When and why did you start painting on book covers? 

I started using book covers as mini canvases around 2008. I was working on a comic-like thing for Fantagraphics’ Mome anthology and decided I wanted to make something that was more of an art object. I’ve been using them since. I knew when I started this book that I wanted it to double as an art show, so doing the whole thing as these objects made perfect sense.

I’ve used old book covers for a few reasons. They’re essentially small, cheap, pre-coloured canvases, and the colours are often quite unusual and rich. The book cloth, when it’s the right kind, takes ink nicely too.

The reasons for using them started off being practical, but after a few times drawing on them I realized there was much more to it, and that they weren’t just a solution to a problem.

First, I love the process involved in finding them. Instead of heading down to the art store I get to go and root through shelves in a thrift store, which takes a lot longer but is a much more pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Second, there’s something nice about using a drawing surface that has a past. By the time I’m ready to start drawing on one of them I have a history with it, and that’s in addition to it’s already long history as a book. It serves as a strange base for what I end up doing, in that it kind of contrasts conceptually. The things I do are often fragmented, like short flashes of narrative, so I think it’s funny to have that take place on something that has a long previous life.

Lastly, the fact that they’re originally book covers makes a lot of sense. I often think of my work like titles for books that don’t exist, and in this case the book has actually been removed entirely so you have no choice but to imagine the contents.

One thing I should acknowledge here is that much of this was thought of after the fact, but that’s kind of how I work. I’m not trying to bullshit here. I try to trust instinct and improvisation when possible because the results are usually more surprising than when I try and plan something out in detail. In this case the book covers made a very simple kind of sense at first, so I went with it, but it became richer upon reflection.

Where did you get these books, what were they before and did that influence the art you created on them? 

I got them from second hand stores, which in turn often got them as discards from public libraries.

I think in the whole book there is maybe only one case where I riffed off of what existed on the cover, but even then I’d had an idea for something. [SEE IMAGE BELOW] For the most part I used blank hardcovers.

And if anyone is up in arms about the fact that I ripped out the guts of these books, I should mention that for the hundreds of books that were sacrificed there was a grand total of one book that I actually kept to read. I’m just saying. Most of them were minutes away from being pulped.

Did you intend this book to be read as a story or as a series of unrelated images?  

Neither, to be honest. Kind of somewhere in between the two.

I thought of the book like a collection of short stories, except instead of stories there are short scenes that concentrate more on a single idea, or a mood. Some scenes run for multiple pages while others are just a page, and while they don’t connect linearly there are definitely recurring themes. I thought a lot about the sequence and which stories are grouped together, so in that sense the images are related, just not in obvious ways. Having said that, there are a couple characters that reappear in different parts of the book, but that’s more about supporting or contrasting some of the themes that naturally developed.

It’s not a book where your left with one meaning or conclusion. I wanted to make something where what you’re left with at the end of the book is a sense. I wanted to build a world out of fragments that, while absurd and surreal, felt familiar to the one we’re living in right now.

Who are the mascots?

This goes back to my thinking of the book as a collection of short stories. In short story collections they usually take a title for the book from one of the stories, something that is indicative of the themes in the stories, but nothing worked that way for me. I thought of the idea of mascots because they’re these outrageous, often ridiculous figures, but they’re symbolic of something else. The thing they’re there to represent isn’t ridiculous at all. I thought that was similar in a lot of ways to the work in the book.

What influences your lettering? 

My favourite lettering is actually the most straightforward stuff. I like things that are almost perfectly normal, but with a slight twist to it so that the person who made the letters peeks through a bit. [SEE IMAGE BELOW]

This image typifies what I love most. This is on the side of a building in downtown Winnipeg—the city in Canada where I live. The whole thing is very controlled, but the “g” and “y” have strayed slightly from what we’re used to. It’s so beautiful. I wish people would pay me to make things this simple. Just big, almost normal type, with just the tiniest bit of weirdness to it.

As an illustrator, storyteller, and writer why do you feel compelled to pair words with your images? 

It’s interesting that you ask that, because it’s actually the other way around, in that I’m compelled to pair images with my text. I always start with text, and I actually feel like images are slowly being phased out in my work.

I’ve noticed you’ve been doing a lot of self-driven projects – how does doing books, comics, and sketchbooks compare to commissioned work?

Oh gosh, well I’m always going to prefer self-initiated work, for the freedom to explore ideas and move your work forward. If I relied on commissioned work alone, I think I’d stagnate pretty quickly, because clients often want you to do something you’ve already done. That’s not to say that there aren’t fun and fulfilling commercial gigs. There are. I just know that when I feel the most engaged and alive is when I’m working on something that’s self-driven. I suppose that’s a pretty obvious answer to your question.

You recently became a father, how is it going?  

I suppose you’d have to ask my 11 month old, Cooper, for the best answer to that, but I think it’s going very well. :) He’s very funny and kind—I can tell that about him already without having heard a (intelligible) word out of his mouth. He also has the distinction of being the most handsome little man on planet earth. All other babies look like beef jerky to me. I feel sorry for other babies.

Haha! Thanks so much to Ray for sharing. Pick up a copy of Mascots right here.

above Sundays Are for Lovers

How did you two decide to start working together publishing Lines & Shapes? And what was the motivation to create this ongoing series?

