Emma Dodd

Emma Dodd

About Author

Emma grew up in Guildford, Surrey, in a family of artists who gave her plenty of space, and resources, to explore her creativity. As a child she loved the work of Peter Firmin, John Burningham and Gerald Rose and from as far back as she can remember she wanted to be an illustrator.

Emma studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Central Saint Martin's School of Art and has worked in advertising, editorial and book illustration.

She now lives in Surrey with her husband and two children

Interview

I LOVE MY GRANNY

PUBLISHED BY ORCHARD

MARCH 2015


I Love My Granny is the latest in the series of 'I Love...' picture books by Giles Andreae and Emma Dodd that celebrate a small child's family and the world around them.

I Love My Granny is a warm and humorous story that encapsulates a young child's important relationship with a grandparent, including the time they can spend together (unlike the often busy parents) and the things they can explore and do together.

Emma Dodd's illustrations for I Love My Granny give the story clear links with the first title in the series, I Love My Mummy, which won the Early Years Award.

We asked Emma Dodd to tell us more about her work and the 'I Love...' series.

 

Q: How did you become an illustrator?

A: I can't remember a time when I couldn't draw. I have consciously not ever encouraged my children to be artistic although I'm keen for them to be so, but I know it was something that was within me and never forced.

I was surrounded by art as a child. My parents had studied textiles at the Royal College of Art and were industrial designers; their printed textile work was mass-produced on a huge scale. My dad worked from home and I was welcome to go into his studio and do whatever I wanted, as long as I was quiet. There were two desks so I remember he'd be working at one and I'd nick his materials and go and do my 'work' at the other one.

When my dad took me to school we'd go really early and he would draw me a bear doing something while we sat waiting in the car; The bear would be landing on the moon or joining cubs - something that related to what had happened that week - and I'd colour it in. I remember how the illustration would just appear on the page and he wouldn't tell me what he was drawing and I'm sure that, over the years, it must have taught me so much about drawing. When I compare our work, his drawing and my drawing are very similar. I was influenced by the '50s and '60s and my parents were a product of that same generation.

After I left college I started working in illustration straight away, doing a lot of editorial work for magazines and newspapers. I did a regular slot for the Sunday Express illustrating the health pages, which was the worst because I'm such a hypochondriac that I always felt I was ill, as well as Gardener's World and The Guardian. Those were always to very short deadlines which was good for my brain, but picture books gradually took over.

 

Q: Is it important for an illustrator to have a distinctive style, and how did yours develop?

A: I always drew a lot of sketches in pen and ink rather than pencil and I think that my work is very influenced by that; there are always strong black lines in my work.

I also did a lot of screen printing when I was young and had a little business making t-shirts and I think my work is still influenced by that period of screen printing. When you register colours you need to have some overlap so that the white doesn't show through and my work often has that overlap, so it looks like it's been slightly badly registered, plus I use areas of flat colour and a limited palette.

 

Q: What media do you use to create your illustrations?

A: I work using a tablet which is the nearest I have ever been to working in pen and ink but without the mess...

I find that using a stylus is the same as using a pen because you use pressure to make the lines. Then I spend a lot of time making the illustration look like it hasn't been done on a computer, using different textures and rough lines.

I never found working with colours particularly easy. With watercolour you have one chance and one chance only but working on a computer, you can make a mistake and easily undo it.

Working digitally means that you don't have the original artwork, which is sad, but it's brilliant for being able to work with a publisher wherever they are in the world and being able to make very quick changes to your artwork.

 

Q: How did you come to illustrate the 'I Love...' series and what do you enjoy about working on these books?

A: When Orchard saw Giles' text, I Love My Mummy, they put us together as I had recently been working on something else about 'mummies' I was delighted, it was great to work with Giles Andreae who is such a big name. When I Love My Mummy won the Early Years Award it got put on the map and I Love My Daddy followed. I think since then we've loved virtually everything.

I Love My Granny is the most recent and you can see it goes together with I Love My Mummy because the granny looks like the woman's mother from I Love My Mummy. My own mum has been seriously involved with my children and my only complaint is that she gives them too many sweets, so Giles' text made me laugh!

I illustrate each of these books in about six weeks. The next book, coming in September, is I Love My Puppy, and there are a couple more to come after that.

I love illustrating Giles's work because he has such a light touch, his humour is so charming and original like his I Love Father Christmas book; I wondered how he was going to be able to do anything different with that but it was very funny. Giles' writing appears to be very simple but it's incredibly clever.

Once he's delivered the text and it's been edited, I will go to Orchard and have a brainstorming session with the publisher Kate Burns. A kind of magic happens during that time when we have lots of ideas about how to approach the text, then I do thumbnail sketches and we agree the way forward.

 

Q: Do things from your own life come into your illustrations?

A: Giles is Daddy in I Love My Daddy and the children in the books are a hybrid of my own children; I Love Cats and Dogs is my daughter and I Love Pets is my son. I think it's inevitable that your own life will come into your illustrations. When I look back at my books from years ago I can spot things like my old watering can and the garden from our old house in my illustrations, but I never thought about it at the time.

 

Q: Are some things harder for you to draw than others?

A: There are some things that I find hard to draw and horses are notoriously difficult, which made illustrating Roman Rescue (by Kelly Gerrard) so hard. Another is guinea pigs, they are like baked beans with eyes so they're not very satisfying to draw.

One thing I'd always resisted drawing was otters, they seemed incredibly difficult, but I did a book called Together for Nosy Crow which is about sea otters. These are slightly different from normal otters, they float around on their back and hold hands, they are such lovely creatures.

One day I'd like to do something with my drawings from life. I've started sketching again now my children are a bit older, but I used to draw religiously when I was a student and I'd like to do more of that.

 

Q: Do you have a favourite from the books you've created?

A: A book called Me is one of my favourite books, and Forever because it's got polar bears in it, and I Love Bugs because I'm very interested in nature. That's such a great book for events - children love screaming at the spider.


Q: Where do you do your work?

A: I love my work, I'm at home, drawing, all day. I have a room in the house that I can work from, it has a desk with all the techy stuff and the rest of the room is piled high with books.

If I wasn't doing this I'd maybe like to be a print maker. If I got myself into a position where I could, I'd like to do more linocuts and print making, which I did a lot of when I was younger.

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