self-portrait © Flavia Zorilla Drago

The 28th guest on Meet An Illustrator is Flavia Zorilla Drago, an author-illustrator from Mexico City currently shortlisted for the 2021 Klaus Flugge Prize with Gustavo The Shy Ghost.

This excellent short video introduction to Flavia’s work begins with a selection of her childhood art:

And here is some more background:

Listen to Flavia talking all about Gustavo and shyness on the Children’s Book Podcast #611

And look!
Flavia has a Picture Book Creation course on Domestika which, at the time of posting this feature, is being offered at the exceptional price of £11.90, a 70% discount.

Books coming soon!​

• Monsters Play… Peekaboo! (2021) [board book]
  
• Monsters Play… Counting (2021) [board book]
  
• Leila and the Witchy Cakeoff (2022)

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember admiring? 

At age 3, I drew Cheetara from the Thundercats and a portrait of my sister.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

I mostly enjoyed drawing mermaids, hamsters and animals.

Who inspires you today?

Nowadays I get my inspiration from fairy tales (the old school frightening ones), horror movies, 80’s music, paintings and engravings (especially from the Middle Ages, and the Industrial Revolution) and old photos.

Did you study art/illustration?

I studied graphic design at ULSA in Mexico City, then I did a year of illustration at the ENSAD in Paris, and finally I did the ‘Children’s Book Illustration MA‘ in Cambridge, UK.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

My favourite paper is ‘drafting film‘ – a type of plastic that you can use for screen printing. I like it because it’s very good for pencil but also you can use ink and it won’t become wobbly.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

In Mexico City I buy my supplies at LUMEN. In the UK I get my supplies from Intaglio and Tindalls Art & Graphics.

What software/apps do you use?

I use Photoshop and Wacom for my picturebooks. I just bought an ipad and got Procreate – I am still learning how to use it and experimenting with it, but so far it has been very enjoyable.

What was your first commission?

My first ever commission were some clay figures that I made for a friend of the family when I was 8 or 9 hehehe.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am doing a PhD on horror and picturebooks at Anglia Ruskin University, and I am working on a series of books with monsters as main characters with my lovely @bigpicturebooks.

Twitter or Instagram? I used to love Twitter, in 2016 I made lots of friends there and we could joke all the time, but nowadays I find it annoying, so I guess I prefer Instagram.

Coffee or tea? Coffee in the morning, tea in the evening.

 Dog or cat? DOG!

Grape or grain? Grape

Sunrise or sunset? Sunset – sadly, I am never awake for the sunrise.

What do you listen to when you are working? I love listening to punk and indie music from the 80’s (The Smiths is my favourite band), but lately I have been listening to Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Fats Domino and Gil Scott-Heron. My favourite podcast ever is Hidden Brain with Shankar Vedantam.

Where can we follow you on social media?
You can find me on Instagram as @flavia_zdrago and on Twitter as @DiaFla (but I only tweet in Spanish).

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

self-portrait © Steve Small

The 26th guest—yes, this series has been going for half a year now—on Meet An Illustrator is Steve Small, whose debut children’s picture book I’m Sticking With You, written by Smriti Halls and an ACHUKA Book of the Day in May last year, was shortlisted for the 2021 Oscar’s Book Prize (for best under-fives book of the year) and is currently one of the five titles shortlisted for 2021 Klaus Flugge Prize.

Steve is an established and award-winning animator and director of the Studio AKA partnership. His animation sequences for Black Earth rising were Bafta-nominated.

Here is a recent example of Steve’s work as an animation director—the title sequence for Ridley Scott’s Raised By Wolves:

In contrast to animation, Steve says of books: “They don’t move and they don’t make a sound, yet they remain one of the finest ways to smuggle a story into our imagination. I’ve always been hooked on books and love the simple storytelling chemistry at work in picture books.”

Steve’s first solo picture book, The Duck Wo Didn’t Like Water, was published earlier this year.

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember admiring? 

I remember doing a pencil drawing of a leopard stretching on a rock. I had copied it from a photograph and it took me ages to draw all the markings across its body. I remember thinking that I wanted to study animals, but drawing them was too hard.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

I was obsessed with nature and was always roaming about the woods looking under rocks and bushes. Also music. The perfect escapism. I listened to all of my parents’ albums on their record player and was amazed when I found a stereoscopic LP that announced it was an experiment in 3d sound.

Who inspires you today?