Lena: We share a love for visual expression in book form, and we really connected on that when we first met. I remember the excitement when we first discussed collaborating somehow– possibly starting a small press together. We were at a restaurant in Williamsburg. We continued discussions back and forth in email, and it was clear that we were both really passionate about making books. It has been a lot of work, but really rewarding creatively.

Maria: We love books! Our motivation was almost selfish in that way. We wanted to create something we would really enjoy and it’s pretty amazing that we have.

Since you live so far apart, Lena in Brooklyn and Maria in Portland ME, is most of your collaboration over the internet and phone or do you meet to work on the books?

Maria: We work in person on the books and do a lot of logistics work over email. I am finding it harder and harder to deal with email as the years go on so next year I hope we can spend even more time working together in person on Lines & Shapes. I know at least one book we’re doing where we’ll have plenty of time together. So exciting.

above from Cloth Inventory

What are your individual roles in working together? Who does the curating, designing, production, and promotions?

Lena: We do everything together. We both curate, design, work on production, and promotion… Maria handles the shipping, which is a HUGE part of the job and I’m very appreciative of her work in that area! I handle the website.

above from Journal of Plants

What is the process like for finding the artists you are going to feature?

Maria: Well Lena and I are both artists so we keep folders on our computer and in our studio of artists we respond to. We also get submissions through the site and find quite a few people that way. It’s all about finding a balance for each book. It’s one of my favorite parts.

How do you decide on the themes for each book in the series?

Maria: We bat ideas back and forth. Most of the time it’s very organic and easy to figure out what we’re feeling at any given time.

above from Sundays Are for Lovers

You’ve branched out beyond Lines & Shapes and created a big handful of other books, including my favorite, Brooklyn Diary, which documents the daily lives of 21 artists living in Brooklyn. What new things have you learned about Brooklyn from working on this book? And will there be any follow-ups of other creative cities?

Lena: I loved working on Brooklyn Diary this year. Brooklyn seems to have an endless supply of creative people and places, so it was hard to not include more. I hope the book captures a moment and feeling in Brooklyn. Obviously the book is just a snippet of life here– there’s much more to Brooklyn. I also enjoyed making a fun, short video for the launch of the book, using scenes shot by photographer Thayer Allyson Gowdy as she wandered around Williamsburg. The video is very amateur, but I’m liking the trend of videos to promote books, either showing behind the scenes of the making of a book, or just adding another dimension to a creative process. I would love to do follow-ups of other cities… maybe San Francisco or Berlin?? We don’t know yet.

above Brooklyn Diary

Lena, you’ve worked on books with big publishing houses, including the super popular Printing By Hand, which you authored. Did you find having that experience helped you with your own press? What are some of the challenges you faced that you never expected even with that experience?

Lena: Working with a big publishing house (STC, Abrams) was my first experience with publishing books. It definitely helped me when we started our own press, even though the process is so different. With Lines & Shapes, we go with our gut feelings and emotions about things, whereas in a big company you have to think about the masses and sales numbers. Publishing our own books has been such a pleasure, the only challenge is balancing the workload, since Maria and I both do other work beyond Lines & Shapes.

As professional artists, how has working on this independent press contributed positively and negatively to your career?

Maria: Lines & Shapes and Other Books has helped me see that anything is possible. We do things our way and we like it that way. This year at the NY Art Book Fair we had so many people trying to find our table and make sure they came by to see what we had going on. That felt so great. Lines & Shapes has only been positive … of course it’s a TON of work but it’s worth it.

above from Brooklyn Diary

What’s next for the press? What are the upcoming projects for 2011? And do you have any ultimate dream projects?

Maria: Next year will be similar to this year as we work through our transition and things change. Our Artist Series is still on hold. We hope to bring that back in 2012. We will do 1–2 books in our Journal Series and we have a really big and amazing book coming out from Other Books. Look for that in the Spring. I think our dream project would take us to Japan. Lines & Shapes books are really enjoyed there so I would love to go for a few weeks and create a book out of that experience. Lena and I have never traveled together. I imagine that would be really wonderful.

above from Sundays Are For Lovers

What is your background in art? Have you always been interested in drawing?

I actually started as a writer, writing zines and going to shows and selling them to strangers. So my first step into any of this is from the perspective of writing. The illustration was actually something I’ve never done before An Awesome Book!. That was the first thing I’d really ever drawn before. Which is crazy because now it’s completely and totally part of my every day existence…

How did the idea for your first book, An Awesome Book! come about?

I just wanted to write a book for my son while he was still young enough to appreciate a kids book- but I also knew I wanted to make something that was larger- that spoke to all ages and levels of people. At the time I was really impressed by the types of dreams my son was having, really by the fact that kids dream at such a young age about the craziest things and I really wanted to play with that idea – dreaming big, dreaming beyond your own limitations.

There is so much that goes into self-publishing- besides the writing and illustrating, there’s organizing the production and printing, marketing, shipping and distribution… How did you manage all of these? What were some of the major challenges you faced doing your first book?

I think the biggest challenge is honestly just having faith, trusting that you’ll send away a PDF and you’ll get a book back that looks how you think it should look. There’s a lot of room for error there and I feel I’ve gotten pretty lucky. Honestly for me the other road bumps have been just trial and error- oh and selling out of books too quickly (which is a lucky problem to have!)

