David Litchfield
About Author
DAVID LITCHFIELD first started to draw when he was very young, creating Star Wars and Indiana Jones 'mash up' comics for his older brother and sister.
His first picture book, The Bear and the Piano, won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize (Illustrated Book Category) and became a best-seller in the UK and US. It was shortlisted for eight other awards in the UK including the Sheffield Children's Book Award and the Independent Bookshop Week Award, and has sold in over 20 languages.
David has since illustrated The Building Boy by Ross Montgomery (Faber and Faber, 2016).
He lives in Bedford with his family.
Interview
SEPTEMBER 2018
Following from his award-winning THE BEAR AND THE PIANO (LINCOLN CHILDREN'S BOOKS), author and illustrator DAVID LITCHFIELD's new picture book introduces a new animal musician, this time a dog, and his fiddle. THE BEAR, THE PIANO, THE DOG AND THE FIDDLE explores friendship, loyalty and also jealousy, and sees a welcome return for the Bear, and his Piano.
We asked author and illustrator DAVID LITCHFIELD to tell us more:
1. How did you come into creating picture books, and what other kinds of artwork or work you do?
I have always loved drawing and have always loved to create characters and stories, so I used to draw my own comic books growing-up. But I was always told to focus on something that could lead to a real job. So, I studied Graphic Design at Camberwell College of Art & Design in South London, thinking this was a sensible route into the creative industries.
It was a great course, and I learnt so much, but Graphics never really felt like my true calling. I also worked in a photography studio where I got to play with lighting and set design which was always a lot of fun, but again, it was never something that I saw myself totally pursuing as a career. It wasn't until my late 20's that I realised that I should focus on the one thing I truly loved, and that I was at my happiest doing - which has always been drawing.
A few years after graduating, I moved back to my home town of Bedford and started teaching Graphic Design full time. But I kept working on my portfolio and taking on small commissions that I would work on in the evenings and at weekends.
One of these illustration commissions was to draw a few pieces of promotional artwork for the band Rue Royale. Lots of people commented that the drawings were very 'naive looking' and reminded them of children's books. Picture books have always been fascinating to me and the comments got my mind racing through all the possibilities I could explore within this area. I started filling my sketchbook with potential story ideas and characters. Before long I was signed to Bright Illustration Agency who managed to get me a meeting with Lincoln Children's Books. Here I pitched some of the ideas that were in my sketchbook and portfolio - one of which was The Bear and the Piano - and it all went a bit crazy from then on!
2. What do you enjoy about creating picture books?
There is a great freedom in picture books that is hard to find in other areas. You can really let your imagination run wild and children will just go with it. The worlds that you can create in picture books can have their own logic and their own rules. What makes writing and drawing for children so brilliant is that I can say "We are in a world where the sky is made of jelly" and children will not really question it and dive right in and want to find out more about the sky made of jelly. That wouldn't happen quite so much if the audience was made up primarily of adults.
In fact, the only people who ever questioned me about why there was a piano in the woods and how on earth a bear can play it with his big paws were some grumpy adults...
3. Your picture books have lovely messages within the story - is this what makes a great picture book for you?
Yes, absolutely. Although I think every story should have a message of some sort. It's very easy to come across too preachy in books and not everyone is going to agree with your own personal views on the world. But I think when making books for children there is a responsibility, probably more so than any other kind of storytelling, to convey a message that prompts conversations about the world.
I'm pretty sure I learnt most of life's basic rules concerning what's right and what's wrong from picture books.
4. Picture book texts rarely come fully formed - how did your first picture book, The Bear and the Piano, develop, did it go through many changes?
The original idea came from a sketch that I drew in my sketchbook (which is how a number of my ideas start). One evening, without really thinking, I drew a very scary, grizzly-looking bear wearing a tuxedo playing a grand piano. I looked at the sketch and started thinking about the story behind it and how this bear might have come to play the piano, and what adventures he went on to because of his talent. I also really liked the idea of two different worlds coming together. The wild bear from nature, interacting with the very civilised, graceful world of a classical music instrument.
I had a few sketches and the outline of the narrative when I was lucky enough to get a meeting with Katie Cotton, editorial director at Lincoln Children's books. This was my first ever meeting with a publisher, and I was woefully unprepared. But something about the concept of the book and those few sketches I had captured Katie's imagination and we started working on the book very soon after our initial meeting.
Katie, and the art director at the time, Andrew Watson, were there to help from the very beginning, guiding me through the making of the book and offering me advice and suggestions. It was quite literally a crash course in how to make a picture book.
It took about eight months or so to create the whole book, from initial sketch to final page. It was a truly amazing experience and was one of the greatest, most creative times of my life. I have had to speed up the process a bit since then, but basically everything I know about making books: from pacing, to character design, to technical things like page bleed and how much DPI a file should be, was pretty much learnt during those initial eight months.
5. Why did you want to return to the story of the bear and the piano, with the dog and the fiddle, and how did the story develop? Why did you decide to focus on friendship for this book?
