Illustrator Cyd Moore has generously shared her time with us today. She has dozens of books to her credit. Her whimsical style has always been one of my favorites. You can visit her at her web site CydMoore.com.

When did you get started illustrating for children? What did you do before?

I’ve been illustrating children’s books for about 25 years. I’m also a graphic designer and worked in advertising, newspaper, and television.

You have a book planned for 2010 called Arbor Day Square. This book is about the founding of Arbor Day, right? Did you do a lot of research about the time era to get the clothing and environment correct?

I poked around in the 1800′s for weeks! Even with my wacky style, I feel that I should accurately represent the period as much as possible. I had a five inch stack of printouts with trains, store fronts, gingham and calico fabrics, dresses, school houses, toys, mules, wagons. It was fun learning more about those pioneers—they were a tough bunch!  I wonder if folks today could handle such a hard life! Above is a pic of a hard working lady from the 1800′s that was tacked on my board during this job—she was my inspiration for making the deadline! She’s pushing buffalo dung!!! She does not whine about her life—she does not expect someone else to take care of her. She is tough and strong and determined to do whatever it takes to keep her babies warm!!!! I LOVE her!

You work on a series of books for a character called Stinky Face. Can you tell us about that character? Are there more Stinky Face books planned?

Stinky Face all began with I LOVE YOU STINKY FACE, written by Lisa McCourt. I liked that it’s such a sweet story without being sentimental.  The little boy says, ‘Mama, what if I was a super smelly skunk and I smelled so back that everybody called me Stinky Face?’ She bathes him in bubble bath and sprinkles him with powder, but he still smells bad, of course. This is how he came to be known as “Stinky Face!”

I’ve been told by many parents that kids get hooked on Stinky Face and read it every night!  Hundreds of thousands of copies have been sold, so there are a lot of little ones curled up with their moms and dads reading Stinky—this makes me smile! Currently there are 5 versions of Stinky Face, including Halloween and Christmas versions. I’m working on 2 Stinky readers which will be out in July and December 2010. Stinky is growing up—he’s going to kindergarten!

What are you working on right now? Do you have any other books or art projects you’d like to talk about?

Soon, I’ll be working on a sequel for WILLOW for Sleeping Bear Press. The first WILLOW did quite well, winning lots of awards. Check out the cute site: www.willowlovesart.com.

I’m also working on another fun project for Sleeping Bear, but don’t know the title yet. Also a few magazine jobs and doing some graphic design projects.

Do you do non-children’s book art (licensing, fine art, etc.) or art just for fun? Is that art similar or different from your children’s book art?

I’ve done a lot of advertising work—McDonald’s happy meal boxes, Burger King ads, telephone book covers, etc. Also, lots of editorial work for magazines and newspapers. I enjoy painting canvases in oils and acrylics, but I don’t have much time for it. The style is rather whimsical—it’s what I do, I suppose.  Illustrating children’s books takes most of my time for many years now—I usually do 3-4 per year. I’m writing also, and developing my own projects.

Do you illustrate full time? If not, what else do you do?

Yes, full time many years. Now and then a graphic design job comes across my desk, but mostly children’s books. I feel so blessed to have a job that amuses me every single day!

I also do a lot of appearances at schools, libraries, and conferences. Meeting the kids, teachers, and parents who enjoy the books is such a treat. This is one of my favorite things about publishing—sharing my passion for art and reading with kids. The school program is really fun—lots of storytelling, art from when I was a child up to the most recent work on my drawing board. Lately I’ve been doing something a little different—Skype interviews with classrooms! These have been really fun! Just last week I was talking with a third grade class down in Atlanta, and I was sitting at my drawing table here in Michigan!

When you illustrate a picture book how do you decide what scenes and details to draw?

It’s hard to answer this question, because I don’t really ‘decide’ anything. It’s a very intuitive process—not cerebral. There is no ‘how to’ guide, but I can tell you how I eventually get there!

Everything, of course begins with the author’s text. Reading the story, I sketch and doodle any ideas that pop up—even if they are silly or bad! No editing during this phase, no filters, and nothing has to be perfect.  There definitely ARE good ideas and bad ideas, but all of them go down. The good ones keep you moving forward.

I believe this phase is necessary for any creative project. You can think and plan and scheme and fret. But until you actually move the pencil across the paper, or pick up a wad of clay, or paint brush, nothing really happens. Pushing that pencil generates concrete ideas. I spend more time during this phase than I do actually painting the books.

So, I put everything down, move it all about, taking bits and scraps from some and put them with others, and eventually it becomes a book. If I start thinking about it too much, or planning too much, I feel like I’m trudging through deep mud. PLAY is the process…play with the ideas that come—light and free and unattached. Sometimes, I’m amazed at what shows up to the party!

When illustrating picture books do you include a visual storyline not mentioned by the text or include animals or people you know?

