Graphic intent
There can be a real dynamism in narratives where illustrations help to shape and progress the story being told. These narratives can take many forms, they can be picture books, illustrated fiction, illustrated information books or graphic novels. Danica Novgorodoff is the winner of the 2022 Yoto Kate Greenaway medal for outstanding illustration with her graphic novel adaptation of Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. Here, Jake Hope takes a closer look at the power of graphic novels.
E
VER since Danica could hold a crayon she drew and ever since she could write she’s written stories.
It was in her teens that an epiphany happened. Danica realised that these two forms could converge in the form of comics or graphic novels to create a story.
“In college, I majored in art and painting. I always made very narrative paintings and wrote visually rich stories so putting them together made sense of my aesthetic.”
The opportunity to break into the graphic novel market came through self-publication of several short books, mini comics, and comics. One of these was A Late Freeze. She says: “I did get it professionally printed and I got some support from friends who helped me get that created. I was in my twenties in New York and would ride my bike around asking ‘will you take this book on consignment’ where you give them a book and if they sell it, you go back and collect the money. It’s a real process, but it’s still fun and a lot of people love to go to the comic book festivals and share their work in that way.”
Danica is very drawn to the community element of the art form, saying “it can be really interesting to see what everyone is making when they are making what they want to make rather than what an editor or publisher who are the gatekeepers want, sometimes it can be hard to break through. It’s exciting to see what people create when it’s for their own interest.”
Graphic novels have been nominated for the Kate Greenaway medal many times, but Long Way Down marked only the second time one had won. The first to win was nearly fifty years ago in 1973 when Raymond Briggs, who passed away in August of this year, won with his depiction of a curmudgeonly Father Christmas in his popular title of the same name. This was Briggs’ second Kate Greenaway Medal; he’d won previously in 1966 with The Mother Goose Treasury. Raymond described this second win as a very special honour.
“My father was a milkman who had to work unsociable in all sorts of weather. There’s a clear link between him and Father Christmas, whose grumpy “Happy Bloomin’ Christmas” comes from having what must be the most miserable job on earth.
PEN&INC. 29
Jake Hope (@Jake_Hope) is a freelance development and children’s book consultant, and the current chair of CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group (YLG) and CILIP Carnegie Kate Greenaway Awards Working Party. He is also the author of Seeing Sense Visual literacy as a tool for libraries, learning and reader development.
www.jakehope.org.
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