I pay very little attention to the number of drawings at this stage. The most important thing is that I tell the story from beginning to end, or at least that I get all my ideas down into a cohesive narrative. This will all be edited at the next stage – dummying up. At this point I begin crafting the images into the picture book format.
After much consultation and discussion, with my editor and art director guiding me to seek out the very best way of telling the story, I set about creating the artwork. Whilst some elements of the illustrations are scanned from hand-drawn ink on paper, the final output of the work is always digital. It creates so much flexibility in terms of editing and is no compromise on the final artwork – used well, the computer is just another tool.
I tend to refer to my illustrations in filmic terms. I make shots wider, lower camera angles, think of endpapers as the opening and closing credit sequences. It reveals a lot about my approach and storytelling style, which stems from a more cinematic root. I worked as an animation director in commercials for several years. It was always great to see my vision moving on the screen, but I’d never really pictured myself working in advertising. All I really wanted to do was to create characters and tell stories. When The Storm Whale, my first author-illustrator picture book, was slated for publication, I took it as a cue to change course and haven’t looked back. Now I get to make those films, but they’re made from paper and ink and glue.
Grandad’s Island, Simon and Schuster, 978-1-4711-1995-8, £6.99 pbk The Storm Whale, Simon & Schuster, 978-1-4711-1568-4, £5.00 pbk
I Saw Three Ships I sailed to Britain in the Winter of ’46, having come from Poland,
via Vienna, Bavaria, Rome and finally Calais, where we were herded in a storm onto a beat-up old channel ferry.
We raised anchor and all the passengers were violently sick, except my mother and myself. Regardless of the storm, she insisted we go up on deck, slipping on the vomity stairs to get there, and then remained, soaked and shivering, on a coil of icy rope until the White Cliffs of Dover hove into sight.
JAN PIENKOWSKI IBBY UK Christmas Card 2015
Jan Pieńkowski has produced a stunning and timely design for this year’s card. Entitled I Saw Three Ships, his illustration marries the traditional carol with Jan’s own experience as a refugee coming to the UK after the Second World War.
This card plus those from previous years by artists including Michael Foreman, Shirley Hughes, Jackie Morris, Jane Ray and Axel Scheffler, are
available at £6 per pack of ten (incl. p&p) online at
www.ibby.org.uk/shop . IBBY is a non-profit organisation which bring children and books together and IBBY UK is a Registered Charity.
A R D O N B O O K uk S F Books for Keeps No.215 November 2015 7
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