Episode #172: How do you add so many details in your pictures? -with Phoebe Wahl
Welcome back to Kids Ask Authors!
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 Phoebe Wahl, the author and illustrator of the picture book The Blue House, as well as Sonya's Chickens. Hi, Phoebe.
Phoebe Wahl: Hi.
Grace Lin: Are you ready for today's question?
Phoebe Wahl: I am.
Grace Lin: All right. Today's question is from a person named Janice, and they ask, "How do you add so many details in your pictures?"
Phoebe Wahl: All right. It takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of time, and sometimes I just want to tear my hair out and be like, "Why did I make myself add so many details?" But it's also really the fun part, I think. So in terms of technical stuff, I sometimes use a really teeny tiny brush, and I also make a lot of my details using cut paper and collage by cutting lots of little shapes out with an X-ACTO knife. It's called a number 11 X-ACTO knife. So I paint, I draw, and I cut and collage a lot of my teeny little details, and that's how I do it.
Grace Lin: How do you get the ideas to put all those details in?
Phoebe Wahl: I think for me, that's really the fun part of building a story, and building a world is fleshing out all of those little things. So I often like to think to myself, in my most recent book, The Blue House, what would these characters listen to? What music would they listen to? And I got to make up little joke record names for all the records based on real bands that my characters listen to, what kind of art would they have on the walls, what kind of books would they have on their shelves? And sometimes I'm even thinking about details that you can't see in the picture, but that helped me just paint a really clear picture in my head, like, "What does this house smell like?" Or, "What does this blanket feel like to physically touch?" So I think it really just takes putting a lot of thought and imagination into your images and going over in your head, what would all these little elements feel like, smell like, and look like, and what feels important to include to express more about this space and who my characters are?
Grace Lin: I agree. I actually... Because I put a lot of details in my work too, and I agree. I think putting all the details is the fun part. That's the part I live for. Like, "Oh, I'm going to put a little details in." Because it's so much fun. That's where it becomes a world versus just a picture.
Phoebe Wahl: Yes, totally.
Grace Lin: But it is just a lot of sitting and painting. There's no magic. No magic. It's just, you're sitting and you're painting, or you're just putting things on the paper. It's not like you can just throw a little detail dust over everything and it's there.
Phoebe Wahl: Totally. Sometimes I'm totally in the flow, and it's an amazing experience and so much fun. Sometimes I'm just cursing myself for, "Why did I decide to cut out of tiny paper every stamen in this flower on the hat of this fairy that's one inch tall?"
Grace Lin: What's hard is that for me, I'll do the first painting, and I'll be so detailed because I'm so excited, and then all of a sudden I'll get to the 10th painting. I'm like, "Oh, do I really need to make it that detailed?" And the thing is, you do, because otherwise it doesn't look like it's from the same book. So it's always beautiful the first couple paintings, but when you get to the last couple, you're like, "Wait, maybe next time I'll just do simple flat shapes."
Phoebe Wahl: Yep. Yeah. That's the point at which I'm like, "Oh yeah, this is my job." This isn't just a thing I love doing. It's also my job, and sometimes I just have to push on through.
Grace Lin: Exactly. But I do think it's the details that make the books even more special.
Phoebe Wahl: I agree. Yes.
Grace Lin: Thank you so much, Phoebe, and thank you, Janice, for asking your great question.
Phoebe Wahl: Thank you.
More about today’s authors:
Phoebe Wahl is an award-winning children’s book author, illustrator, and surface designer whose work focuses on themes of comfort, fantasy, and intimacy with nature and one another. She grew up unschooled in Washington state and credits her free-range childhood in the Northwest for much of her inspiration and values. Phoebe's first children’s book, Sonya’s Chickens was the recipient of the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award for New Illustrator, and her most recent book, Little Witch Hazel was an Indie Bestseller, Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Title, as well as being named one of the Best Books of 2021 by BookPage, BookRiot, Booklist and the Chicago Public Library. Her other titles include The Blue House, Backyard Fairies, Paper Mice (written by Megan Wagner-Lloyd) and the illustrated YA novel Phoebe’s Diary (Little, Brown 2023). Her clients include The New York Times, Maisonette, Figo Fabrics, Ingrid Michaelson, Patagonia, and Anna Sui. Phoebe lives in Bellingham, Washington with her family and two rambunctious cats.
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.
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