I didn't want to do a straight-forward sequel, so I thought that focusing on a story where the Bear is almost a background character for much of the book felt like quite an interesting way of doing it.
Instead, I really wanted to examine the friendship between Hector and Hugo and take a look at the things that can challenge a friendship. I worked closely with Katie and Andrew again on this book, and we all really liked the initial idea behind the first book: of the bear who goes on this adventure and finds fame, but who worries about the friends he's left behind.
This book is almost the reverse of that, as it's mainly looking at the person who was left behind, so it is really Hector's story. He has to watch as his best friend gets to play the big stages and tour the world, which is what he's been trying to do all his life. Hector goes through all of these different emotions, but ultimately, deep down, he's really proud of his friend.
6. Your characters are fabulous, do you choose carefully what you will be drawing as your main subject, before you decide on your texts?
Generally speaking, with my own stories they always start with a drawing. For example, with Grandad's Secret Giant, I drew a number of sketches of a giant hiding in various locations and the question arose: how would you hide a giant in a suburban setting? I thought this was a good starting point for a story.
So, for me the drawings will definitely be the starting point to a book, and the story forms around them through further sketches, storyboarding and notes. The text will almost always be the last thing I work on.
7. How, and at what stage, do you create your final images, and what media do you like to use?
I start the final artwork once we are all happy with the characters, the structure and the pacing of the story; and when we have basically worked through the whole book over and over again in my sketchbook.
When I start the artwork, I usually spend a fairly considerable amount of time experimenting with colours and textures. I collect a file of textures by creating watercolour washes, and covering pages with acrylic paint etc., I also take photos of interesting surfaces and patterns.
Once I have a fair few, I scan them all in and explore overlaying them with each other in Photoshop. These will generally become backgrounds, or will be used within an image in some way. It's just a fun way of starting a project and keeps every book feeling fresh.
8. Will there be another book in The Bear and the Piano series - perhaps to follow Clint 'The Wolfman' Jones??
I LOVE Clint, and I've actually thought a bit about this... He seems a bit more rugged and road-weary than the others in Bear's Big Band. I would love to hear his story. Maybe there could be a spin-off book one day soon. That would be very cool indeed.
9. Where do you work - can you describe your studio - and your main distractions from working?!
Until recently I used to work in my attic at home. But things just got too hectic. I loved working from home but there were quite a few distractions. I have two young sons, so when they're both together things are quite chaotic!
Also, things were becoming really cluttered. So, a few months ago myself and a friend Sam Gibley (who is also an illustrator) rented a studio space in town. We're actually above an accountant's office, which is obviously a totally different environment from our studio! We sometimes feel a bit rebellious working above them with our loud music and the scruffy clothes we wear. But they don't seem to mind.
Bedford town centre has an abundance of indie coffee shop who all make great coffee. This is probably our biggest distraction now, as we have LOTS of coffee breaks... A distraction that's also bad news for our bank balances...
10. What are you working on now and do you have another picture book in the pipeline?
I'm just finishing a fantastic picture book about a circus written by Lisa Mantchev. It's honestly one of the books I've had the most fun working on! There are so many wild characters and situations. I really love it, and I can't wait for people to see it next year.
Then towards the end of the year I am starting my fourth author/illustrated book with Lincoln Children's books. I'm incredibly excited, as it's a science fiction story that I wrote almost as a homage to Steven Spielberg. 'E.T.' and 'Close Encounters of The Third Kind' are two of my favourite movies of all time and this book will definitely reference them.
11. ReadingZone runs a picture book competition for children to make a picture book. Can you give us your top tips for choosing a great theme or central idea for their picture book?
A: Think about things that have happened to you, emotions that you have felt, situations that you have been in and then think about whether they would make good stories. Keep changing a few things about them and see if that makes them better. For example, maybe try thinking about when you and your friend went on a bike ride around the park. But, instead of you and your friend on the bikes, it was a fox and a tiger. And instead of the park it could be a magical forest. And instead of bikes they could have jetpacks. Little games like that can sometimes set your imagination off on a little journey which is a good thing to do every now and then!
12. If you weren't creating picture books, what other career would tempt you?
Ooh, hopefully I can keep going making picture books in one form or another forever. It really is the greatest job in the world.
But, before I took the plunge as a freelance illustrator, I used to teach art and design full-time at Bedford College. I loved it. It's a really rewarding job, and even though it can be super challenging at times, I would definitely do that again.
Also, in the last few years I've been lucky enough to visit lots of book shops all around the country. Everyone who works in them seems so happy and content! They're almost like these little zen-like-environments. Obviously, I might not be seeing everything that goes on behind the scenes at these shops, but I think being a bookseller looks like a pretty gosh-darn lovely profession too!
APRIL 2017
DAVID LITCHFIELD'S debut picture book The Bear and the Piano won the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize and became a best-seller in the UK and US. His latest picture book, Grandad's Secret Giant, is a beautifully-illustrated story about difference, acceptance and building a community.