Tell me about the foundation you started.

I started the Awesome World Foundation to help give away books to kids. For every copy of “An Awesome Book! sold, the foundation donates a book, and throughout the year I travel the world and read to kids at schools and hospitals and libraries and book shops and give away books. I get to interact with the kids directly and talk to them all about their hopes and their dreams. It’s pretty much the most fun I’ve ever had.

What have been the most exciting places you’ve gone on your travels sharing the book to and what sorts of experiences have you had?

Not to sound generic but every place I read is pretty special. Being able to get out of LA and drive 30 miles in one direction or 200 miles in another and find so many different voices, so many kids that are so fresh and new and full of love and big ideas- and teachers trying to embrace that, it really gives me so much hope for the future every single time I set out on the road.

Your next book is being published by Amazon Encore. How did you get involved with working with them? What is Amazon Encore exactly and how does it work? How much of the process are they involved in? Are your books printed on demand?

Amazon Encore is a publishing company. Amazon decided to start a publishing company and contacted me about my book being their first children’s picture book so I flew to seattle and met with them and felt like it could be a great fit. They act the same as a traditional publisher (full print runs, nothing on demand) but because they are a part of Amazon, are focused on the use of new media much more heavily than traditional stores. The process has been pretty fun so far, because even though Amazon is so large I’ve really been able to get in on the ground floor and make a lot of decisions as to how to handle the book.

You have had some major stars get excited about your book. In fact Bjork and Matthew Barney presented it at a release and signing, Jaoquin Phoenix reads aloud from it in the new movie I’m Still Here and Justin Timberlake posted about it on his blog, to name a few. How are all these celebrities hearing about your book? And why do you think your books also appeal to adults so much?

I guess the longer you live in Los Angeles the more the “celebrity” angle becomes common place. The same as if I lived in West Virginia and my books were popular among coal miners. That’s just the industry here. What honestly makes me the most excited is that all of this has come through word of mouth press. Up until this point I haven’t done any traditional PR so it’s all been just the grassroots love of the book thats spread it around. As for the adults loving the book, like I said I try to approach things from a thematic place so that no matter your age, your location, your race, your social background, you can relate to it. Everyone can relate to dreams.

Besides an author, you are also a father. What do you like most about being a dad? And what does your son think about your book and project?

Everything about it is fantastic. Just the multitude of ways it has opened me up emotionally, taught me knew ways to thing, taught me to be a better person. Being able to share my life with someone who is so honest and inspirational. It’s pure magic. And yes, being able to have my son grow along with my books, to come on tour with me and help me give away books to kids, and see the country and get involved at such a young age – that is such a reward.

What’s next? More books? Animations? I think doing some unicorn t-shirts for adults is a must….

I wrote 10 books this year so now I’m just going to be putting them together, figuring out the best way to share them with the world, fielding all sorts of weird offers to do strange and amazing things, animations, t shirts, television, music. Basically waking up each day to a new series of emails asking me questions and challenging me to take things to the next level. Just being 100 percent stoked on life!

Make Me a Woman

Your comics are so personal. What is it like sharing so much of your private life with the world? Have your family, friends, or boyfriend ever been upset about how you’ve portrayed them or what things you’ve chosen to share?

It doesn’t seem that weird for me to write about my private life, since a lot of it seems very common. I’ve been thinking about it, and I think writing about my personal life is another way to put out feelers, to find out if I’m messing up or doing okay. Like, in life, I tell the same story to friend after friend, to get their feedback and put it all together afterward. I know that probably sounds childish, but I find it’s also a way to have people open up to me in the same way. In any case, I feel a bit unsupervised in the world. Putting the comics out there helps me with that. And it’s one of my most important personal values to try to be real about myself. It drives me crazy when people won’t get real with themselves. I am constantly lamenting, “Why won’t this person just get real with themself!!” If I have to do it, everyone should have to do it.

As for the people in my life, I try to treat them with discretion and respect. I will not draw something that’s not “my story” (unless I have permission, of course!). And I usually don’t write about people I really don’t like. (Yet, anyway.) But people are complicated and nobody (including me) comes off perfect. It’s so subjective. I’ll draw a comic about my mom being a pain, but she ends up looking adorable and loving and a great mom, which she is. I think that comes through because that’s my fundamental feeling about her. If anything, I look like a jerk in the strip for being such a brat.

Mostly, the people who’ve been aggravated about their portrayal in my comics are usually aggravated by something in our relationship, which is revealed in the comic. But they agree that at least the comic is truthful. But it doesn’t happen that often, I’m glad to say.
I did spend a gazillion more hours agonizing over how to describe people and situations delicately than actually drawing, though. Figuring all that out takes the most time. I’m actually thinking about easing up on that process.

You are always using material from your past for your comics. It seems like it would be difficult to keep digging up old memories from years ago, especially such critical ones like conversations with your dad about dating, or going to fat camp. By making comics of these moments, you sort of have to re-live them in your head, and then again on paper many times. Do you find that it’s therapeutic to do this or is it a challenge to return to so many embarrassing or uncomfortable memories? Do you find you are often nostalgic?

