Interviews with Comic Book Creators and Picture Book Authors
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Posted by Michael Jung Jul 15, 2009 |
Check out these interviews with picture book author/illustrators and comic book creators that give you the inside story on the path they took to become artists, the inspiration behind their books, and their opinions on the current state of children’s literature.
For people who grew up in the 1960s, the music of Peter, Paul & Mary helped define their generation. Now, Peter Yarrow is re-introducing many of the group's famous folk songs -- including "Puff the Magic Dragon" -- to a new generation of kids through beautifully illustrated picture books and CDs featuring new covers of the songs. I got a chance to talk to Peter about his books for kids -- and wound up learning a lot about his work as a social activist and his bullying prevention program as well.
Originally a commercial artist and standup comedian, Chris applied his considerable artistic and storytelling talents to create great picture books like America the Beautiful, Dear Fish, There’s Nothing to Do on Mars, and his most recent release Dinotrux – soon to be made into a 3-D computer animated movie by DreamWorks Animation. Chris was nice enough to answer my questions and let me in on the story behind Dinotrux. Be sure to check out his interview, it’s a good one!
Who says graphic novels can’t be great children’s literature? Certainly not Jimmy Gownley, the writer and artist of the Eisner nominated comic book Amelia Rules! Check out his interview and find out why Comics Buyers Guide is calling Amelia Rules! “A Peanuts for the 21st century.”
Ever dream of creating and publishing your own independent comic books? Ben Glenndening did – and wound up creating several online comic books and self published comics that draw a lot of attention at comic book conventions. See how a lot of hard work and skill helped Ben become a comic book creator by reading his interview.
A self-published author, Elisa created her own picture book, The Wheelchair, to help teach kids about disabilities. What’s especially remarkable about this book is that Elisa’s artist, Kimberly Gewerth Robb, had muscular dystrophy, which impeded her ability to move her arms – yet didn’t stop her from creating all the illustrations for The Wheelchair. Learn more about their partnership in their interview.
One final word: a lot of times, my interviewees gave such great responses to my questions that I wound up splitting the interview into multiple articles – which you can find by clicking on the links at the end of each interview.
Find more author interviews at Children’s Author Interviews and Online Interview with Young Adult Authors.
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