In Grandad's Secret Giant, Billy is bored of hearing Grandad talk about the 'secret giant' that he says lives in their town, although no one - except Grandad - has ever seen him. Then Billy and the children need help to finish a mural they have painted, and there is only one person who might be able to help...
We asked DAVID LITCHFIELD to tell us more about GRANDAD'S SECRET GIANT:
1. Like your earlier picture book The Bear and the Piano, Grandad's Secret Giant seems to embrace difference. What attracts you to writing about 'the outsider'?
Everyone has different elements and that is what makes them, them. These stories are about embracing those elements and not being afraid of who you are or what you look like; turn the 'disadvantage' on its head.
The story is also about empathy; I wanted the characters and the reader to feel empathy and to really think about how their actions might make another person feel. When Billy runs away from the giant, he has to stop and think about how this is making the giant feel.
There is always cause for that, to look and see how your actions make other people feel.
2. Why did you decide that the different character would be a giant?
I had decided I wanted to have a contemporary urban setting for this book and to bring a fairytale-esque character and put him into a modern setting.
I wanted the reader to wonder if the giant is in grandad's imagination and even when the giant appears in the shadows on the pages, you wonder if he is really there as he just blends into the background.
The giant is on every page until Billy sees him and runs away; the giant 'disappears' once he's been spotted.
3. How hard was it to illustrate the giant, given his size?
The giant is very big so I really had to think hard about perspective for this book. You're either looking up at the giant, who is big, or the pages are about the giant looking down, whereas I used to draw everything 'flat'.
When I was at art school, I didn't worry about perspective, I'm a fan of naive art - a bit like children's drawing - which used to drive my teachers mad. But this is the book where I had to go back and revisit the laws around perspective, especially the big 'reveal' page. So my art lessons came in useful after all.
4. Why did you decide to focus on the relationship between a boy and his grandad for this story?
I think it's because my grandad was a bit storyteller and he would tell us stories that we had to question in terms of how real they were. I think there is also a bond between children and their grandparents. You can learn a lot from your grandad in terms of storytelling; they always have plenty of good stories. And that makes it easier to question whether what he is saying about the giant is real or in his imagination.
I also thought that a grandparent would just have a bit more time for the child than a busy parent and we see Billy being taken camping and sailing by his grandad.
5. One of the things that helped The Bear and the Piano stand out was the luminosity of your illustrations, which is also seen in Grandad's Secret Giant. What is your secret for creating these?
When I do my drawings I like playing with light and how light affects moods. I was inspired to explore different techniques by Steven Spielberg and his films like ET and Close Encounters. I look at my characters as if they are in a film and I wonder how to get an emotional response from them.
When you learn to draw, you're taught about light and how to shade in the right places to develop texture and light, but I also want light to help create a magical quality in my stories and in The Bear and the Piano, I really developed how I used light to create a dream-like quality like fairytales have.
6. What technique do you use in creating each of your images?
I draw the first images using pens and pencils. For the backgrounds, I have created hundreds and hundreds of watercolour washes over the years and go through them and choose some to work with that have the right tone. So for this picture book, I wanted the town to look bright and colourful while the night scenes are all blue mixes.
I also have lots of different textures which I have created by photographing different objects like tree bark or concrete. I scan each of these into the computer and then experiment with them, for example for my trees, I will paint the shape of each tree but scan in the bark photo to get the texture of the trunk.
So although the pages start traditionally with pens and pencils and watercolour washes, the magic happens when I bring them all together using digital wizardry.
7. How long does it take you to develop your picture books, both the texts and the images?
Of all the books I have done, this idea has taken the longest to develop. I had the idea for the story about four years ago and I did some drawings for it but the giant was very different then, he was terrifying, really scary, which wasn't appropriate for a children's story. The publisher, Frances Lincoln, liked it but said it wasn't ready to be developed into a book and so we decided to focus on The Bear and the Piano first. Since then I have worked on Grandad's Secret Giant and developed the giant so he now looks very different
8. What were you doing before you started creating picture books?
I was a full time illustration lecturer, doing graphic design and animation as well, at a college in Bedford and I still do some teaching for a few hours each week and I do love doing that.
9. Where do you go to work on your picture books?
I have a converted attic and I work up here. I did have a studio in town but I found I get more done if I lock myself away in my attic. At the moment I'm working on the illustrations for a book about Simon and Garfunkle and how they met, and I have just finished doing the illustrations for my second book with Ross Montgomery; the first was The Building Boy and the next one is called Space Tortoise. I am also illustrating a picture book for Andy Stanton.
10. What are your favourite escapes from your work?
Drawing is my favourite thing to do but obviously that is now also my job! But I don't draw as much as I used to so I go to night drawing classes and I find the act of drawing very calming. I also enjoy cycling and I've built in a false commute to work where I will go out, ride around and stop somewhere for a coffee before I come to the 'office'. My New Year resolution was to go to the cinema more, but we have two young boys so that is a harder one to keep....
The Bear, The Piano, The Dog and the Fiddle
Grandad's Secret Giant
The Bear and the Piano
