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DESIGN BARKING UP THE RIGHT TREE Writer Sarah Web
b and illustrator Steve McCarthy are collaborating on their third picture book for children. They share their thoughts on what it takes to forge an alchemy in this field of creativity. words Richard Seabrooke – Picture books and other creative books become more mainstream over the last few years. Why do you think this is happening? SMC: I find this subject fascinating, it feels as if there has been a bit of a renaissance. Children and the public are much more visually literate, and I think this is due to a number of things: certainly, the introduction of instagram and social media in the 2000s democratized creativity, allowing people the chance to communicate visually, and I think this created a demand for more sophisticated creative books. SW: I worked as a children’s bookseller in the 1990s and I spent a lot of time trying to hand-sell visually brave and unusual picturebooks like those by John Birmingham, Lisbeth Zwerger and Maurice Sendak. Where the Wild Things Are wasn’t too hard a sell but In the Night Kitchen took more cajoling. Since the explosion of the internet, everyone has access to a much wider range of images – on social media, on websites – and our visual literacy has become much more sophisticated. The new wave of Irish illustrators and picturebook makers: Steve, Chris Judge, Yasmeen Ismail, Mary Murphy, Oliver Jeffers, Chris Haughton, Niamh Sharkey, Peter Donnelly show such verve and ambition in their work, it really is thrilling. What’s different now is that the world has started to take notice of the wealth of Irish talent in the field of picturebooks. – This is the third time you’ve collaborated, last time on the award winning A Sailor Went To Sea, Sea, Sea and Sally Go Round the Stars. Can you explain a little about how you came to work together and how has the experience been for each of you? SW: I put together the text for our first book together, Sally Go Round the Stars (with Claire Ranson) and submitted it to The O’Brien Press. I pitched it as ‘the first Irish Mother Goose’. Emma Byrne, the Design Manager at O’Brien had seen some of Steve’s work and brought me in to the office to show me. They were a series of insect drawings, quirky, funny and strongly coloured. I loved them instantly and we agreed that Steve was the right man to illustrate the book. I first met Steve in person at the book’s launch. This is not unusual for a picturebook. In fact, it’s the norm. I was sent Steve’s rough drawings for each spread of the book and checked that they made sense in the context of the rhyme. Steve had a few questions, like what does ‘beetle her champ mean’? (It’s mashing potato with a beetle – a solid wooden masher!) It has been the same process for all the books including the new one: I submit the text, I work on it with an editor, the text goes to Steve, Emma sends me Steve’s roughs and then afterwards (the exciting bit) I get to see the final artwork. It’s an efficient system that works well. With this new book I tried to group the different rhymes and poems together in a logical way for Steve – so, for example, all the train poems are on one spread. It’s been a real joy to work on these books together and to see them do so well. SMC: Way back in 2009 I was working in my brand new studio, that I couldn’t afford, with absolutely no idea how to get work as an illustrator. At that point, all my commissions were either from friends, my girlfriend or my family. I made the decision to just draw a bug every day for 100 days (this is pre-Instagram, remember) and just see if anyone noticed, and they did. Emma from O’Brien Press spotted my bugs, and in the years since, Sarah Webb has been a mentor and a champion for me in many respects, as she is for many artists. – Can you share a few details on what readers can expect from your latest book, The One With The Waggly Tail? SMC: I wasn’t exposed to many nursery rhymes as a child, I was homeschooled, and somehow nursery rhymes just weren’t a thing. So, when it comes time to illustrate the poems, rhymes and songs for this series of books, I tend to avoid the traditional imagery, so I lean on my imagination, hopefully readers will have the similar experience when they look at them. SW: With this collection I really wanted to make sharing the book with a child a fun and joyful experience. So I included rhymes and songs I loved sharing with my own children when they were small and my nieces now – You Are My Sunshine by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell (such a sweet song), How Much is That Doggie in the Window (where the title of the book came from), B.I.N.G.O. I also included lots of Irish rhymes and songs that parents may remember from their own childhoods like It’s a Long Way to Tipperary by Harry Williams and Jack Judge and Connemara Cradle Song by Padraic Colum. – What is the process from taking a great idea from eureka moment to reality? SMC: It’s really very simple it goes, Ah Ha! - Uh Oh - Oh No, Oh No, Oh No, AH HAH! SW: For me the idea for a book comes first – a collection of rhymes and songs for Irish children, a non-fiction book about remarkable Irish women, a novel set in Ireland during World War II (the novel I’m working on at present). I make a lot of long hand scribbles and notes about and around the book, characters, possible chapters, ideas, plot strands – all kinds of things. Then I read a lot of research books and after that, I start writing. Collecting the rhymes and songs for The One with the Waggly Tail took several years but it was a lot of fun. Whittling it down to the final 64 pages was the hardest part! – Where do you find your inspiration? When and how do you best ignite and nurture your inner creativity? SMC: Boredom, I’ve become incredibly adept at seeking out and cultivating real boredom, nobody will tell you this, but I will, boredom is the key to all inspiration. The next time you’re washing the dishes, or chasing cats in the garden, and your mind begins to wander, follow it. SW: All over the place – travel (although that has obviously been curtailed recently), visiting exhibitions, talking to people, reading history books and reference books, watching movies and documentaries, talking to people and listening to their stories. One of my novels (which will be out in 2021 all being well) started as a conversa14