I am definitely, constantly, relentlessly nostalgic! I’m like that Chris Eigeman character in Kicking and Screaming, who says, “I’m nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday.” I’m always wistful. So it’s not really obviously therapeutic nor that difficult to think about these things, since I’m thinking of them all the time. I think some people see time in their life as being so long, at least it seems that way. Like for them, say, 2003 was ages ago. But for me it’s a minute. All of these things are always under the surface, I feel close to so many old times. Or, maybe it’s just that all of these small memories exist as stories already in my mind somehow. The stuff I don’t remember can be painful. I was reading an old diary from high school recently, hoping to find some details for a story, and it was horrible to read about myself being so clueless and humiliating, and the ways my friends and I were so mean to each other. So I think the way I remember things can often obscure painful realities. Maybe if I had actual documentation to research for these comics, it’d be a different story.

Because your work is so auto-biographical are you constantly looking for material as you live your life? Have you ever found yourself doing something intentionally because you know later it would make a good story for a comic?

Sometimes I’ll coax myself into doing something I don’t want to do, because it might be good material. But for the most part, not really.
Also, I don’t usually know what I’m going to write about before I start. Even the strips I did for Tablet, I only had the most general of topics that I pitched to them. Like, “I went to Jewish Day School.” But none of the specifics, or no idea beforehand of what the axis of the strip would be.
More often, things will happen and I’ll know immediately that I have to write about it. Even before I was a cartoonist this would happen. Many years ago, I was at a New Year’s party and my ex-boyfriend dragged me into the street and got down on the ground and clutched at my legs, moaning all of these crazy, drunken proclamations at me. And while it was happening, I was thinking, “I should draw this.” But he was performing! People are putting on a show all the time. It’s just a matter of getting it down. They write you the script more often than not.

I really love the more loosely drawn diary entry comics you’ve included in this book. When do these get made? Are you carrying a little sketchbook around with you or do you make mental notes and go home later to add these in?

Both–I try to keep a sketchbook with me but to draw I usually need to concentrate, even doing the loose diary strips. So I often just write down notes. I used to draw them in an impromptu way more often. I wish I did them all the time, but I usually return to diary strips when I’m in between projects, or if I’ve been unproductive and I’m out of comics-making shape. When I’m lost, it gets me back on track.

Do you approach your more finished comics the same way as the diary comics or is there a lot of sketching and preparing layouts for these? Specifically what kind of materials are you using to make these painted pieces?

Doing the strips for Tablet once a month helped me streamline the way I approached the colored strips. I pretty much outline the story in my sketchbook, usually as a bullet-point listing of chunks of text and the images I want to include. Then I move those all around, matching the text with the pictures, editing it to fit in the 3 pages, and then on each page, and then in each panel, etc. Then I pencil, often researching images at the same time. Then I ink, and then I watercolor. My materials include: Arches hot press watercolor block, a clear pica ruler, mechanical pencil with 2B lead, Winsor and Newton pan watercolors, Ph. Martin’s concentrated watercolors, Ph. Martin’s India ink, and I’ve realized that my favorite nibs are these manga nibs, N-G I think they’re called. I get them from New York Central. But I’ve used whatever nibs. I like big, pointy ones with a little flexibility but not too much. I just got a mechanical eraser and I’m really excited about it!

When I met you I was surprised by how much you resemble your cartoon self! After all these years of drawing yourself have you noticed ways you’ve improved on capturing your likeness?

Thank you! That’s a great compliment! It’s funny because a lot of the things I learned in high school made it hard to draw comics, at first. Well, it makes sense. In school you’re not supposed to have a style. You’re supposed to be always looking. But that makes you start from scratch with every drawing, which is impractical in comics. So I’ve gotten cartoonier, which basically expresses itself as a certain confidence.
I think also reading more comics, and seeing how other people draw people has helped. Like, discovering Love and Rockets and Jaime Hernandez was a revelation. He obviously loves the body and draws figures immaculately. But they’re still cartoony.
But it also comes back to being realistic! Like, maybe I have to start adding bags under my eyes as I get older, but that’s the truth! And it’s not so bad. Especially as a cartoon.

So much of your comics talk about being Jewish. Would you currently consider yourself a “good Jew”? Do you practice at all?

I do think I’m a good Jew! I mean, what does that phrase mean? I obviously have a conflicted connection with Judaism–as I’ve written, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Jewish guys, synagogue, and religious obligation. I grew up in a tightly-knit Jewish community, with it everywhere; I didn’t have to do anything to be Jewish, I just was, a lot. Now, I don’t really practice seriously–I’ll have matzoh ball parties for Rosh Hashanah and go to temple every once in a while. But all of those things seem to me more about community-building. Which is very important, don’t get me wrong! But I’m lucky, I’ve been able to build my own, specialized community–within comics, old friends, etc. It’s not enough for me for someone to be Jewish for me to get them, or for them to get me. Even as a kid, my whole life, I hated group activities. I grew up Reform (while attending a Conservative day school), and so I have never felt a real pressure that I couldn’t make my own way in Judaism.

Someone recently was describing a Reform rabbi as “less religious” than a Conservative rabbi. But my own rabbi is totally religious! And scholarly, very Jewish. That statement completely baffled and irritated me. But maybe it’s just semantics. Maybe this person meant “less practicing” instead of “less religious.” I guess I don’t believe that practicing necessarily makes you spiritual. And to me, more religious does not equal being a “better Jew”–certainly not a better person. Even in the community I grew up in in West Palm Beach, a few of the most religious people turned out to have some real ethical problems, deep in their character. Ultimately, I’ve been taught that a lot of Jewish values are about navigating the world with integrity, and generosity, and being honest, realistic. Examining things, trying to understand and be open. Loving and respecting your family. I think I do all those things–at least, I try. I do want to learn more about Judaism. I haven’t devotedly studied it in many years, and it just seems like this massive intellectual and spiritual thing to tackle, which is exciting, and daunting. This is a big question!

