Nicola Kent

Vera Jewel is Late for School
Nicola Kent

About Author

Nicola Kent graduated from the prestigious Cambridge School of Art MA with a distinction and was Highly Commended in the Macmillan Prize for Illustration in 2016.

She worked for ten years as a television producer at the BBC and Channel 4 before following her dream of becoming an author and illustrator of children's books, including Vera Jewel is Late for School.

Nicola lives in London with her partner and two children.

Interview

VERA JEWEL IS LATE FOR SCHOOL

MACMILLAN CHILDREN'S BOOKS

SEPTEMBER 2018


The colours and energy of NICOLA KENT's picture books (VERA JEWEL IS LATE FOR SCHOOL and THE STRONGEST MUM) stand out, with stories that explore the everyday world of young children, but which take the ordinary into being extraordinary.

In VERA JEWEL IS LATE FOR SCHOOL, Vera invents all manner of means to help get her to school on time and although she confronts failure again and again, eventually her persistence pays off and the results are unexpected and delightful.

We asked author and illustrator Nicola Kent to tell us more about her picture book work:


Q: What was your path into illustrating and writing picture books? What attracted you to this area?

A: I have doodled and jotted little pictures and stories all my life and, after graduating with a degree in Visual Art and English, I did a short course in children's book illustration at Chelsea School of Art.

At the same time I was applying for all kinds of jobs which combined words and pictures. I got one as a BBC production trainee working on arts programmes and after that I spent ten years as a tv producer, making programmes for the BBC and Channel 4.

It was great fun, and taught me so much about narrative. But there was always something missing for me and I often made little books and cards in my spare time.

After I had my children I became determined to follow my dream of making picture books. I did a couple more short courses and then gained a place on an MA in Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. The MA is quite well known in the industry and through my degree show and the course's stand at the Bologna Children's Book Fair, I was lucky enough to get interest in my books from agents and publishers.

I think I am drawn to picture books partly because I'm quite in touch with my inner child and I enjoy being playful. I love creating characters, writing stories and the process of making things. Also, picture books are a child's first introduction to literature - and a place where all sort of themes can be explored, which is really exciting. And they hold an important place in family life. I think most of us can remember some picture books we loved as a child - and many of us have bought them again for our own kids or other children we know.


Q: Do you also do other kinds of design / illustration work?

A: At the moment I am focused on my books. I am lucky enough to have been making two a year and that uses up most of my time, although I do play with personal projects on the side, for example I recently made an illustrated alphabet.


Q: What inspired each of your books, The Strongest Mum and Vera Jewel is Late for School?

A: Generally ideas just pop into my head, and The Strongest Mum popped in pretty fully formed. It's only later that you start to unpick the inspiration and I suppose it's based on my own experiences of becoming a bit overwhelmed by all the things I had to keep on top of when my children were very young.

I remember a period when my daughter was two and my son was a newborn and I was just at full capacity. We lived in a first floor flat and I was home alone with them all day. We were getting ready to go out one morning - I'd packed up all the bags: the nappies, the snacks, the water, the spare clothes, the entertainments, the wipes.

Anyone with children of that age knows that just leaving the house can feel like a miracle - just when you think you're ready one of them does a poo / falls over / has a tantrum... Anyway, finally we were out on the landing and I locked the flat door and looked down and realised I'd forgotten to put any shoes on! Sometimes when you're a mum, you are the last person you remember to look after, and I think that's what the book is really about.

Again, the idea for Vera Jewel is Late for School just popped into my head. Like The Strongest Mum, it's rooted in the realities of every day life with children. Every parent will be familiar with that crucial period before you leave for the school run - where bags have to be packed, teeth cleaned, homework remembered, library books hunted down... you're exhausted before the day has really begun!

But there's a second important theme in Vera which is about not giving up on things you find hard. I've realised one of the most important lessons for a child (or anyone else!) is that you learn best by making mistakes and trying again and that it's important not to give up on yourself if you find something tricky. So although Vera's journey is about being on time for school, it's really about the broader idea of taking charge of a problem and working to find the solution.


Q: Are your best ideas inspired by real life events / children?

A: These two books are clearly rooted in real family life. I have other ideas that are not, but I think probably the best ideas have some root in reality or a familiar emotion, even if on the surface they are far removed from every day life.


Q: How long does it take for picture book ideas to germinate and how many changes do they go through before we see the final version?

A: Some of my ideas form quite quickly, others take a bit more nurturing - but in that case I often find it's better to put them on the back burner and do something else while they germinate rather than overwork them before they are ready.

Once an idea gets the green light from my publisher, then I work through about three or four rough drafts with my editor and designer before going to artwork.


Q: Vera Jewel is written in verse, but not The Strongest Mum. Which do you prefer writing and how do you decide how to write it?

A: It depends on the story and what seems right for it. Vera Jewel is a bit of a crazy romp where events get more and more surprising, so it felt right for the text to have a steady, repeating rhythm to ground the illustrations and the extraordinary ways that Vera tries to get to school.

