Episode 33: Have you ever lost your art? -with LeUyen Pham
Welcome to another episode! LeUyen Pham answers this kid question, “Have you ever lost your art?”
TRANSCRIPTS:
Grace Lin: Hello, I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books, including the middle grade novel, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, and the picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star. Today, I'm here with LeUyen Pham, author and illustrator of many books, including The Itchy Book!, and as well, she's the illustrator of Princess in Black Series, written by Shannon and Dean Hale, as well as the illustrator of the Caldecott Honor book, Bear Came Along, written by Richard T. Morris. Hi, LeUyen!
LeUyen Pham: Hi, Grace. How are you?
Grace Lin: Good. I'm so glad you're here today.
LeUyen Pham: I know. I'm actually really happy to be on. I feel like I've always wanted to be on your podcast, and now it's my turn.
Grace Lin: Yay! Well, okay, then you must be ready for today's question. Are you ready?
LeUyen Pham: I'm ready.
Grace Lin: Okay. Today's question is from a person named Bella and she asks-
Bella: Have you ever lost your art?
Grace Lin: What happens if you lose your art?
LeUyen Pham: So I have lost my art lots, and lots, and lots of times. In fact, I think I am terrible at keeping track of where my art is. I'm not very precious when it comes to my artwork, and I have no problems giving stuff away, I have no problems leaving stuff behind. I've read stories about famous artists who've had their houses burned down or their studios, and they lose all their artwork and everyone says, "Oh, that sounds horrible, it sounds tragic," and to me, I just keep thinking, well, just make more. So honestly, I have no problems about losing my art. I usually give stuff away for free anyway. And if you see me in bookstores and at book signings, I am one of those ridiculous artists that will sit there and for hours, and hours, and hours and I will draw everybody in line, because I am just not at all precious about art.
LeUyen Pham: The good thing about art is that it's coming from inside, and inside your head, and it continues to go, no matter what. And I just have so much more to give that even if I were to lose all my art today, even if someone were to come and steal everything, or I just gave everything away, I'm not sure I would really miss it, because once it's done, it's done, and I don't really need it anymore. So if someone else can get some happiness out of it, they're welcome to it. They're more than welcome to it, so that's my answer.
Grace Lin: Aw, that's so beautiful. So it's really the process of making it that you love, not so much the finished product.
LeUyen Pham: Yeah. It's also the process that kills me though, too. I don't know about you, but just whenever I start a book, it absolutely is the hardest, hardest thing for me to get going, and then once I'm in the groove, I like what I'm doing, but in the very, very beginning, it just kills me. So I love it and I hate it, but that's kind of the life of the artist, right?
Grace Lin: That's so interesting. Well, I mean, you are a much faster artist than me. And so, I guess for me, I think I'm a bit more precious with my art than you, because it just takes me so long to do a page.
LeUyen Pham: Really? How long does it take you a piece?
Grace Lin: Yeah. It takes me at least one week to do a spread. I know I was talking to other artists who's like, "Oh, I do a spread, which is two pages in books." So when you open a book, there's both sides of the book, and we call that a spread, and it takes me at least one week to paint one spread. So two pages of a book, and I know many artists, it usually takes maybe one day.
LeUyen Pham: No, I don't think that's very common.
Grace Lin: How long does it take you?
LeUyen Pham: I've done... Let's see, I can go very, very fast, and I can also go very slow. There was a book I did, The Twelve Days of Christmas, it took a lot of research to do it. Each of the spreads were really heavily detailed illustrations of maidens from around the world, and birds from around the world, and drummers from around the world, and they took a lot of energy. And so, I would say each spread probably took about two weeks for each spread.
Grace Lin: Oh, that's great.
LeUyen Pham: But yeah.
Grace Lin: That makes me feel better, because when I said one week, that's actually my fastest time is a week. There's many spreads that have taken me like a month.
LeUyen Pham: Yeah, no, no, I think that more the norm, but it's funny for me, those spreads, well, I think a lot of people like the way they look afterwards and people are impressed when they see them on the walls, they're the ones that I like the least of my work, because all I see when I look at it is the labor that went into doing it, and I don't see the fun that went into it. So the ones that I really enjoy are the ones that I managed to do somewhat quickly, or the sort of unexpected, or it was in a style that may be a little faster, but it's just kind of, there's a freshness to it.
LeUyen Pham: I think a good example of that would be, there was a book I illustrated a while back called The Boy Who Loved Math, and it's about a Hungarian mathematician, it's a true story. It's a great story about how prolific this guy was. His name was Paul Erdős, and all the spreads had to be sort of mathematically based, and I had so much fun rationalizing what the math would be behind the art, that when I look at those spreads, the paintings themselves didn't take very long, but the math, the reasoning behind, was really complicated. I ended up consulting with some of the world's top mathematicians to make sure that my math was correct on those.
