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Yes, that was last year. Sometimes I get busy. But better late than never. But she’s also just<\/em> released (this month, in fact) the adventure novel The Traveling Circus<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, written with her partner, David Homel, and also published by Groundwood. So, I meant<\/em> to post this interview so late. Yes, I MEANT TO DO THAT. (Ahem.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When I asked Marie-Louise about her published books thus far in her career, a question I ask everyone, she sent me a comprehensive bibliography, which I’m not including at the bottom of this post, only because it refuses to format properly for me. But trust me when I say it’s a long list; her first illustrated book was in 1976, as those of you who have followed her career closely know well. She’s spent decades capturing, with her warm watercolor illustrations, the wonders of childhood and nature. There is a spontaneity and energy to her work that really shines. <\/p>\n We’re having her preferred breakfast today — an orange, granola, yogurt, and a strong coffee. “Strong” coffee? An illustrator after my own heart. Let’s get right to it, and I thank her for visiting and sharing art. … <\/p>\n Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Are you an illustrator or author\/illustrator?<\/font><\/p>\n Marie-Louise<\/font><\/strong>: Author\/Illustrator. Marie-Louise<\/font><\/strong>: [See the “Books” link at Marie-Louise’s site<\/a><\/strong>.]<\/em> Marie-Louise<\/font><\/strong>: Watercolor is my preferred medium, but I use it in conjunction with pencil, colored pencils (Caran d’Ache Supracolor), pastels, acrylic, gouache, collage, and ink. Marie-Louise<\/font><\/strong>: I have illustrated both board books and picture books, as well as early reader books and chapter books. I can’t say that there is such a big difference between illustrating early reader books and chapter books. The difference would not be illustrating for one age group or another but, in the case of the picture book, where the visual vocabulary (the art) is much richer than the the text. It enables the child who cannot yet read, or has difficulty in reading, to understand the story through it’s visual clues, body language and facial expressions of the characters, the details, etc. My goal when I write and illustrate a picture book is to be spare with words and eloquent in my art. Marie-Louise<\/font><\/strong> I live in Montr\u00e9al, province of Qu\u00e9bec, Canada. <\/p>\n Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Can you briefly tell me about your road to publication?<\/font> <\/p>\n Marie-Louise<\/font><\/strong>: I started drawing when I was sixteen years old, doodling on my textbooks, sketching on paper napkins or on any available and relatively flat surface. I opted for art school. After studying graphic design, animation, drawing, and photography, I started doing various cartoon strips for local magazines and newspapers while I was still in school. I branched out towards editorial illustration for magazines in Canada and the U.S.: Saturday Night<\/em>, Mother Jones<\/em>, Psychology Today<\/em>, etc. <\/p>\n I was approached a few years later by a publisher and author of children’s books who asked me to illustrate one of his picture-book manuscripts — then a second one and a third. The experience was exhilarating. I fell in love with exploring a story in pictures, creating a visual vocabulary, creating characters that evolved in a landscape that I had invented. It didn’t take too long before I was tempted to try my hand at writing my own stories. Marie-Louise<\/font><\/strong>: www.marielouisegay.com<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n Jules<\/font><\/strong>: If you do school visits, tell me what they’re like.<\/font> <\/p>\n Marie-Louise<\/font><\/strong>: I don’t do as many school visits as I used to, but I still enjoy doing them. My preference goes to smaller groups, one or two classes, because I find that interactive presentations are much more fun and inspiring. I start by describing what an author\/illustrator’s life is like (normal except for the fact that I have no boss, no office hours, and I spend the day alone in my studio, doodling and writing and daydreaming). I talk about the creative process. I show them sketches, storyboards, colored sketches, and original drawings. I read them a story or two. I sometimes do a drawing, using the kid’s suggestions, or write an interactive story with them. Other times we improvise a play with characters that I have just created in front of them and to whom they give life. I answer as many questions as I can. Marie-Louise<\/font><\/strong>: I taught illustration for ten years at the Universit\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec<\/a><\/strong> in Montr\u00e9al, but that was twenty years ago. At the time, I felt that all the research I did to build my classes was very inspiring and enriched my work greatly. Marie-Louise<\/font><\/strong>: I have just finished illustrating a picture book for Candlewick, Press called Tiger and Badger<\/em> by Emily Jenkins. It will be published in February 2016.