First six off the top of my head.
J Erin Sweeney, Dave Eggers, George Monbiot, Barbara Kingsolver, David Sedaris and Miranda July…

Did you study art/illustration?

I studied graphic design at Southampton College. But I learnt animation and illustration as I went along.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

The A6 Moleskine plain paper sketchbook.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

Cass Art and the amazing Stuart R Stevenson in Clerkenwell.

What software/apps do you use?

Photoshop.

What was your first commission?

A painting of a blue woman with blue fiery hair on a motorbike helmet for my neighbour’s biker lodger when I was 13.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m doing some animation for a documentary in America and illustrating my second solo book about a small Elephant.

Twitter or Instagram? Instagram

Coffee or tea? Tea

 Dog or cat? Fox

Grape or grain? Grain

Sunrise or sunset? I’ve heard of a sunrise. I can’t say I’ve seen many.

What do you listen to when you are working?  Audio books, Podcasts and Music.

Where can we follow you on social media?

I only really do Instagram at the moment and not as often as I should. I’m very impressed by people who find the time to attend to social media and still get work done.
https://www.instagram.com/stevesmalluk/

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

self-portrait © Tim Hopgood

The 25th guest on Meet An Illustrator is Tim Hopgood, whose recently-published board book, Wonderful World Of Colours, I have been enthusing about—it really is a superb board book.

Tim published his first children’s book some 15 years ago, having started his career as a graphic designer on i-D and Vogue magazines, before turning freelance and working as  an art director in the retail fashion industry.

Tim combines his love of music with his love of drawing in a series of picture books based on classic songs: What a Wonderful World, Walking in a Winter Wonderland, Moon River, and Singing in the Rain which received a starred Kirkus review and was named a Publishers’ Association Best Book of 2017.

Last year’s Wonderful World of ABC was described by Scottish BookTrust as “a great delight” and selected by the Publishers Association as one of the Best New Children’s Books 2020.

Tim has described his illustration process as follows:

Here, in a video made for CLPE, you can watch him describing how he worked on Here Comes Frankie:

If your interest in Tim’s work is whetted by the short Q&A below (I see that as the main purpose for this series), simply move on over to the Press And Interviews section of his excellent website.

Prints in various sizes of Tim’s work (all Giclée prints expertly printed using archival inks on a fine textured paper) are available from his online shop.

Tim is illustrator for Deborah Underwood‘s next American title, Loving Kindness, to be published by Henry Holt in October.

Here in the UK we can look forward to seeing Time’s illustrations in Love, The Earth by Frances Stickley, to be published by Walker Studio in 2022.

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember admiring? 

At junior school I did a project on the history of fire engines. I included lots of pencil crayon drawings of all the different engines and I remember being very pleased with the end results.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

My dad. My dad taught 3D design at Wolverhampton Polytechnic. He encouraged me to draw and to look!

Who inspires you today?

If I see something I like, it can be anything, I will spend time thinking about why I like it! Gardens, interiors, furniture, art, ceramics, textiles, a page in a picture book … working out why you connect with something is an interesting creative process.

Did you study art/illustration?

I studied Graphic Design, specialising in Illustration at Kingston Polytechnic.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

Probably my Pro Arte WASH brush and some Daler Rowney calligraphy ink.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

Scribblers online for black ink. Ken Bromley Art Supplies online for brushes, crayons and watercolours. Ryman for cheap photocopy paper to draw on and 5B/6B pencils.

What software/apps do you use?

I use an old version of QuarkXpress to construct my layouts. And then Photoshop to tidy up elements and adjust colours.

What was your first commission?

My first commission came when I was still at school—it was to create a series of illustrated scenes for a range of ceramic bowls. How that came about I’m not sure—I think it was through a competition at school, but what I do remember is that I used the money to buy my first hi-fi system.

What are you working on at the moment?

At the moment I’m working on completing the artwork for a book written by Frances Stickley, called ‘Love, The Earth’ which will be published next year by Walker Studio.

Twitter or Instagram? Instagram

Coffee or tea? Coffee, coffee, coffee

 Dog or cat? Dog

Grape or grain? Grape

Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise

What do you listen to when you are working?  I make Spotify playlists to suit my mood. Often when I’m deep in concentration I can listen to the same track over and over again. I wear headphones so as not to disturb anyone else at home.

