aimed at the youngest of picture book listeners and to be released this April from Dial. This well-crafted tale nails a particular predicament of siblings<\/em>, and Paul talks a bit below about his thoughts behind his illustration choices. <\/p>\n And my favorite of all? Coming this June from Hyperion is Oliver and his Alligator<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, both written and illustrated by Paul. “Oliver sometimes felt his brave<\/em> wasn’t nearly as big as he needed it to be,” the book opens. So, on the first day of school, he stops by the swamp to grab an alligator. Just in case. And, just when things get scary … why, his alligator is there to swallow everyone. Yup, swallow them. So to speak. I can’t ruin this one for you, so promise me you’ll find a copy, come June. It’s a powerful story about the fears a child possesses in the face of uncertainty, and Paul dedicated it, fittingly, to Maurice Sendak<\/a><\/strong>, who made a career of honoring the emotional lives of children. Paul spent some time as a fellow in the first year of Maurice’s Sendak Fellowship<\/a><\/strong>. (See the wonderful picture below.) <\/p>\n Oliver and many of Paul’s previous picture book protagonists, whom you’ll see below (Percy, Pearl, Petunia), are constantly navigating their strong interior feelings, as all children must do, and do their best to make sense of them and face them down with as much bravery as they can muster. I’ve enjoyed Paul’s books, enjoy watching his career unfold, and think Oliver’s tale is his best book thus far. <\/p>\n He’s here today to have eggs (scrambled with diced sun-dried tomatoes), ham, and asiago cheese, a breakfast I can get behind. He prefers tea—Keemun tea and lots of it—and I’ll get my coffee brewin’. I thank him for visiting. <\/p>\n Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Are you an illustrator or author\/illustrator?<\/font><\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: Yes.<\/p>\n Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Can you list your books-to-date?<\/font><\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: <\/p>\n Jules<\/font><\/strong>: What is your usual medium, or\u2013\u2013if you use a variety\u2014your preferred one?<\/font><\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: The feel of the story tends to dictate what I choose. I’ve used pen, pencil, watercolor, a mix of organic and digital, and for one book, digital art exclusively. <\/p>\n Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Where are your stompin\u2019 grounds?<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: Seattle, Washington, where I can enjoy stomping around in the North Cascade mountains, only about an hour\u2019s drive away. <\/p>\n Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Can you briefly tell me about your road to publication?<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: That began only a little over five years ago!<\/p>\n Finding myself unemployed with no clear direction, one day my lovely, brilliant wife suggested I call Steven Malk<\/a><\/strong>, a literary agent whom I had made contact with a number of years before. Steve took me on, and we floated out a post card. Some months later, I was offered a spectacular chance to illustrate The Wonder Book<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Amy Krouse Rosenthal<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n My trusting editor was the fabulous Maria Modugno, who—while I was waiting for approval on rough sketches for Amy\u2019s book—suggested I try my hand at writing. Honestly, I hadn’t given it much serious thought before, but since I was sitting rather idle at the time, I threw myself into it. Stories must have been waiting in some dark closet in my noggin, for—astounding no one more than myself—I wrote and sold four manuscripts in eight months. <\/p>\n Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Can you please point readers to your web site and\/or blog?<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: www.paulschmidbooks.com<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Any new titles\/projects you might be working on now that you can tell me about?<\/font><\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: Out this January is Perfectly Percy<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, my fourth self-authored book to be published, but actually the first manuscript I wrote. Percy<\/em> began as a random sketch for The Wonder Book<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, a stand-alone joke of a porcupine running with a balloon. Ha-ha<\/em>, I thought, his balloon\u2019s gonna pop!<\/em> The idea never found a place in Amy\u2019s book, so I ended up just pinning the sketch on my wall. That sketch wouldn’t let me go. The more I looked at poor Percy, the sorrier I felt for him. I began to feel rather cruel for drawing him into it; he looked so happy and innocent! But his balloon\u2019s gonna pop! I found I had to write him out of his predicament. <\/p>\n I am very excited about another book due out in April, Peanut & Fifi Have A Ball<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, written by Randall de S\u00e8ve. I just loved illustrating this; the characters were so wonderfully developed by Randall. It is a very playful story with a smart, provocative twist towards the end. She\u2019s also one of those authors who knows just how to write for an illustrator to spread his wings. <\/p>\n This June sees another new book I wrote, Oliver and his Alligator<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, about a shy, cautious boy on his first day of school. Oliver decides it would be prudent to bring an alligator along, just in case things at the school get rough. This is the most autobiographical of all my books. <\/p>\n I\u2019m just beginning the final art for a second Oliver book, Oliver and his Egg<\/em>. It\u2019s got dinosaurs in it! <\/p>\n I also have a small handful of manuscripts in various stages of untidiness. <\/p>\n 1.<\/font> Jules<\/font><\/strong>: What exactly is your process when you are illustrating a book? You can start wherever you\u2019d like when answering: getting initial ideas, starting to illustrate, or even what it\u2019s 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?