<\/p>\n I am also exploring, sketching, and writing a book of short illustrated cartoon stories. I’m in the middle of the ninth draft of a puppet play. I am revising a new chapter book in the Travels with my Family<\/em> series (co-written with my partner, David Homel). The Traveling Circus<\/a><\/strong><\/em> published just this month. <\/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> It is quite a different process when I write and illustrate my own story. I feel more at liberty to improvise, to try new paths, to let my illustration change the story, and vice versa. It is a process of osmosis, much more organic then when I am illustrating an another author’s story. Marie-Louise<\/strong><\/font><\/strong>: A small light-filled studio on the second floor of our tiny, century-old red brick house. The large windows look over scruffy urban gardens, shadowed by large maple trees, and an alleyway where dozens of children play, laugh, scream, climb trees, skateboard, play tag or hide and seek. In the summer I am hidden in a sea of green leaves, and in the winter, a storm of snowflakes. I am surrounded by books, notebooks, art books, design books, children’s books, old magazines and encyclopedias or animal books and my art materials — jars of paintbrushes or colored pencils, bottles of ink, tubes of watercolor paints or acrylics, scraps of paper. An immense wooden chest of drawers that was used to store priests’ vestments in a sacristy now holds hundreds of sheets of paper of every size, shape, texture and color, as well as my artwork. My computer is in another room to keep distractions to a minimum. The walls are covered in sketches and artwork, and taped or pinned on the wall nearest to my drawing table is the project I am working on: storyboards, sketches, or final artwork. Marie-Louise<\/strong><\/font><\/strong>: I grew up speaking French at home and did most of my primary schooling in English, so I read both in English and French. Babar<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, Curious George<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, Martine \u00e0 la Plage<\/a><\/strong>, Grimms’ fairytales<\/a><\/strong>, as well as Hans Christian Andersen<\/a><\/strong>, Tintin<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, Nancy Drew<\/a><\/strong>, C. S. Lewis<\/a><\/strong>. I was fascinated by the detailed illustrations in the Babar<\/a><\/strong><\/em> stories or in the Tintin<\/a><\/strong><\/em> books. <\/p>\n My sources of inspiration expanded as I attended different art schools in Montr\u00e9al and San Francisco. I poured over Saul Steinberg\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> and Ralph Steadman\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> drawings. I discovered the quirky, wonderful world of Edward Gorey<\/a><\/strong>, the inventiveness of Andr\u00e9 Fran\u00e7ois<\/a><\/strong>, the bold designs of Tomi Ungerer<\/a><\/strong>, the weird illustrations of Ian Pollock<\/a><\/strong>. I was influenced by painters who “illustrated,” who told a story: Fernando Botero<\/a><\/strong>, Edward Hopper<\/a><\/strong>, David Hockney<\/a><\/strong>. And as it became clear to me that writing and illustrating books for children were my main interest and passion, I was absorbing the perfect twinning of art and story in the humourous and lively illustrations of Tony Ross<\/a><\/strong> and Quentin Blake<\/a><\/strong>; the painstakingly detailed drawings by Chris Van Allsburg<\/a><\/strong>; the gentle, emotional, funny books illustrated by Andr\u00e9 Dahan<\/a><\/strong>, William Steig<\/a><\/strong>, and ![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2015\/04\/LA-Times-Book-Fair-postercutting.jpg\")
Any Questions?<\/em>—a finalist for Canada’s 2014 Governor General’s Literary Award<\/a><\/strong> for Children’s Illustration, as well as a School Library Journal<\/em> Best Book of the Year and a Kirkus Reviews<\/em> Best Book of the Year—was released last August by Groundwood Books, and it was then that I contacted Marie-Louise about an interview. I’ve admired her work over the years, and then along comes this excellent book, an exploration of what it means to be creative, as well as imagined conversations with children about writing and creating art — ones based on real conversations she’s had at school visits over the years. Booklist<\/em> praised the book’s “empowering” message — “that creativity is messy and fun!” Hear hear. <\/p>\n
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“But what if my story started on old yellowish paper? …”<\/em><\/center>
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“Believe it or not, there are times when I don’t have any ideas at all.