Where can we follow you on social media?
You can follow me on Instagram @timhopgood Twitter @TimHopgood and on my website www.timhopgood.org

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

self-portrait © Hannah Peck

Rita’s Rabbit, a picture book by Laura Mucha and illustrated by Hannah Peck, was a recent ACHUKA Book of the Day, and we’re delighted that Hannah agreed to respond to the weekly Meet An Illustrator prompts by being the 22nd guest in our regular Saturday feature.

Next month is an exciting one for Hannah, because it sees the launch of Kate On The Case, the first title in a self-authored chapter book trilogy for 6+ about a young detective Kate and her mouse-accomplice.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Hannah Peck (@hannahpeckillustration)

Coming in September, Hannah is illustrator for A Trick of Time, the second book in Jenni Jennings’ Malice In Underland series:

Here is a full list of available titles featuring Hannah’s illustrations.

Hannah is based in Brighton and represented by The Bright Agency.

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember admiring? 

I was the designated bubble-writer in year 2, and as such was very popular for the duration of that year.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

My granny was always really encouraging of my creativity when I was young – she’d always have the kitchen table laid out with an oilcloth and paints ready for me when we visited. I drew a lot of dolphins. 

Who inspires you today?

So many people – I follow the work of contemporary illustrators like Julia Sarda, Georgie Ellen McAusland, Alice Pattullo, but am really inspired by older, more classic pieces of medieval art – tapestries, portraits, anything historical. 

Did you study art/illustration?

I did not! I studied English Lit at Exeter Uni, but have always been doing arty bits on the side.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

I mainly use my iPad and have a few favourite brushes on there, but am also a fan of Prismacolour pencils. 

What software/apps do you use?

Procreate on my iPad pro. 

What was your first commission?

My first commission in the world of children’s books was from Ladybird, for their book ‘Ladybird Tales of Adventurous Girls’ 

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m currently illustrating the second Kate on the Case book, and writing the third. I’m also illustrating a couple of picture books, a middle grade cover, and working on writing more of my own books.

Twitter or Instagram?  Instagram

Coffee or tea? Coffee

  Dog or cat? Both

Grape or grain?  Grain

Sunrise or sunset?  Sunrise

What do you listen to when you are working?  Every single podcast that has ever been recorded. West Cork was an excellent recent find, although the true crime element can sometimes sit at odds with what I’m drawing…

Where can we follow you on social media?

Instagram: @hannahpeckillustration

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

self-portrait © Petr Horacek

ACHUKA has been an admirer of Petr Horacek for years, so it’s a particular pleasure to have him as our twenty-first guest answering the weekly illustrator questions. Why do we love his work? Because of its fresh colours and childcentredness.

Petr Horacek grew up in Czechoslovakia and lived through the 1989 revolution when he was in his early twenties. “Great fun! It was an exciting time,” he writes on his website. Made more so by the arrival of an English girl called Claire. “We have been together ever since,” he says. (Claire Horacek is also an artist.)

Moving to England to start a family with Claire (they have two daughters) Petr’s first book was Strawberries Are Red [2001], published by Walker—now available as a board book:

Last year Petr published The Best Place In The World [2020]

and read the book aloud on his YouTube channel.

His latest book—published this week and an ACHUKA Book of the Day—is Mister Boo! a collaboration with author Joyce Dunbar.

Coming next year from Walker will be A Best Friend For Bear

and The Perfect Present (Otter-Barry), a book that is still being worked on.
Petr tells us (below) that he is working on a big book of poems by Nicola Davies, which will also be published by Otter-Barry.

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember admiring? 

I used to draw horses quite well. I enjoyed being praised and I would draw a horse for anybody who asked for one.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

My granddad who gave me postcards with illustrations by Josef Lada. He would ask me to do him a copy of the pictures, which I did. It was a great introduction to the world of illustration.

Who inspires you today?

Anybody creative. From fine art painters and photographers, to various illustrators such as Jiří Šalamoun or Anne Herbauts.

Did you study art/illustration?

I studied Fine Art at the Academy of Fine Art in Prague.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

Acrylic paint and pencil.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

A local art shop PSW and I use Cass Art.

What software/apps do you use?

I don’t use a computer for my illustrations. Everything is handmade.

What was your first commission?

I painted a poster for a bank in Prague and a leaflet for Kellogs. They wanted illustrations in a children’s drawing style. I did such a good job that they gave me an extra £500.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m just finishing a picture book called The Perfect Present and I am working on a big book of poems by Nicola Davies.

Twitter or Instagram?  Instagram because it’s visual.

Coffee or tea? Good strong coffee.

  Dog or cat? Definitely a dog.