<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/font><\/strong>: If it is a book I am writing myself, it generally begins with a quality I admire about kids. A Pet for Petunia<\/a><\/em><\/strong> is a reflection of the passion my daughter threw into desiring various pets — and her resiliency when she didn’t get her way. Perfectly Percy<\/a><\/em><\/strong> and Hugs From Pearl<\/a><\/em><\/strong> came from marveling at children\u2019s determination to pursue what makes them happy, no matter what the obstacles. <\/p>\n I start by mulling over this feeling I have about what I want to say, and in time something drifts along that triggers an idea on how I can convey the concept across. Then comes an intense period of putting all the ideas rushing about in my head down on paper. The first draft can take anywhere from twenty minutes that are supremely satisfying and productive, or endless months of agony and frustration and failure. That\u2019s writing. Re-writing is never less than misery. I re-wrote the first sentence of Oliver and his Alligator<\/a><\/em><\/strong> over forty times. <\/p>\n Sketching begins shortly after the words start to come together. Once I start sketching, I find most of the words begin to disappear, simply because I don\u2019t need them anymore. A lot of really great lines get tossed. A lot of really great sketches get tossed, too. I enter a long period of reduction of both the writing and drawing, winnowing without sentiment the ideas that don\u2019t focus the story. It\u2019s as if, after giving birth to many, many lovely children, I murder the ones that don\u2019t fit in. Pretty brutal, really. <\/p>\n All my dummies are assembled in InDesign; using the program gives me the most flexibility to make changes. I make a lot of changes. <\/p>\n Being primarily an illustrator, I suppose I naturally favor art, but I do find pictures can be so much more succinctly expressive and subtle in their meaning than text. I believe illustration also has the potential to more deeply involve the reader. With my own art, I try to invite readers to seek meaning in expressions, body language, or through visual clues. I endeavor not to tell the story directly but make enough suggestions so my reader moves beyond being a watcher and, instead, becomes a participant. I have read the recent articles regarding progressing kids out of picture books quickly. That is an idea I believe to be very harmful, robbing children of some fine opportunities to hone essential skills. Being able to decipher visual clues is extremely beneficial. We should remind ourselves that words, powerful as they are, are still only ONE form of communication. (But I rant and digress.) <\/p>\n I draw inspiration for my finished art and the design of the book from a wide range of sources. In fact, I steer myself away from looking at most kids’ books at this stage. I tend to agree with Susan Sontag: “The only interesting ideas are heresies.” So, I dig into Japanese prints, German poster design from early last century, Beardsley<\/a><\/strong>, Andy Wyeth<\/a><\/strong>, Ben Shahn<\/a><\/strong>, all sorts of random things. <\/p>\n 2.<\/font> Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Describe your studio or usual work space.<\/font> <\/p>\n Paul<\/strong><\/font><\/strong>: My studio is in a spare bedroom in our home. One wall is nearly entirely cork. I can pin up to three books-in-progress on that wall, pecking away at things until the deadline takes them away. <\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/paulschmid20102013.jpg\")
Author\/illustrator Paul Schmid<\/a><\/strong> has visited 7-Imp a couple times in the past, but I welcome him back today for seven questions over breakfast. Paul has three forthcoming picture books in 2013 (there could even be more), and—lucky for me—I saw some early copies of each. <\/p>\n
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(Photo credit: Lynn Caponera)<\/center><\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/perfectlypercycover.JPG\")
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all the planning and under drawings were done on paper.”<\/em><\/center> <\/p>\n
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Fifi desperately wants to play with the ball, and she suggests many fun things she and Peanut can do together with the new ball. Fifi is active, inventive, progressive.
Her shape is exciting, angular; her color, bold.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n
\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/percycutting.jpg\")
I had spent about 25 years as a commercial artist. I always thought the idea of illustrating children\u2019s books would be gratifying; I just didn\u2019t guess that you could actually make a living at it. So, I did primarily advertising and editorial work. I landed a staff position at a Seattle newspaper, which I enjoyed for many years, but when that industry began to decline and the layoffs at my paper reached into the hundreds, it was clear the time had come for me to sneak off. <\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/pearl-1a.jpg\")
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She plays fair, shares her lunch treats, and best of all . . .”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/pearl-21.jpg\")
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‘Ouch! Thanks, Pearl. Ouch!’ when they got hugs.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/pearl-2a.jpg\")
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(HarperCollins, 2011)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n
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\nOkay, the tea’s on the table for Paul, but I’ve got my coffee out, too, and it’s time to get a bit more detailed with seven questions over breakfast. I thank Paul again for visiting 7-Imp.<\/font> <\/p>\n
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by their own determination and initiative.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n
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Well, useful thoughts anyway.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n<\/a>
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I try to emphasize the energy of each page design to the emotional content of what was happening at that point in the story. Angles suggest excitement;
round shapes, contentment. Choppy, crisscrossing forms: agitation.
I probably spend too much time on this stage, but I really believe
the most important story I am telling <\/em>is the emotional story.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge image)<\/center> <\/p>\n
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Paul: “These are just a few of the versions of <\/em>Oliver and his Alligator,
giving proof that I never do anything right the first time.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n
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that worked for me. I drew this during the Sendak Fellowship,
which got me thinking of Maurice again. Miss that guy a lot.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/schmidstudio-1a.jpg\")
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<\/a>![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/The_Story_of_Ferdinand.jpg\")
Paul<\/strong><\/font><\/strong>: I felt