{"id":797,"date":"2010-03-29T09:16:26","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T15:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendymartinillustration.com\/wordpress\/?p=797"},"modified":"2010-03-29T08:11:16","modified_gmt":"2010-03-29T14:11:16","slug":"interview-with-meredith-johnson-picture-book-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendymartinillustration.com\/wordpress\/interview-with-meredith-johnson-picture-book-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Meredith Johnson – picture book artist"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"picture<\/a>Please give a big welcome to Meredith Johnson. A prolific illustrator with 100 or so picture books to her name. Her bio on Picture Book goes like this:
\n“So do you have kids?” the editors ask, and Meredith always says “Yep, they’re my scrap.” Picture scrap, that is. Twenty-three years of illustrating children’s books and she\u2019s not out of material, yet. Meredith lives nestled in the foothills of La Ca\u00f1ada, California.
\nThanks for joining us today, Meredith.<\/p>\n

When did you get started illustrating for children? What did you do before?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I did my first books in 1985. I was working as an art director in an advertising firm, Olgivy & Mather<\/a> in LA. I simply did books nights and weekends for years.<\/p>\n

Tell us a little bit about the recent books you illustrated, The Princess Twins and <\/em><\/strong>the Abby and Tess Pet Sitters <\/em><\/strong>series.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The <\/a>\"Abby<\/a>
\nThe Princess Twins and the Tea Party<\/a>\"\" is a series of 4 easy readers for Zondervan, full color, 2 little girls as princesses sort of in the Middle Ages. Goldfish Don’t Take Bubble Baths (Abby and Tess Pet-Sitters)<\/a>\"\" is a series of 8 chapter books. Each features a different adventure in pet sitting a different exotic pet. Each book has about 12 B&W illustrations for each chapter. These were fun to do because the stories are zaney.<\/p>\n

What are you working on right now? Do you have any other books or art projects you\u2019d like to talk about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m working on an author’s self published picture book now, about a little girl and manners. I’m working with the book designer, a close friend,\u00a0 all the way though, so it should be a very cute book. I’m also working on two easy reader picture books and a little bit of educational work in between.<\/p>\n

\"cat<\/a>
\nDo you illustrate full time? If not, what else do you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have been illustrating full time for the past 12 years, since getting out of full time agency work.<\/p>\n

Your signature style has been consistent for years. Have you ever wanted to experiment with something different? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I do have\u00a0 a signature style, and it would be nice to experiment, but I manage to stay really busy, so I stick to what I am comfortable with, and what I’m hired for.<\/p>\n

\"my<\/a>
\nWhen you illustrate a picture book how do you decide what scenes and details to draw? <\/strong><\/p>\n

When I first get the manuscript, I read it over several times to get the ebb and flow, and the feel for what the lead character should look like. Then I do really rough pencils, just thinking on paper. The pictures are meant to tell the story as much and more than the words, so I suppose it’s my way of “telling” what the author wrote.<\/p>\n

When illustrating picture books do you include a visual storyline not mentioned by the text or include animals or people you know?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I always show more than the words show. I just about always add a pet as a sidekick, for more action in the pictures. A well written picture book is sparse on description, to let the pictures to be a grand show. A different illustrator would have a much different take on the same text.<\/p>\n

Can you explain your art process?<\/strong>
\nMy process is pencil or pen line, and markers on bond paper. This comes from years and years of storyboarding when I worked as an art director. I worked on Mattel Barbie commercials for 22 years, and every commercial had to be storyboarded several times. I was also doing 4 to 6 picture books a year then, so my most comfortable fit was marker made to look as much as possible like water color. My web site is meredithjohnson.net<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Milo<\/a>
\nDo you use models\/source pictures or do you draw from your memory\/imagination?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don’t use models, but I do use Google to look up visuals of things I don’t have a good working knowledge of, like animals I’m not familiar with, things like that. Mostly I draw from memory. Because I draw children so much, I keep catalogs or magazines once in a while to use for ideas about the latest of what kids wear, and what they do with their hair.<\/p>\n

If you could be anything other than an artist, what would you be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than books, but publishing is getting smaller and leaner, so maybe I’d like to travel more instead of working all the time at a desk.<\/p>\n

Is there a children\u2019s book illustrator whose work you gravitate towards in the bookstore now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The books and illustrators I admire are Carl Larsson<\/a>, Arthur Rackham<\/a>, Rien Poortvliet, Lisbeth Zwerger, Trina Schart Hyman<\/a>, Sergio Martinez, Shirley Hughes, Hilary Knight<\/a>, to name a few.\u00a0 At bookstores now I get overwhelmed at the lovely art everywhere….there’s a lot of competition out there!<\/p>\n

Thank you so much for taking time out of your hectic schedule to give us a peek into your illustrator’s life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Please give a big welcome to Meredith Johnson. A prolific illustrator with 100 or so picture books to her name. Her bio on Picture Book goes like this: “So do you have kids?” the editors ask, and Meredith always says “Yep, they’re my scrap.” Picture scrap, that is. Twenty-three years of illustrating children’s books and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[168],"tags":[618,255,83,242],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nInterview with Meredith Johnson - picture book artist -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wendymartinillustration.com\/wordpress\/interview-with-meredith-johnson-picture-book-artist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interview with Meredith Johnson - picture book artist -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Please give a big welcome to Meredith Johnson. 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