An illustrator must follow the author’s story line of course. BUT, I believe good illustrators aren’t simply translating the author’s words. They illuminate the words—making them bigger than they were alone. Picture books don’t have many words, and kids won’t sit still for long descriptive passages. The picture book illustrator’s job is to place the story in a world, building the emotion and action. The art visually inspires little (and big) readers to take this journey for a little while. Alone, the story is the story and the art is the art. But put them together, along with editor and art director input, the book becomes something much bigger than the separate parts. The book is the art form.

Can you imagine GO DOG GO without the dog party in the tree? Or WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE without Max in his wolf suit? ALICE IN WONDERLAND is always ALICE IN WONDERLAND, but a Disney version of ALICE is a completely different world from Barry Moser’s ALICE. And I can’t wait for Tim Burton’s wild ride! The visual impact on any story is extremely powerful.

And yes, my pets and friends show up in books!

Can you explain your art process?

After all of the ideas are worked out for each page, I do a fairly tight pencil sketch of each spread at 100% scale—no color at this point. I make copies of all pages, and put them together as a dummy to send off to the publisher. After all of the sketches are approved, I transfer them to Lanaquarelle 300 lb hot press watercolor paper and paint in watercolor, gouache, and Prismacolor pencil.

Do you have a favorite color or palette?

Not consciously.

What is your favorite medium to work in? Have you always worked in this media? If not, why did you switch?

Always watercolors, gouache, Prismacolor pencils and sometimes ink for commercial jobs. It’s quick process. I LOVE to paint in oils, but I never use it for commercial jobs.

Did you always want to be an artist when you grew up?

I’m lucky that way. I always knew that I would do something in the art field. I was drawn to art therapy for a while when I was in college, but went with graphic design instead. I think children’s books can be very therapeutic!

Do you use models/source pictures or do you draw from your memory/imagination?

It really depends on the book. Most of the time, I’m just drawing out of my head. Many of my books are whimsical and silly, so imagination is the key. I use reference when I need it. The internet has made research so quick and easy. Last week, I had to draw a rainbow, and I swear I can never remember the order of the colors. I realize there is some tricky formula for this, but if I can’t remember the colors, how can I possibly remember the formula? Of course, the older I get, the less I can remember a lot of things!

If you could be anything other than an artist, what would you be?

A landscape architect or a botanist.  I became a Master Gardener last year—the program was so fun!

What gets you through an illustration when you’re stuck for inspiration?

The worst thing, of course, is to sit there and fret over it.  It helps to always be working. Taking time off away from the studio makes you rusty. As long as you’re in the room, experimenting, banging away at ideas, the rust fall away and ideas come more easily. Also, no talking about projects to others. I don’t enjoy brainstorming or sharing thoughts in the beginning. The good energy dissipates. It’s much better for me to put that energy into the project and then share the first sketches with others. Otherwise, I get too cautious, or side tracked trying to fulfill someone else’s vision.

That’s not to say I’m not open to input from editors and art directors. I’m quite excited to receive comments and suggestions after the first sketch stage. I simply mean that it’s better for my process to wait until I’ve put down my own ideas first.

What book do you remember from when you were young?

GO DOG GO and GREEN EGGS AND HAM were 2 of my favorites as a little kid. Later, I loved THE SECRET GARDEN. When my boys were young, we LOVED all things Roald Dahl, but especially The BFG. (The Big Friendly Giant)

Is there a children’s book illustrator whose work you gravitate towards in the bookstore now?

Maurice Sendak and Quentin Blake are always two of my forever faves.

If you could illustrate any writer’s new work, who would it be?

A really famous celebrity who writes well and gets their face on TV screens constantly!!!! No matter how wonderful the author and story, if people don’t buy the book in the first year, the publishers don’t keep it around long these days. Jamie Lee’s stories have made Laura Cornell a very happy illustrator over the years!

TV is so quick, effective and persuasive. I experienced this myself with a book called ALICE AND GRETA. The author appeared on Regis and Cathy Lee and on one of the morning news shows—the Today Show maybe. I had several book signings at that time and SO many people showed up wanting that book. I had other books that were really cute—I LOVE YOU STINKY FACE had just been published. But because folks saw ALICE AND GRETA on TV, that’s the one they wanted! Of course the book has to be good in the long run. Some celebrities have written some rather awful books, and after the big push in the beginning, the books quietly disappear.

Who do you want to be when you ‘grow up’?

Wise.

Thank you for a wonderful interview, Cyd. Have a wonderful holiday!

I received an email from a fan the other day. She was a young artist, 9 years old, according to her message. She asked my advice on how to become a better artist. I’ve thought about it for several days and decided that more than one fledgling artist or illustrator could benefit from my answer to her. So instead of just sending her a reply, I am blogging my advice to her here.

The 5 things to do to improve your skill as an artist:

1. Draw every day.

This is number one because in my mind it is the most important. Drawing is a skill. In order to improve the skill, one needs to practice it every day. Think of musicians and athletes. They practice for hours every day. Even after they have achieved a level of success, they continue to practice. Practice is a life long commitment.