My mind is a blank. …”<\/em><\/center>
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“So I have to use my imagination. Try out new ideas. …”<\/em><\/center>
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“But sometimes that doesn’t work either.
So I go back to my drawing table. …”<\/em><\/center>
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\nJules<\/font><\/strong>: Can you list your books-to-date? (If there are too many books to list here, please list your five most recent illustrated titles or<\/em> the ones that are most prominent in your mind, for whatever reason.)<\/font><\/p>\n
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“One cold, gray autumn day, when the trees had just started losing their leaves, revealing their well-kept secrets—hidden birds’ nests, lost kites and the dreams of those who had slept in their cool, leafy summer shadows—
the giant heard something. …”<\/em><\/center>
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“I wonder if this green is slimy enough? …”<\/em><\/center>
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“‘Who are you?’ asked the giant.
‘I’m a beast,’ whispered the beast. ‘A horrible, dreadful beast. …'”<\/em><\/center>
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\nJules<\/font><\/strong>: What is your usual medium?<\/font><\/p>\n
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2015\/04\/LA-Times-Book-Fair-poster.jpg\")
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\nJules<\/font><\/strong>: 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?<\/font><\/p>\n
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\nJules<\/font><\/strong>: Where are your stompin\u2019 grounds?<\/font> <\/p>\n
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2015\/04\/illustration2.jpg\")
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\nJules<\/font><\/strong>: Can you please point readers to your web site and\/or blog?<\/font> <\/p>\n
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\nJules<\/font><\/strong>: If you teach illustration, by chance, tell me how that influences your work as an illustrator.<\/font> <\/p>\n
\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2015\/04\/travelingcircuscover.JPG\")
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\nJules<\/font><\/strong>: Any new titles\/projects you might be working on now that you can tell me about?<\/font> <\/p>\nOkay, we’ve got more coffee, and it’s time to get a bit more detailed with six<\/em> questions over breakfast. I thank Marie-Louise again for visiting 7-Imp.<\/font> <\/p>\n
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\nMarie-Louise<\/strong><\/font><\/strong>: When I am asked to illustrate someone else’s story, the process starts immediately as I read the manuscript for the first time. If I don’t instantly see images in my mind as I read it, it is usually a sign that this particular story is not for me. At the second reading, I am already doing thumbnail sketches of key parts of the story or of the main character, in pencil right on the paper manuscript. Then, once everything is settled—contract, advance, due date, etc.—the first thing I do is a quite detailed storyboard of the book on the layout provided by the art director, and then I start looking for ways of escaping the imposed layout, letting my sketching guide me, trying out different points of view — but always within the confines of the story, of course. <\/p>\n
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\n2.<\/font> Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Describe your studio or usual work space.<\/font> <\/p>\n
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2015\/04\/carambaandhenrycover.JPG\")
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\n3.<\/font> Jules<\/font><\/strong>: As a book-lover, it interests me: What books or authors and\/or illustrators influenced you as an early reader?<\/font><\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2015\/04\/Fmurr-genie1cover.jpg\")
But the real turning point was in my early teens when I immersed myself in the worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin<\/a><\/strong> or John Wyndham<\/a><\/strong>, and at the same time I was mesmerized by the surrealistic, achingly funny, intellectual, and visual musings of the french b\u00e9d\u00e9istes (in English, this could translate as perhaps cartoonists or precursors of the graphic novel?): F\u2019Murr<\/a><\/strong> with his G\u00e9nie des alpages<\/a><\/strong><\/em>; Claire Bret\u00e9cher<\/a><\/strong> and her Cellulite<\/a><\/strong><\/em>; Mandryka<\/a><\/strong> with his Concombre Masqu\u00e9<\/a><\/strong><\/em>; Gotlib<\/a><\/strong>; Jean-Michel Folon<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n