You recently went on a little promotional book tour around the US. What were your experiences reading to crowds of people? Were there any moments that really stood out as memorable?

Going on tour for the book has been wonderful, and wrenching! I’ve been saying it has sort of felt like a one-person, multi-day wedding, seeing so many friends and family members. It’s intense to see people I love so much so briefly. But still great. My Uncle Danny and one of my mom’s best friends from Florida came to see me at the Strand, in New York, and that meant a lot to me. My old roommate–you know, it’s amazing! At the Strand, Len Small, who is one of my editors at Tablet, read an introduction for me that was insane. And doing the interview with Marjorie Ingall, who is someone I’ve admired for such a long time….It’s overwhelming, hearing all of these nice things and meeting people who love the book and totally get it. It’s great! I mean, I’m still processing it. I think some of the best things that’s come from making comics are the opportunities I’ve had to meet and connect and have conversations with so many people I respect and look up to. In November I’m going to the Miami Book Fair and doing a reading with Lynda Barry, and that is currently completely blowing my mind.

What’s next on your horizon? I imagine your comics coming to life in an animated series!! You should make a pilot! What do you think?!

I’d absolutely love to do an animated series! That would be amazing! Hello, to anyone reading this who wants to help me put together an animated series!
I don’t want to sound flighty, but there’s so much I want to do. I still have big stories to draw. So that’s probably coming soon.
I don’t know if I’ll ever have time, but I want to do more painting.
I’d love to partner up with some designers and make some homewares. I’ve dreamed for a long time of working with a ceramicist and decorating plates and utilitarian stuff. And you know I’m totally crazed over your wallpaper and textiles. Please, somebody let me make some wallpaper and textiles! I’m pretty much up for whatever!

Thanks so much to Vanessa for sharing! I cannot recommend this book enough! Pick up a copy here.

Can you tell me a little about your background. Where did you grow up? When you moved to America and how did your career start as an illustrator?

I was born and raised in Sweden. After graphic art school, I freelanced for 5 years as an illustrator and taught illustration in Stockholm.

In 1993 I came to NY for a month to take my portfolio around. The response for my work was fantastic, better then I ever could have hoped for or imagined. This was before everybody worked on computers and the perfect shapes of flat color that I painted in gouache was an instant hit. Clean, simple, graphic, scandinavian, people would say of my work.

New York loved me. I loved New York and in that month I felt like I had only scratched the surface of what I could do here. So decided to come back. What was supposed to be a year turned in to forever… And I am still in love with New York!

Images from Follow the Line

Your Follow the Line series of books has had so much success. There’s even Japanese and Chinese versions. How did you get the idea for the the first Follow the Line book? And why do you think these books have become so popular?

I am very happy about the all foreign editions of my Line books. Now there are even Brazilian and French editions. But there isn’t a Swedish one, which makes me a little sad…. That would mean a lot to me.

Back in my “editorial days”, when ALL my work was in one line, I got the idea to do a children’s book. It was natural for me think of a concept based on that. I am not an author per se. I don’t write stories. I come up with an idea/concept that I build on. My very first Line dummy was an accordion fold with just a black line. No colored shapes at all. When I started working with the very talented editor, Joy Peskin at Viking, she suggested adding the shapes and the counting questions that are in the first book – Follow the Line. Joy is fantastic to work with and has elevated my ideas and added a lot to my books.

I think what people like about the Line books is that there is a lot there. Once you read a traditional picture/story book you know the story. And unless you absolutely love it there might not be a reason for many more reads.

However, there are many ways to go back and re-read the Line books. As a parent, on the nights you just want the day to be over, you simply read the simple text, kiss goodnight and turn out the light… Other times you may ask the questions, follow the line with your finger, think up new questions, talk, compare and discover.

Images from Pepi Sings a New Song

Your new book Pepi Sings a New Song is about a bird who goes on a mission to find new things to sing about. Where did the idea for Pepi come about?

My VERY first children’s book idea, which wasn’t a “Line book”, is where Pepi shows up for the first time. That book was about different animals and their owners.

My brother’s cat was living with me at the time when I, one day, on an impulse, adopted a shelter dog. My life turned upside down and this cat and dog were pretty much all I talked about for a while… That made me wonder what they would say about me and our life together if they could talk! And that was was that book was about. That was around 1995 and over the years I showed it to many different editors, but never got a commitment. With all the comments that I got, I reworked this book. Out of all the animals in that first book, I focused in on the parrot and developed a concept around it. Finally, I got interest from a publisher: Beach Lane/Simon and Schuster.

Image from Pepi Sings a New Song

It’s the first book that I have done that is not a Line book and really the first time I am developing and digging deeper into a character. It’s still not a traditional story, and it’s similar to the Line books in the way that it’s more of an interactive concept book.