Drawing every day gives the artist time to explore new ideas, work on challenges in perspective, proportion and perception. Drawing everyday strengthens the eye-hand-brain coordination and the pathway from the brain to the hand. Contrary to popular belief, the artist’s talent lies in his or her head. The muscles between the head and the hand need to be stretched continuously in order for the ideas in the artist’s brain to appear on a blank piece of paper.

Drawing can be likened to running. A marathon runner trains a long time before running an actual marathon. It is a rare runner indeed who can decide one morning to run a marathon that afternoon and actually accomplish such a goal. Short distances are covered over a long period of time until the body and muscles are ready to pursue the miles in a marathon. Daily sketching is akin to the training sessions of the runner.

2. Draw from life

Even fantasy artists have to study life to see how things work. Physics work for a reason. A muscle is attached to a bone and joints work in certain ways. The only way an artist can learn these things is to study actual models in action. By studying people, animals and stationary objects in real life, an artist can add to his or her visual data banks. The way light acts in different settings, the way people move and interact, the way trees grow, all of this is necessary knowledge for an artist’s works to be believable. Looking at subjects in 3 dimensions is a huge bonus for all artists working in any kind of representational manner. Yes, some artists only use photographs for their reference, but when beginning a career in the arts, nothing is as good as daily life observation and recording. Photographs just can’t supply all the relevant information since they take the three dimensional and make it two dimensional. This is especially true if an artist is attempting to recreate any kind of foreshortening.

3. Study the masters

The work of master artists you admire is the best teacher you can have. My personal favorites are Michelangelo, D’Vinci, Durer, Mucha, Escher, and Rembrandt. I also have some modern day artist web sites book marked and visit their sites over and over again to study their art. When I am struggling with a new subject I have never attempted before, visiting the web sites of other artists to see how they handle a similar image often jump-starts my creative process and I can get over the hump.

In many art programs, the students are given assignments to study and recreate great works of art. This a wonderful lesson in learning technique and style. Of course, it is meant as a learning tool in developing one’s own unique style and vision. After all, the masters of the past often started out as some one’s apprentice before striking out on their own. Many masterpieces attributed to a Renaissance master are also works contributed to by his apprentices. Modern day comic book artists work in a similar manner. They do the original pencils and then hand off the sketches to inkers and colorists. Walt Disney animations had huge staffs of artists working behind the scenes to create all the cells needed to animate the feature length films.

4. Attend classes by other artists

In my early career, I took many art classes with visiting professional artists. I belonged to many different groups to get access to the workshops provided by artists from all over the country. In fact, I still take art classes every once in a while now. A different artist works in a different manner, with a different palette and a different set of tools. It is a rare class where there isn’t something I can gain from the teaching artist, even if I have been creating art as long as they have.

5. Find your own unique style and perfect it

Whether you are a commercial artist or a fine artists, if you wish to be a professional, people must be able to recognize your work as yours. Think of the list of masters I mentioned above. Even if you are not familiar with all the names, the names you recognized bring up a style of art specific to that particular artist.

This doesn’t mean you can’t change and grow as an artist. Even the masters have different periods of art in their histories. An artistic career can span decades. The work created in the beginning of a career will in all likelihood be very different than the work created in the present. What is consistent throughout each artist’s career is their signature style, their way of handling and perceiving light and subject matter. This signature style marks a work as theirs, even before the signature is affixed.

It’s hard to believe that there is only a couple of weeks left to this calendar year. I will finish out the year with my face studies, but I am beginning to feel a bit bored by them so I will move onto a new theme with the new year. Somehow that seems appropriate.

I have a couple of ideas, but I am always open to suggestions. What would you like to see my lovely readers?

It’s been a hectic few days. Spent most of yesterday driving to and fro. I did what needed to be done, but with so much time spent in the car, I don’t feel as if I accomplished much of anything.

I don’t have a cold. Seems I managed to burn my throat somehow and the ear-ache is a result of the tender nerves in my hurt throat. I just have to wait until it clears up.

The guys are back to pounding in the kitchen again today. Listening to some of the comments they make when they find odd bits in the walls is keeping me amused.

So far we have the prescription medication pills bottle from 1962, a wooden toy soldier circa late 50s?, a bill of lading for a coffin dated 1951 and a half of a play money dollar for “200 Hunky Dory” bucks. Today the conversation is about the railroad spikes used to connect the studs to the support beam they are replacing.

I am doing my best to ignore the hammering and drilling and move forward with the art for my upcoming picture book deadline. I had no idea how much the noise from the other side of the house would distract me. I can’t wait to have my kitchen back up and running and quiet in my studio during working hours again!

I think I now have to run out and get a small space heater. I cannot for the life of me find where I stashed my old one last spring and my fingers are too cold to draw delicate facial features! Maybe this winter will be the one we finally get around to insulating the studio floor!