Episode17:How do you make your art? With Mike Curato

Welcome to episode 17! How do you make your art? Join us with Mike Curato!

TRANSCRIPT:

Grace Lin: Hello, I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books, including the middle grade novel, When the Sea Turned to Silver and the picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star. Today I'm here with Mike Curato, the author and illustrator of Little Elliot, Big City, and the illustrator of What If, written by Samantha Berger. Hello, Mike.

Mike Curato: Hi, Grace.

Grace Lin: Okay. Are you ready for today's question?

Mike Curato: I am so ready.

Grace Lin: All right. Today's question was sent in by a young girl named Alison. She asks-

Alison: How do you make your art?

Grace Lin: What do you use to make your art?

Mike Curato: Ooh, hi Alison. The artwork in Little Elliot is drawing, just pencil and paper, and then I scan it into the computer and I color it with an art program called Photoshop. So all the colors are digital and all the actual drawing is by hand. And then for other books I like to use all sorts of things. For What If, I worked in mixed media, so that means using lots and lots of different things. So there is drawing and digital color like in the other book, but there's photography and painting, different types of painting. There's acrylic and inks, and gouache. So I use all different sorts of things for my books, and I think it's really exciting.

Grace Lin: How do you decide what to use for which books?

Mike Curato: I think it really depends on the book. So for What If, I definitely wanted to use collage because in the book it's a story about creativity, and every time this girl goes to make something, the thing that she uses to create with gets taken away, so she has to use something else. So I thought mixed media would be a great idea to use for that because then she really does get to use lots of different things and we can see it.

Grace Lin: Oh, that's so cool. Well, I work differently than you because you use all different kinds of media, but I use the same thing for all of my books. I am not very... I don't use the computer at all for my work. I just use pencil for the drawing and I use a paint called gouache for the painting. So all the color is by paint, with paint and paint brush. And gouache is kind of a thick watercolor, so it's got these really bright colors. And the tricky thing about gouache, I don't know if you've found this, is that you paint it one color and then it dries another color.

Mike Curato: Yes. It's a little tricky like that. Yes. But I love how it looks in the end.

Grace Lin: Yeah, I do too. That's why I keep using it because the colors are so nice and bright.

Mike Curato: Yeah.

Grace Lin: But anyway, so that's how we make our art, Alison. Thank you for your great question.

Mike Curato: Thanks, Alison, and happy creating.

Grace Lin: Bye.

Mike Curato: Bye.

Grace Lin: Wasn't that great? If you would like to learn more about today's author, please go to our website kidsaskauthors.com for more information. Special thanks to the High Five Books and Art Always Bookstore, and Ms. Carlton's second grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews. Grownups remember, if you know a kid that has a question, a book review, a short story, a poem, or even a joke they would like to share on this podcast, please submit it to kidsaskauthors.com. And if you would like to reach me, you can sign up for my authors newsletter by clicking on the little link icon at the top of the kidsaskauthors.com page, or follow me on Twitter and Instagram, where I use the handle @pacylin. Also, if you enjoy this podcast, please spread the word. Tell your friends and colleagues to listen, and of course please leave a review on iTunes. That really helps me know that you like what we're doing so we can keep doing it. And now we'll close this episode with a kid book review.

Our book review today comes from Maddie! She’s reviewing the Critter Club #7, Liz at Marigold Lake!

. The book I would like to talk about is Critter Club, series seven, Liz at Marigold Lake by Callie Barkley, illustrated by Marsha Riti. The series is about a group of four girls who have their own little animal shelter called the Critter Club. This book is about how Liz invites her friends to a house at Marigold Lake. One of the girls runs away because she thought she stepped on a snake, and another girl tips the boat over, and another girl doesn't want to sleep outside. A lot of stuff goes wrong. This book is particularly good because you always want to find out what happens next when you get to a stopping point. That makes it a really good book. It's suspenseful.

Thanks Maddie!

More about this author:

MIKE loves drawing and writing almost as much as he loves cupcakes and ice cream (and that's a LOT!). He is the author and illustrator of everyone's favorite polka-dotted elephant, Little Elliot. His debut title, Little Elliot, Big City, released in 2014 to critical acclaim, has won several awards, and has been translated into over ten languages. There are now five books in the Little Elliot series, including Little Elliot, Big Family; Little Elliot, Big Fun; Little Elliot, Fall Friends; and Merry Christmas, Little Elliot. Meanwhile, Mike had the pleasure of illustrating What If... by Samantha Berger, All the Way to Havana by Margarita Engle, Worm Loves Worm by J.J. Austrian, and contributed to What's Your Favorite Color? by Eric Carle and Friends and Sunny Day: A Celebration of the Sesame Street Theme Song.

Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook,  instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.

Special thanks to the High Five Books & Art Always Bookstore, Ms. Carleton’s 2nd grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews.