Carly Gledhill
About Author
Carly Gledhill has developed her distinctive style illustrating for clients including Paperchase, H&M and Marks and Spenser. Inspired by a love of colour, character design and textiles she has worked on a wide range of products, including children's clothing, books and stationery. Monty and Sylvester is her first picture book.
Interview
MONTY AND SYLVESTER: A TALE OF EVERYDAY SUPER HEROES
ORCHARD BOOKS
APRIL 2018
This lively and detailed picture book is perfect for young children who always dreamed of being a super hero! Due Monty and Sylvester put in hours of training and preparation before being called to their very first emergency. While their reputations grow, however, there is one particular rascal who tests them to the limit...
We asked author and illustrator CARLY GLEDHILL to tell us more about MONTY AND SYLVESTER: A TALE OF EVERYDAY SUPER HEROES.
Q: This is your debut picture book, what has brought you into creating picture books and what else do you do for work?
A: I studied textile design at University but couldn't stop drawing little characters in my sketch books. My first job was designing children's garments, for a few years before starting my own brand 'Corby Tindersticks'. Through the brand I went on to collaborate with other design houses and shops including 2 collections for Mamas & Papas.
I also started a trade show for other brands to show their collections, called Dot to Dot London. This takes place in London twice a year and along with illustration, picture books and Corby Tindersticks, keeps me very busy!
Q: Why did you decide to create a super hero duo for this story? If you could have a superhero super power, what would it be?!
A: I drew the characters first and having spent a lot of time looking at them and wondering what their story would be, I thought that becoming superheroes would be the last thing they'd be any good at, perfect for a comedy based tale of friendship!
I loved watching the Batman TV series as a child, the colours and very out of date equipment, combined with the cartoon 'pow' and thwack' was a big inspiration to this book.
Sticking to the theme of household equipment, I think I'd like a flying ironing board for my super power please!
Q: Monty and Sylvester don't have 'superpowers' as such, was that always going to be the case?
A: It was always going to be a story about childhood imagination and making the best of what you've got. It's rather inspired by my own childhood. My sister and I used to spend hours playing imaginary games; shopkeeping, driving to Blackpool (we had my Dad's old Austin Allegro parked at the back of the garden to play in) and Friday night usually meant the full Olympic games using tin foil for shot putting and straws for javelining.
You can achieve anything with most household utensils!
Q: The vacuum cleaner, however, does have special powers! What gave you the idea to introduce that?
A: I was trying to keep the story quite simple, using things that any child would be familiar with. The vacuum cleaner seemed the perfect choice, it can deal with any situation in a rather clumsy but acceptable fashion!
Q: Your characters follow a 'manual' for becoming a super hero, why did you use this approach of seeing them preparing for their roles?
A: Well Monty Mouse loves to read, it's where he gets all his playtime ideas from.
Q: How did you go about developing Monty and Sylvester as characters and how hard is it to create a picture book character, given the constraints in the number of pages and word count?
A: I drew Monty and Sylvester a long time before I wrote the story for them. I kept coming back to them, they seemed to have a lot of character and worked well together as an unlikely duo. I had the beginning, the end and the twist for this story so it was just a matter of filling the rest of the pages with exciting problems for them to hoover up!
Q: Yes you take Monty and Sylvester very quickly from saving cats to facing monsters, how did you go about pacing the story?
A: Each challenge needed to be tougher than the one before. So we go from cat to gorilla to giant monster, to SPIDER! I wanted it to be unexpected and funny, so the reader could not guess what would come next.
Q: Every superhero needs a bad guy - you have a few 'villains' in here, which is your favourite?
A: It has to be the furry, long-legged creature whose upper body we don't see, it's a mystery and only Monty & Sylvester know what it actually looks like! It also has really great boots.
Q: ...And why did you decide to make the one who causes the real problems, a rat?
A: With everything they have already faced it seemed sensible that they would be thwarted by the smallest character of all. He's no match for a bear but he's cunning and gets the better of the duo.
I'm not sure he's really a bad guy, he just can't stand that the clumsy duo are getting away with shoddy superhero-ing techniques!
Q: There are some nice visual clues for children to follow about who is the real villain. How important is it to create these extra messages for young readers?
A: I have to admit these clues were added in on the suggestion of my editor and designer at Orchard, the picture book was quite simple in it's original form so they used their years of experience to add a bit more interest to the pages; so it's been a group effort. The clues add a nice flow to the book with lots of nice bits for the reader to notice, I'm glad they are there!
Q: How did you decide on your colour scheme and which is your favourite spread?
A: The colour scheme is one of the first things I decide on, while designing the initial characters. I use Pinterest to create a moodboard of colours and pick around 6-10 to use. I like a stripped back palette so there's not too much going onto each page and the book flows nicely.
Q: Where do you work and how do you create your images?
A: I work in my spare bedroom, it's a short commute from bed in the morning!
I use pencil, fine liner and watercolours to draw the characters and assets for each page, then use Photoshop to manipulate them for each spread and add in background colours.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I have just finished the second Monty and Sylvester book which will be on the shelves next April. I'm now thinking of new ideas for the next few books, hopefully another Monty and Sylvester story and something a bit different.
Q: Can you give us your top tips for children who might want to create their own picture book?
A: A lot of writers base character on themselves, so write about something you know well, something that you like. Don't worry whether anyone else will like it, just have fun!
Q: What are your three all-time favourite picture books?
A: So hard to pick just 3! Here we go:
1. Gorilla by Anthony Browne
2. The Jolly Postman by Janet & Allan Ahlberg
3. Noddy at the seaside by Enid Blyton
Monty and Sylvester A Tale of Everyday Super Heroes
