why people draw: deborah freedman

Hello again!

Boy! This has probably been the longest that I’ve been away from the Hamster Wheel Blog since I started writing it earlier this year. I’m happy to report that Thom and I had a wonderful vacation—one of those where we actually got to rest, and in which our biggest concern was having dinner so that we could head on over to catch the beautiful sunsets on the beach.  Another sign of a great vacation is not wanting to leave…we sure didn’t! I have a few things that are drawing-related from our vacation that I’m thinking of posting on Friday, so stay tuned.

But first things first…today marks another “why people draw” interview day, and I am so, so happy to introduce to you children’s book illustrator Deborah Freedman. This past week has been a huge deal for Debbie because her new illustrated storybook Blue Chicken (Viking, 2011) was released just last Thursday, September 15! It’s a beautifully done book, where you can see that Debbie approached every single illustration with incredible attention to detail. And because I love the color blue, especially a watery blue, Blue Chicken sure satisfies that! I also love the little Chicken who creates the blue mess—there’s both a mix of innocence and mischief in that little feathered creature!

I met Debbie a little over a year ago while I was still at the Museum and she agreed to teach one of the summer courses for the 4 to 6-year olds focused on drawing, and based on her first book Scribble (Knopf, 2007). A few months later, she and I got together just to chat, which was great! Debbie is super easy to talk with, and as someone who would love to write and illustrate books myself, I truly enjoy learning about how she does what she does. This interview was done over email just recently, and Debbie was kind enough to take the time for it even with Blue Chicken craziness in her life! Thank you Debbie for that!

DEBORAH FREEDMAN (tah-dah!)

So here she is (drum, drum, drum) author and illustrator Deborah Freedman in her own words, scribbles and chicken spills! Thanks again Debbie!

HW: What’s your earliest memory of drawing (or of being able to draw)?

DF: I remember drawing in preschool, making picture after picture of girls with hair that had a little flip at the end, like my mom wore in the 60’s. Funny obsession! My memory of those pictures inspired the character of Princess Aurora in my first book, Scribble.

spread from SCRIBBLE: “And so she followed, through acres of one color...into another, which was the color of EMMA'S PICTURE.” Pencil, watercolor, magic marker, digital color (courtesy deborah freedman)

HW: What does being able to draw mean to you?

DF: Drawing for me is another way of asking questions that I don’t have to answer.

“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," pen and ink (courtesy deborah freedman)

HW: Your background is in art history and architecture; in what ways do these areas of experience/knowledge make their way into your writing and illustrating?

DF: Studying each gave me vast respect for historical precedent, for context. When I begin a new book, the first thing I do is research comparable titles and read as much as I can. I want to know: has this been done before? Of course, usually in some way, it has! So how did other authors and illustrators execute similar ideas, what can I learn from them, and might my book offer a new take on familiar themes?

Aside from that, you’ve probably guessed that I have an archive of art and architectural history stored in my brain that informs what I do. I studied some graphic design in college as well, so between that and architecture, I have a fairly extensive education in and respect for design—and to my mind, creating a book is a complex design problem, not unlike making a building. Only my site is forty pages between two covers, my context is each reader’s literary memory.

from “Dora’s House”, pen and ink, watercolor (courtesy deborah freedman)

HW: When you work on your children’s books, do you write first, draw later? Or draw first, write later? Could you describe your creative process?

DF: I usually begin by lying in bed and thinking, or staring out of a window and thinking… but almost always thinking in both words and pictures. So I begin by “writing” with both, filling sketchbooks with snippets of text and doodles. Once I feel ready, or just finally overcome inertia, I sketch a book out in thumbnail, storyboard form so that I can see the entire book at once. For me, the book has to work visually at that tiny scale before I can move on; I will also pull the text out at some point and work on that by itself. There’s a constant back and forth between drawing and writing, with more and more finesse each time I revise.

from “Dora’s House”, pen and ink, children’s drawings, watercolor (courtesy deborah freedman)

HW: What aspects of creating children’s books do you find are what keep you wanting to develop more new ideas?

DF: I love my audience, connecting with them and knowing that picture books will become part of their growing-up memories—whether they remember a few words, an image, a bit of story, or simply remember the intimacy of being read to—so there’s that passionate belief that what I do might, in the context of other books, be important. I take my readers seriously, take their concerns seriously, but also love that they are open to all sorts of play; I can build a crazy world and they will enter like it’s any other new place they’ve ever visited! And what’s also great is that they pull adults along into that world with them.

spread from BLUE CHICKEN: “No more BLUE! Except for the sky…”, pencil & watercolor, with an assist from Photoshop (courtesy deborah freedman)

HW: Who are current illustrators whose work you enjoy? Why? (2, 3 or more…I realize sometimes it’s hard to narrow that list down)

DF: Ugh, I hate this question, so I’ve decided to give a different answer every time it’s asked! For today, here are a few of the many European born illustrators I love: Kveta Pacovská, Lisbeth Zwerger, Henrik Drescher.

HW: If you could write a recipe for your artwork, what would the ingredient list read like?

DF:
A green (or at least a greenish) place to walk.
And then a comfy place to sit.
With one window to stare out of.
A sketchbook to doodle in.
Silence.

debbie's studio (photo courtesy deborah freedman)

HW: What gets your Hamster Wheel running? (what gets you itching to draw or create?)

DF: My primary inspiration for Scribble was visual (my children’s artwork), and William Carlos Williams’s The Red Wheelbarrow is what sparked Blue Chicken. So looking at art, or reading—any delicious use of images or words…!

Debbie, I love that the idea for Blue Chicken was the The Red Wheelbarrow. I just looked up the poem, and love the connection. I also can’t help but see your white Chicken as part of the poem at the end! Congratulations on the book release and the great reviews you have been receiving! I look forward to chatting again soon, and to your future projects!

Website:

Deborah Freedman’s website

Blog:

Deborah Freedman’s Blog

Books:

Scribble, written and illustrated by Deborah Freedman
Blue Chicken, written and illustrated by Deborah Freedman

Other links:

Debbie on Facebook
Debbie on Twitter
Debbie on goodreads
Debbie at Write Up Our Alley
Debbie’s Author Page on Amazon.com
New England SCBWI Connections–Speakers Directory
Society of Illustrators: 2011 Original Art Exhibition (October 26 to December 29, 2011)

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