In The Strongest Mum, the story is narrated in the first person by Little Bear. This felt right because it allowed the story of Mother Bear to be told in two ways - from the point of view of her young son and, more objectively, through the illustrations.


Q: Vera Jewel follows a girl, Vera, through her many and varied attempts to get to school on time. How did you choose each of her attempts, which become more and more outlandish?

A: In early drafts, the ways Vera got to school were less outlandish but I decided I wanted to make her attempts increasingly adventurous throughout the book. That made anything possible, so I was grateful that the rhyming text gave me some parameters. Anything was possible - as long as it rhymed with Jewel! There were some other ideas that didn't make the book for that reason, like Vera digging an enormous tunnel from her bedroom to her classroom.

 

Q: Can you tell us a bit about Vera's character - she's a young engineer and very inspiring! - and how she developed?

A: In early drafts, it wasn't Vera who thought up the ways to get to school but other members of her family. But this didn't feel right - it made Vera too passive and I wanted her to be the agent of her own destiny.

I was working on the story at a time when I was thinking about the way some kids label themselves very young as no good at a particular thing and find it easier to give up on it than to try and improve. My daughter's teacher had introduced a 'mistake of the day' award to try and foster what's called a 'growth mindset' in the class. Learning to experiment and to value mistakes as a fun and important part of any learning process is the best way of getting a grip on things you find hard.

Vera's lateness problem gets worse and worse before she finally comes up with a failsafe solution. So she's a girl with great tenacity, creativity and bravery - a good role model I hope!

She solves her problem, but - just as importantly - she has brilliant adventures and makes new friends along the way.


Q: Do you have a favourite spread in Vera Jewel is Late for School?

A: Probably the spread in which she crashes with the champion mule. It was really fun to create all the little details of the town as they gallop through it, and it's a pleasure to watch children spot the little details.


Q: At what stage do you create the illustrations, and what techniques do you use?

A: As I first develop a book, I work on rough text and pictures at the same time, as the interplay between them starts to develop early in a project.

Before I can go to final artwork, the book has to be really nailed down in terms of structure and composition, so, after submitting a few iterations to my publisher for feedback, I will create a finished pencil rough. When we are all happy, I will go to final artwork.

At this stage, I get out my watercolours, inks and coloured pencils, and I make hand made ink stamps. I illustrate elements separately then collage them digitally, which allows me to create a translucent and overlapping effect, which I really like. I have a lot of fun playing in my workroom, but always dread tidy-up-time at the end of a project!


Q: What are you writing / illustrating at the moment?

A: I have just finished a book called Terry and the Brilliant Book, which will be published by Macmillan in February 2019. It's about a mouse called Terry and his best friend Sue who love playing ball together - and then what happens when Sue gives Terry a book for his birthday...


Q: What are the best and most challenging things about being a picture book creator?

A: If you imagine the pages of a picture book being like a stage or a filmset, as its creator you get to be the writer, casting director, scenery painter, costume designer - you are creating this whole little universe and its inhabitants.

It can be tricky dealing with hurdles where you know something's not quite working but you can't quite work out how to fix it. The only solution is to work through different experiments and make a lot of mistakes, until you find a solution. A bit like Vera Jewel finding a way to be on time for school. In that way, like The Strongest Mum, Vera Jewel definitely has an autobiographical element!


Q: Where do you create your books, and what's your favourite escape from your work?

A: I have a workroom at home. It doubles as a spare room but most of the time the sofa bed is sprawled with art materials and printouts. When I get to the digital collage stage, or if I'm writing, I sometimes also work in local cafes.

I can find the quiet of home quite distracting (not to mention the washing to fold and dishwasher to unload) and sometimes being out of the house with a bit of buzz in the background helps me focus.

I really enjoy my work so don't really feel the need of escape, but to recharge I like my garden, reading and watching crime dramas on telly! I also love going on family adventures.


Q: ReadingZone runs a picture book competition each year for children; what are your top tips for children in creating their own picture book?

1. Many picture books focus on a main character with a problem, which they try to solve through the book, usually succeeding in the end. So a good way to get started is to invent a character and give them a problem to solve, or that other characters might help them solve. Once you have a beginning and an end you can play with what might happen in the middle.

2. Most picture books are made up of 12 double page spreads. It's really useful to draw out 12 little tiny double page spreads on piece of paper and play with how you are going to tell your story. You can also use Post-it notes so you can rearrange the order while you're working out your story.

3. Keep rough and loose for as long as possible - save beautiful finished pictures till you are sure where they will go in your story. Early in the process of making a book, my drawings are so rough, no one but me would understand them!

4. Remember that your pictures can tell a lot of the story, so you may not need as many words as you think.

5. Like Vera Jewel (and me!) allow yourself to experiment. The best work comes off the back of a few mistakes!

Author's Titles