Grape or grain?  Grain. Whiskey.

Sunrise or sunset?  Sunrise. I like both, but I’ve seen more sunsets than sunrises. Sunrises are special.

What do you listen to when you are working?  Lots of radio and lots of music. From classic music to alternative and rock music. Jimi Hendrix is jamming as we speak.

Where can we follow you on social media?

Instagram: p.horacek_
Website: www.petrhoracek.co.uk

Here is another reading from the illustrator’s YouTube channel:

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

self-portrait © Brita Granström

Brita Granström was born in 1969 in Sweden. She moved to the UK when she was 23 and has illustrated over 100 children’s books. She is also an established painter with a recent sell-out solo show at Thompson’s Gallery (Leaves of Lockdown). She is an Honorary Fellow of the English Association.

With her husband, Mick Manning, Brita has collaborated on both illustration and text for more than twenty-five years and in 2020 won the SLA/Hachette award for Outstanding Contribution to Information Books. They have pioneered Picture Book Non-Fiction since 1995 and their first book together, ‘The World Is Full of Babies’ (Watts), was the first non-fiction title to win the Smarties Silver Prize in 1996. Since then, they have won multiple awards including, for the fifth time, the English Association Award with ‘Charlie’s War Illustrated: Remembering World War One’ (Watts) in 2014.  Brita and Mick have been nominated twice for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

The Wordsworths (Watts) is a recent example of their work together (published last year)

Coming in 2o22:
The Fussy Flamingo with Jonnie Wild. Otter Barry Books. Publishing spring 2022
a companion to The Carnivorous Crocodile, a title in the Five Flamingos series mentioned in the Q&A below.

Women Who Showed the Way with Mick Manning. Otter Barry Books. Publishing on International Women’s Day 2022

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember admiring? 

Some drawings I made of my family I suppose. My dad was a police detective and mum was a teacher and I have two brothers. I drew them a lot. Mum decided we should live without a TV at one point so we had to amuse ourselves.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

So many things. But growing up in a small rural Swedish village in the 1970s was a big kickstart. It isn’t a village in the British sense, it consists of some small red-painted farms either side of a dusty small road that looked very like Astrid Lindgren’s Bullerbyn. I would wander into everyone’s kitchen as a little girl and listen to fairy stories and drink home-made ’saft’ (squash). My favourite illustrators as a girl were Tove Jansson and John Bauer.

Who inspires you today?

So many people; I love painters like Bonnard and Winifred Nicholson but also I still return to my childhood favourites. I once had a letter from my hero Tove Jansson admiring one of my books (What’s Under the Bed) so you can imagine how that felt. Since moving to the UK 27 years ago, I have fallen in love with Ardizzone’s work and admire the drive and skill of many fellow illustrators I have met and come to know, including: Emma Chichester Clark, Quentin Blake, Arthur Robins, Ian Beck and many others.

Did you study art/illustration?

Yes I studied at Konstfack, Sweden’s National School of Art and Design in Stockholm. It was a five year MFA.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

For illustration; sharp Polychromos pencils and watercolour. For painting; acrylic on canvas.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

Jackson’s, usually

What software/apps do you use?

 I do sometimes use my ipad drawing app but never for illustration.
For that, I use hand-brain-eye co-ordination based on years of looking hard and keeping sketchbooks. I’m a neanderthal, but I keep doing what I do.

What was your first commission?

 Flying over the Serengeti with a flying doctor making drawings of operations for a step-by-step ‘bush surgery’ book, commissioned by a charity called AMREF. Later, after I left Konstfack and had moved to Scotland, I was both the Fashion and Cookery Illustrator for the Glasgow Herald Weekender magazine in the mid 1990s which was weekly fun – as well as working with BBC Scotland on their wonderful Dotaman Gaelic children’s TV series. My first books were with Walker Books and Watts a year or so later.

What are you working on at the moment?

I have just finished the 4th in Jonnie Wild’s hilarious Five Flamingos series published by Otter-Barry Books. Also, Mick and I are finishing a book about strong women but don’t want to say too much about it yet as it won’t publish until International Women’s Day 2022. Our latest published book is called The Wordsworths with Watts / Hachette. I loved making this book. Mick and I visited Dove Cottage and drew in the Wordsworth’s house (with the Trust’s kind permission) and ‘on the spot’ among the Wordsworth’s beloved mountains.