I learned a lot working with Andrea, my editor. A reader doesn’t really get an emotional connection to a line, and here I was working with a character. I found that to be a different challenge. Emotional satisfaction was my mantra working on Pepi, but it was important to me that Pepi had an edge and didn’t become cheesy and flat. I preferred that him to be a little obnoxious, messy and selfish. I think kids can relate to that, and I think it makes him adorable and funny. I am very proud of Pepi!

Images from Pepi Sings a New Song

Your illustration style is very modern and graphic. What is your process like for creating one of your illustrations? Do you do a lot of sketching before you start working or do you draw directly into the computer? I noticed you’ve been adding some fun textures and patterns into your illustrations. How do you see your style developing in the future?

Painting flat fields of color in gouache is a waste of time nowadays. In my VERY first published children’s book- Toni’s Topsy Turvy Telephone Day, the main character wears a dress with a simple checkered pattern. That dress took me more than a day to paint, not to mention the time it took to paint all those big flat backgrounds! I was very reluctant to get a computer. I resented the idea that a computer and some software would make you an artist.

When I finally gave in, I learned that that the computer is a great tool! But it is JUST a tool… I am very glad I have the background that I have; that I know how to mix a color, what it consist of and how it breaks down.

Images from Pepi Sings a New Song

I love my MAC and the computer has really helped my work to evolve. My work strangely enough looks more “hand made” now then when I actually “worked by hand”. (can I also say how much I love the guys at Apple tech support? When I first got my MAc I called them 10 times a day!)

I work in photoshop, on a Wacom tablet, which allows me to sketch, draw and erase, just like I am used to. Sometimes I scan in paper sketches.
I can now indulge in my passion for patterns and textures. I have a huge library that I created so that I can pick and choose and add a pattern in a matter of minutes. It’s so much fun!

I have also started to use photography in my work. It started out with photographing textures. But now I am incorporating actual objects that I have photographed. The next Line book will have a lot of these objects. It comes out next summer and is called Follow the Line to School

Spread from forthcoming book Follow the Line to School

What are some of the projects you are currently working on? What’s a dream project you would love to do?
I just finished my latest children’s book and trying to recuperate. I am getting in to product design and licensing, so there might be some interesting things happening there.

And I am trying to get something “out there”, that is not really what I do at all… In 1986 I was able to get into an abandoned prison in Stockholm and photograph. The negatives have been in a box all these years, and I am now trying to get them published somehow… It’s sort of become my obsession…

Samples of abandoned prison images taken by Laura. If you are a publisher interested in working with Laura on this project contact her through her website here.

I really don’t have ONE dream project. I have MANY…

My dream is to keep on working, with as many different things as possible, as much as possible! Working and getting it just right, makes me happy. I have been very, very fortunate to be able to work with great people on such wonderful projects as I have over my career.

Thanks so much to Laura! You can check out more of her work here and pick up Pepi Sings a New Song here and her Follow the Line series here

Now here’s the interview:

How did this book come about and what made you two partner together to write it?

Joy: We met in 2007 after we did the Stationery Show together and quickly became long-distance friends. We often looked to each other for constructive feedback on our work and discussed working together on a project in the future. After the success of Meg’s book, Craft, Inc., Chronicle wanted to expand the series. We began brainstorming for ideas and with our joint backgrounds as freelancers, it was natural to write about that topic. We also felt there wasn’t a go-to bible in the market for any creative type looking to go freelance.

Meg: I pretty much just begged Joy to do a book with me. Tears were involved. She eventually caved in.

How is your book different from the other books that already exist about being an artistic freelancer?

Joy: There are various freelancer books out there, but most focus on one particular freelancing field. We wanted to create a book that combines several fields and includes things we felt were missing in other freelance books: relevant business advice, interviews with other freelancers in a range of creative fields (including you!), and approachable guidance on the highs and lows of all aspects of freelancing.

Meg: We’re in a golden age of creativity. With fields cross-pollinating and blurring–it’s hard to be just one type of creative in a single medium. Many creatives, like Joy and I, are “slashies” (i.e., illustrator/designer, photographer/director/stylist)–so we wanted to create a book that encompasses different kinds of creative freelancing. There is a lot of overlap across fields as well as differences you can learn from and apply to your own practice. In fact, the most interesting freelance practices I learned were from photographers–and I’m not a photographer!

As freelancers yourselves, what has been the toughest challenges you’ve had to face?

Joy: The toughest challenges are the irregularity of the business, changing from a regular paycheck, being your own boss, getting your own clients, and then managing it all. Those are the things that make most freelancing newbies (or those considering it) apprehensive. However, the upside is that once you’ve figured out how to manage those areas (which we cover in the book), those challenges become your rewards: the flexible schedule, getting to be your own boss, getting to choose clients, and having it all be on your terms.

While researching information for the book, did you learn any new things that have changed your own freelance business model?

Joy: We found the interviewees to be super inspiring and such a great a confirmation of the truism: if you want new opportunities, new clients, and new types of work, being pro-active and being a go-getter is the best way to make them happen. Most of the freelancers we interviewed didn’t start off with dream clients or the exact type of work they eventually wanted, but they created self-initiated work for their portfolio, took some jobs initially for very reasonable prices, or approached companies they’ve always wanted to work for. With hard work and perseverance, they started getting the jobs and clients they’ve always dreamt of. This has been a great reminder for our own businesses to never settle and keep going after the projects you want and haven’t done yet.

