Sarah Lodge
About Author
Sarah Lodge graduated from Cambridge School of Art's MA in Children's Book Illustration in 2014 with a distinction.
In 2015, she was shortlisted for the AOI World Illustration Awards New Talent Award.
She is a part-time children's bookseller and illustrator.
Find her on twitter @SarahJLodge
Interview
THE MIDNIGHT VISITOR is the first novel in a new young fiction series (7-9 years) by HOLLY WEBB, which follows a group of mischievous kittens who call the museum home. One night, a new kitten, Peter, arrives.
Illustrator SARAH LODGE tells us why she wanted to be involved in the series and how real life cats and museums helped her create her drawings:
Q: What made you excited to illustrate Holly Webb's Museum Kittens series when Little Tiger approached you?
A: Well I've always drawn cat characters since I graduated, from my MA in Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art a few years ago, and one of my favourite things to do is sit in a museum and draw the exhibits from life, so it seemed that my ideal project had dropped into my lap. To say I was excited would be a huge understatement! I was beside myself with excitement.
Q: Were your kittens illustrations inspired by real life cats?
A: I live with my partner and we have three adult male cats who are all ex-strays, but when Little Tiger approached me by some bizarre coincidence we were also fostering two small black cats that had been found abandoned in the DIY warehouse where he works. We called them Max and Bette and I've dedicated the illustrations in 'The Midnight Visitor' to them.
Because Max wasn't getting on with our resident cats he lived in my studio with me for a while. When Bette turned up as a stray a few weeks later the two of them fell in love and became inseparable. We've re-homed them now as a pair (five cats is too many to cope with) but their little mannerisms and their cheekiness very much influenced the way I started to draw Peter. And as I was submitting my sample illustrations to hopefully get the job, the two of them were my constant companions.
It is also inevitable that our resident three cats' characteristics end up in my drawings too. I am always having to remove them from my drawing board or lightbox. Quite a few of my drawings have muddy cat prints all over them. I've learnt to scan them quickly in case this happens.
Q: Which is your favourite kitten to draw?
A: Oh I couldn't possibly choose, I love them all equally. I think I find Boris the easiest and Bianca took the longest to get right, but I love drawing them all.
Q: What's your illustration process? What materials/techniques do you use?
A: I draw everything in pencil on cheap printer paper so I don't worry about getting too precious and wasting posh paper. I draw a character over and over again until I get the expression I need. Most of the backgrounds are drawn in pencil too.
Once I am finished I scan everything into photoshop, clean up the pencil work, then chop out the characters and collage them all into place. Then I do a little digital painting behind the line work to bring the characters to life. All the colours on the front cover are digital too. Sometimes I will bring in hand-drawn textures too.
Q: Did you research any museums for your backgrounds?
A: Yes I did. Luckily I live in London with loads of fantastic museums to choose from. I took trips to the British Museum for their Egyptian galleries, The Natural History Museum for dinosaurs, The V&A for jewellery and armoury and the Horniman Museum in South London for atmosphere, flooring and display cabinets.
I've also got a great book on the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburgh, Russia which I know has influenced Holly's writing and has real museum cats in its cellars, and I've tried to recreate their amazing marble staircase in 'The Midnight Visitor', which is a little bit Hermitage and a little bit V&A.
