Episode #82: How do you draw your characters and why? -with Vashti Harrison
Welcome back! We have a wonderful kid question that Grace Lin and Vashti Harrison will be answering today: How do you draw your characters and why?
TRASNCRIPTS:
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 Vashti Harrison, the author and illustrator of Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History and the illustrator of the picture books Sulwe and Hair Love.
Grace Lin: Hi, Vashti.
Vashti Harrison: Hi, Grace. How's it going?
Grace Lin: Good. Thanks so much for being here today.
Vashti Harrison: Thanks for having me.
Grace Lin: Are you ready for today's question?
Vashti Harrison: I am. I'm ready.
Grace Lin: Okay. Today's question is from a young person named Anoura and the question is...
Anoura: How do you draw your characters and why?
Grace Lin: How do you draw your characters and why?
Vashti Harrison: That's a really good question. Thank you, Anoura, for that question. I draw my characters all in different ways. If you're familiar with my books, you'll kind of notice that they all are a little bit different. So, the Little Leaders look different from the character Sulwe, which looks different from the character in Hair Love. And I think when I start my drawings, I usually just try to break up complicated things into simple shapes that I'm familiar with. So, almost all of my characters start off with just a circle and a couple of lines. And honestly, when I'm doing my sketches, it's stick figures here and there.
Vashti Harrison: So, I usually just start out small and simple and kind of work my way into more complicated shapes. And I do that because sometimes it can be a little bit challenging to tackle a big scene with a lot going on. So, I really just try to focus on who's my main character and what's happening and try to kind of map out where the movements can happen on the page and kind of make it, hopefully, exciting enough that you're going to want to turn the page and find out what happens next. So, I hope that helps.
Grace Lin: Do you approach it differently for a book that you author and illustrate versus one that you are illustrating somebody else's story?
Vashti Harrison: I think, once I get down to drawing, it's all kind of similar. I think the difference is when it's a story that I've made up on my own, I'm a little bit more intimidated because I have these big ideas in my head and I don't know exactly how to put them on the page. But once I get started, I will have done a lot of research and looked at a lot of reference. So, I end up kind of treating them all the same.
Vashti Harrison: Little Leaders is a little different, Little Leaders, Little Dreamers and Little Legends. In those cases, I'm using this kind of kid character that I've created and kind of dressing them up as these famous people. So in those cases, what I'm doing is doing all of the research for each one of those people, taking notes about what they look like and what they wore, what kind of iconic outfits, and then I start working on different costumes to put them in. So, that's a little bit different, but I do try to kind of approach everything the same way by doing my research and studying how the story's going to go, so then I know exactly what I'm going to put on the page.
Grace Lin: That's really interesting. I know, for me, when I illustrate, so much is decided by the story. And since most of the time I write my own stories, usually it's, I already have a good idea of what I want the character to look like. So, that's why a lot of my characters look the same because it's usually based on me or my daughter or something like that, somebody I already know. So, my characters are always based on the story and how it fits into the story and how I've envisioned it that way. So, for me, that's why I was asking if it was different when you illustrate somebody else's story, because I think it is different for me, how I envision a character when somebody else has written it. So, I approach it just a little bit differently, maybe because when I write my own story, it's kind of like the character's already formed, but when it's somebody else's story, I kind of have to do a step back and think, "Hmm. Who could it be? I wonder what this character's like."
Vashti Harrison: Yeah, that's a good point. But I actually haven't illustrated any of my own picture books yet. So, it's a new challenge that I will be tackling soon.
Grace Lin: Little Leaders is, I guess, it's technically not exactly a picture book.
Vashti Harrison: Yeah. It's a highly-illustrated, technically middle-grade. Each of the pages follow the same pattern. So the character's in the middle of the page and the backgrounds and the costumes change. So, there's a lot of formula, a lot of that's already decided early on. I made up a lot of those decisions when I created the first book. So, I get to have a lot of fun with working on the hair and the costumes, which I end up really loving anyways. I love working on creating those textures and trying to make it really feel like that person without using their face or moving them around.
Grace Lin: Aw, that's awesome. Well, thank you so much, Vashti, for answering today's question and thank you, Anoura, for asking your question. Bye.
Today’s BOOK REVIEW comes from Elaine. She is reviewing, Book Uncle and Me by Uma Krishnaswami and illustrated by Julianna Swaney.
My name is Elaine and the book I want to review is Book Uncle And Me, written by Uma Krishnaswami, and illustrated by Julianna Swaney. This book is about a nine year old girl named Yasmin who lives in India. She loves books and every day she goes to get a new book from Book Uncle’s lending library on the corner of the street. One day, Book Uncle gives her an old Indian story about doves that get trapped in a hunter’s net. At first, she thinks it is too short and is not for her. But once she reads it, it takes her awhile to understand what the story means. Later Yasmin learns that Book Uncle is closing his library because someone was complaining about it, and he got a notice to pay a permit to keep going. But he can’t afford to pay it. So Yasmin and her best friends need to do something to help Book Uncle keep his library. When she figures out what the story about the doves means she uses the idea to help Book Uncle keep his library.
I like this book because Yasmin and her best friends are brave and nothing stops them from doing what they’re doing. And I like that when there’s a problem Yasmin gets her friends, family, and community to help her. Whenever there’s a problem that’s what I do. I ask my parents, my little sister Agatha, and my friends for help.
Thank you so much Elaine!
More about today’s authors:
Part author - Illustrator - filmmaker Vashti Harrison is an artist originally from Onley, Virginia. She has a background in cinematography and screenwriting and a love for storytelling. She earned her BA from the University of Virginia with a double major in Media Studies and Studio Art with concentrations in Film and Cinematography. She received her MFA in Film and Video from CalArts where she rekindled a love for drawing and painting. Now, utilizing both skill sets, she is passionate about crafting beautiful stories in both the film and kidlit worlds. Her Experimental films and videos focus on her Caribbean Heritage and folklore. They have shown around the world at film festivals and venues including the New York Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival.
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.