Which section of this book was the most fun for you to write? Which was the hardest?

Meg: It was fun to write Chapter 7, “Balancing Your Business and Personal Lives,” because it’s great to think of ways to recharge, relax, or step back from your business. It also gave us a moment to think about how to improve our own personal lives by toning down our workaholism. I can’t say there was ever a “hard” chapter. The best part about having a co-author is you can hand off a chapter to her and ask her to fill it with more information!

What is on the horizons for you guys?

Meg: Not much, just total world domination.

Ha! Thanks so much to Meg and Joy for such a useful book!

First, thanks so much for sharing insight into creating such a beautiful book.
Julia, I want to thank you for your interest in “Noonie’s Masterpiece”, and for your wonderful site which is a delight to book lovers everywhere!

Who is Noonie and what is this story about?
“Noonie” is the debut novel from author Lisa Railsback. I borrowed this synopsis more or less from the jacket: “Ten year old Noonie Norton is a brilliant artist—the rest of the world just doesn’t know it yet. She misses her father who is working on the other side of the globe as an archaeologist. She doesn’t belong with her actor/postman uncle, dental hygienist aunt, and super dork cousin, who clearly don’t understand her genius. If she wins the art contest at school, her dad will come home. Pronto. The only problem is she has to create a family portrait. The story is a reminder that sometimes the greatest masterpieces are the bonds we unexpectedly forge with the people in our lives.”

How did you come to be the illustrator for this book?
Victoria Rock, the editor of children’s books at Chronicle Books, sent me the manuscript (via my agents).

Each spread of the whole book is so different and fun, full of your illustrations. How much did you work with the Chronicle designers on the actual page layouts?
Thank you, Julia! I worked with Amelia Anderson, a senior designer at Chronicle. It was great working with her and I thought she did a fabulous job. There were many stages of layouts and lots of back and forth throughout the project, most all done electronically.

How long did it take you to make all these drawings?
The initial brief called for 50 black and white drawings—almost doodles. Something you might draw in the margins of your notebook while not paying much attention in class! I began working on it in 2008, but the book was put on hold for various production reasons. After a hiatus of many months, I met with Victoria and Amelia in early 2009 to kick start moving forward. At that point they were pricing out doing partial signatures or sections with full color, but I still didn’t know if the book would be mostly two color with some full color, or how it would all work. I started on the drawings again, and it was a luxury to be able to come back to something.

At some point, the project took on a life of its own. What started as a smattering of journal-like doodles evolved into something more. I began drawing the main characters in the book, deciding what they would look like. I combed the text for descriptive details as Chronicle didn’t want the art to contradict what was written, but fortunately (for me) there wasn’t a lot. Noonie also has an active imaginary life and conversations with her favorite famous artists. I went the portrait route initially, but we decided kids wouldn’t necessarily know what these artists looked like. I decided to draw them as brushes, while giving them defining characteristics.

I must have been told at some point that the writer, Lisa Railsback, was a playwright, but while I was working on the book I had completely forgotten this. It wasn’t until I had turned the project in and googled the writer’s name that I discovered that in its original incarnation, “Noonie’s Masterpiece” had been written and performed as a play. Even though there wasn’t much visual reference online, I’m glad in retrospect that I hadn’t known this. When I was little, I loved making up whole towns and drawing the people that populated them, giving them jobs, identities and so on. I loved doing that as a kid, and “Noonie” was a bit like that. Getting to create a whole little world from scratch.

It seems like you worked in a variety of mediums for these illustrations. Can you tell us a little about your process of creating the artwork? Were there sketches first?
Because the book is written in first person, in Noonie’s voice, I began drawing as though I was Noonie (channeling my inner Noonie, as it were). The sketches were to be the final drawings. It was great to work this way, to keep the freshness of drawings–they were either used or not. The deadline for artwork was the end of August 09 and the final decision to use color throughout the entire book wasn’t made until June. I wanted (and Chronicle wanted this too) to be able to use the drawings that had already been placed into the layout by Amelia, but find a way to add color to them. The book is 200+ pages and I still had a lot to do. That really defined the process. At first I thought I would only use color on some of the pages, but once color became an option, it changed everything. In my personal artwork, I cut up my paintings and reconfigure them and have lots of elements lying about in the studio. These turn up throughout the book. Original drawings, collage elements and paintings were all scanned and composed in photoshop with an eye to the text (which I could use as a layer for reference). Creating the final artwork this way allowed it to always be a surprise because ideas occur in that process that I could explore. There was a lot of tweaking back and forth with Amelia. I’d upload the artwork and couldn’t wait to see the layouts she would send back in return.

You’ve illustrated a couple other books. How was the Noonie experience different from those?
Working on “Noonie” was different than anything I’ve ever worked on. Partly this was because of the length of time I worked on it– coming back to the project after a hiatus and being able to approach it with fresh eyes, and partly because it was long, so there were lots of drawings to do. It also has (for me, and I hope for the reader) an emotional component that builds within the story. When I finished this book, it took awhile before I could remember who I was when I wasn’t working on Noonie! I had to undergo a “de-noonification” process.