Grace Lin: Oh, wow.
LeUyen Pham: So when I look at those... Yeah, I actually have an Erdős number myself. An Erdős number is something that's granted to mathematicians. Someone who wrote a paper with Paul Erdős, a math paper with Paul Erdős, has an Erdős number of one, and then someone who wrote a paper with someone who wrote a paper with Paul Erdős, has an Erdős number of two, and so on, and so forth. So every great mathematician in the world has an Erdős number of usually less than three.
LeUyen Pham: I have an Erdős number of 1.5, because I worked with so many of the mathematicians who knew Paul Erdős, that all together, there were about seven of them in this group, and they got together and voted saying, "Well, you didn't directly work with Paul, but because you worked with all of us and illustrated a picture book, which is technically a printed published paper, that counts as that counts as a paper in math," and so therefore, they gave me a 1.5. And what's funny, is that it's something that mathematicians are struggling to get still, because he completed all these unfinished papers, and if these mathematicians managed to finish those papers with him, then they give Erdős number of one. So a lot of mathematicians got really angry at me for getting the 1.5, because it's so impossible to get.
Grace Lin: Wow. That's so cool.
LeUyen Pham: Thank you. I'm impressed by myself sometimes.
Grace Lin: Well, it's so funny, you were saying how you look at all the work and labor you do in a piece, and it kind of makes you not like it, but I have the opposite feeling. I look at the work or labor, like if I have a piece that I've worked a long time on, it actually gives me a really a nice feeling, I guess because to me, when I'm working on art, it's such a zen feeling. It feels so calm and relaxing, and I look at that and I'm like, "I remember doing all those," like the little designs and stuff, it just gives me this really nice, calm feeling. So it's so interesting how every artist has their own different take on the work that they do.
LeUyen Pham: Yeah, it's funny, because I feel that way when I look at other people's art, like your Caldecott winner, I loved your book, and I was always looking at the images in it, and it made me feel sort of connected to you, in some sort of strange way. I mean, and it's true, and really good books kind of do that. Either they remind you who the artist is if you know them, or they take you to a completely different place. But I don't get that necessarily with my own books. Sometimes when I look at something, all I can think is, "Oh my gosh, that was three o'clock in the morning," or "Oh, I was breastfeeding at that time, and I was so tired." Those are the memories that I have.
Grace Lin: That's so funny. Well, I want to assure you, that I'm sure everybody who looks at your books have a wonderful feeling, even if you don't. So thanks so much LeUyen, for answering the question, and thank you so much, Bella, for asking it. What a great question.
LeUyen Pham: Yeah. It was a good question, although I did think when Grace first said it, that she meant what would happen if you lost your arm, and I have a really good answer for that, but I guess we'll have to do that for another podcast.
Grace Lin: That seems really macabre. Okay. Maybe we'll do that next time. All right, thanks again. Bye.
LeUyen Pham: Thanks, Grace. Bye.
Today’s BOOK REVIEW is from Gretchen. She is reviewing The Unicorn Quest by Kamilla Benko.
Hello. My name is Gretchen and the book that I would like to talk about is the Unicorn Quest by Kamilla Benko. This book is about two sisters, Sophie and Claire. When they move into great aunt's house, they discover a ladder in the fireplace. When they climb it, they are transported into a different land full of castles, magic, and strange creatures. But this world is in trouble. The four magical guilds are on the brink of war, and the unicorns have disappeared completely. It will take all of Claire's courage to save her sister and bring back the unicorns and fulfill her own destiny. I like this book because of the magical world that it talks about and how two sisters can save the day.
Thank you so much Gretchen!
More about today’s authors:
LeUyen Pham has illustrated more than fifty books, including board books, picture books, chapter books, and graphic novels. Her work has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles Bronze Medal in the Children’s Book category, and Best Books of the Year lists in publications such as Kirkus Reviews, Horn Book Magazine, and Comic Book Resources. She is also a New York Times bestseller for Grace for President, written by Kelly DiPucchio; Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully, written by Julianne Moore; and Princess in Black, written by Shannon and Dean Hale. Born in Vietnam, LeUyen came to the United States at the end of the Vietnam War when she was only two. She studied illustration at The Art Center College of Design, and for a short period of time worked at DreamWorks Animation as a layout artist before turning to illustration full time. She lives with her husband (who is also an artist) and two sons in Los Angeles.
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.