Twitter or Instagram?  Insta

Coffee or tea? Both

  Dog or cat? Dogs x 2

Grape or grain?  Grape

Sunrise or sunset?  Sunsrise — I’m a morning person

What do you listen to when you are working?  Jazz and T. Rex

Where can we follow you on social media?

@britagranstrom (Insta) and my website is: britagranstrom.com

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

self-portrait © Mick Manning

Mick Manning has been collaborating with his wife, the illustrator Brita Granstrom, on children’s picture books (mainly non-fiction) since the 1990s. Their first book together, The World Is Full Of Babies, won the Smarties Silver Prize in 1996. A later book—How Did I Begin?—caused some discussion because of its frank explanation of conception.

Mick’s solo title, A Ruined House, was chosen by Quentin Blake as one of his 50 favourite books in The Laureate’s Party.

Recent publications include The Story of Music featuring musicians from Bach to Beyonce:

and The Wordsworths  (published last year):

Coming in 2022:

• A limited edition of Near the Bear North, an ABC of Northern fauna and flora, newly published by Design for Today
• Women Who Showed the Way with Mick Manning. Otter Barry Books. Publishing on International Women’s Day 2022

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember admiring? 

Aged about 7, at primary school in Haworth, I painted a harvest mouse with blue clouds. I was pleased with it but was shocked to get hauled out of my seat by my hair by my class teacher. She then proceeded to beat me chanting, ‘Clouds aren’t blue, clouds are white and flooofy…’
At that time, around 1967, various teachers were over-due for retirement, teachers who had begun as ink monitors forty years earlier. That year in her class was a living history lesson in Edwardian schooling. But I knew clouds could be blue as I had seen them up on the moor.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

Tunnicliffe’s tea-card albums to start with, and his Ladybird books, and later his measured drawings, encouraged me to draw from life with mixed-media. Later as a teenager the album sleeves of designer Barney Bubbles and, later, book illustrations by Rojankovsky encouraged me to explore the possibilities of stencil printing to imitate (in my home studio) the technique stone lithography.

Who inspires you today?

As to influences on my own work, I would say Tunnicliffe still rings true, also artists such as Sheila Robinson, Rojankovsky and the natural history prints of 18th century artists such as Peter Mazell and Thomas Bewick. I would also say I am inspired (as opposed to influenced) by the hard work of colleagues such as Christopher Brown and Jonny Hannah, but also by the determination of so many talented new illustrators who have such an uphill struggle these days as the market seems to be flooded. I admire the O’Hara sisters and am proud of my daughter, Charlotte Manning who graduated from Cambridge School of Art last year and has just been offered a contract for her first book by Hachette.

Did you study art/illustration?

I went to Bradford College of Art and Newcastle’s University of Northumbria, then a scholarship for an MA in Illustration from the Royal College of Art (in the days when it was situated at Kensington Gore). At the RCA my tutors included John Norris Wood, Quentin Blake, Sheila Robinson, Linda Kitson, Anne Howeson and Sue Huntley who all helped me in different ways. I also studied for 6 months in the Animations department with Bob Godfrey and Dick Taylor and made a short film that was screened at the BFI. Later, I did some teaching myself, as the Illustration Course Leader at Glasgow School of Art. I stopped all teaching in 1998.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

Mixed-media: watercolour, pencil, different paper surfaces, acrylic and stipple.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

Jackson’s, usually — but also DIY shops for fat brushes.

What software/apps do you use?

 Don’t use any.

What was your first commission?

 A tiny line artwork of a mouse for an OUP school anthology.

What are you working on at the moment?

Just finishing a book about strong women publishing on International Women’s Day 2022. I am working on various un-contracted in-development projects together with my wife Brita Granström. Our latest published book is called The Wordsworths with Watts / Hachette and this picture book biography is a follow-up to our book about the life of the Brontes. It starts with a true story: me ‘meeting’ the ghost of Charlotte Bronte (I had dozed off) while waiting on-set to be filmed as the haunted shepherd boy in the closing scene of the 1968 BBC production of Wuthering Heights by Peter Sasdy. This book, about Haworth, is very close to my heart so please go and read it!

Twitter or Instagram?  Insta

Coffee or tea? Tea

  Dog or cat? Lurchers and ferrets

Grape or grain?  Grape

Sunrise or sunset?  Sunrise — I’m a morning person

What do you listen to when you are working?  Popol Vuh, Roxy, Peter Warlock, Vaughan Williams

Where can we follow you on social media?

@mickmanning.rca

Website  https://cargocollective.com/mickandbrita

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.