You’ve had such a prolific career. Your illustrations and designs can be found everywhere: on bags and in galleries, in books and on stationery. What have you not done yet that would be a dream project for you?
And this coming from the woman whose work could cover the Empire State Building! As for my images being seen, I have my agents at Lilla Rogers Studio to thank for that! My dream project would be to continue doing what I love and be a creative person in this world. There are many things I think about doing but I don’t plan much ahead. The problem is almost never a vacuum, the issue is almost always that there’s only so much time. Sometimes we challenge ourselves directly, but the best challenges can also sneak up in unexpected ways because we remain open to them. That keeps things interesting.

Thanks so much to Sarajo! I think she’s done an amazing job bringing this story to life and I look forward to what big projects are next up for her. Get this book here

Can you tell us about your Obsessive Consumption project and how it began?

I came to graduate school with a small amount of credit card debt (prior to school I worked as a graphic designer where I first started my fascination with branding and consumerism and why we buy what we buy) and while I was in graduate school I basically paid my rent, bills and utilities with my teaching assistantship and then lived off of my credit cards. I did this for over three years. Pretty stupid. During this time, I started the brand/project Obsessive Consumption to catalog all of my daily purchases and I would make work inspired from these daily purchases. So I was photographing all of my STUFF and I have the tangible evidence that debt came from magazines, lots of coffee and baked goods, too much vintage and thrift store clothing and merchandise, going to concerts, cheap beer, lots of eating out and lots of money put forth towards art supplies.

At the end of graduate school the total of my debt was eating at me and I was super secretive about it. Ironic, right? Here I am making work about the stuff that I buy and I was too ashamed to talk about it. Too much guilt. I revealed my debt to my friend Ian who was super good with money and as he was looking at my credit card statements he was like – “where are your jewels? your sports car? you don’t have ANYTHING of value to have debt like this!”

And he was right. All of that debt (at that point $20,000) was comprised of little things. It was easy to add another magazine to the pile of magazine when you have resigned mentally that you will just “pay it off later once you get a REAL job.”

so dumb and so easy to do (at least it was for me, unfortunately).

So I started to draw my credit card statements and then in 2006 I started drawing something that I purchased everyday and cataloged the drawings into monthly zines.

You’ve been drawing your purchases for a long time. While looking back through all your old drawings for the book, did you notice any differences between early drawings and later ones? Have the drawings gotten more or less detailed or evolved in any other way over time?

They evolved in a few different ways. First, my style has tightened up quite a bit. I redrew most of the drawings from 2006 and 2007 for the book to match the more refined style that emerged towards the end of 2007/early 2008. The first few years shows a much looser style and a thinner line. I also switched pens around 2008 and started drawing on better paper in 2007. The drawings have always been executed in black pen on white paper, but slight changes make a big deal.

Why did you choose to work with Princeton Architectural Press? How involved were you with the design and production of the book? Can you tell us a little bit about the process of putting it together?

I worked with Princeton when I created the illustrations for Handmade Nation. I really enjoyed working with them and once Handmade Nation wrapped I was asked to submit a proposal for my own book. I sent them a package filled with all of my zines and then a proposal showing different ways my drawings could be represented (color etc). The design process was extremely fun and easy. I had plenty of input and really enjoyed working with the designers and editors. Princeton is a wonderful company.

Is the book curated or is this every one of your drawings? How is the book arranged?

The book has 650 illustrations represented from three years worth of drawings. They were curated a bit. We picked drawings that best told a story and that were also indicative of time passing (ie: holidays, seasons etc). The book is chronological starting on Feb. 5th, 2006 and ending Feb. 5th, 2009. I am still making daily drawings, so I have plenty that have only been published in zine form.

I feel like I know you personally from seeing all the things you now own. Do you ever feel embarrassed by some of your purchases? How many things don’t get drawn? And what is the most embarrassing thing you ever included in your project?

Luckily, I don’t get embarrassed that easily. Also, I don’t think I have ever drawn anything that embarrassing. Me = Boring. Most of my purchase items are pretty mundane. Give me a good receipt and I will be super excited to draw it. I draw one object a day, so a lot of items get edited. When I was photographing ALL of my purchases I didn’t have that luxury of editing. However, even then, I still purchased boring goods.

Most embarrassing drawing for this year was the five dollars that I spent to fail my driver’s test.

When will your obsession end? Is this a life commitment? I know you mentioned that once you paid off all your credit card bills you would stop-is that really true? There will always be bills to pay…

I am out of debt as of two months ago, so the credit card drawings have stopped.
However, I don’t think that I will really change the way that I work too much…the documentation may stop, but it will probably evolve into another project. There is so much rich material in consumer culture. So many emotions. Humor, guilt, sadness…so much more to explore.

Congratulations to Kate for being out of debt! and of course for her awesome book which you should all make your own daily purchase today right here.

Tell us a little about your background in art.

Ever since I was a kid I’ve loved painting and drawing. I studied animation at the Rhode Island School of Design. While I was there I made a short animated film called ‘Call of the Wild‘ about animals in houses connected by a phone line. After I graduated, it screened in film festivals around the world and inadvertently helped get me my first illustration job.

I grew up loving picture books and I worked at an independent children’s bookstore in high school and college. So my picture book appreciation goes way back. I like sequential art, and when I first sketch a story I usually visualize each action from various angles or in several stages. For me, making picture books feels like a good combination of what I enjoy from both animation and painting.

Where did you get the idea for The Secret Plan?