Thanks to The Kids’ Bookshop, I spent an inspiring evening listening to the Andrew Joyner, Gus Gordon, Anna Walker and Jane Godwin talk about the process of creating their latest picture books.
I really enjoy hearing about what sparks an author's ideas, where they like to write or illustrate, the process they follow and any other interesting tidbits of information I can share with readers.
Here are some little pieces of information I gleaned from the evening….
Andrew Joyner – The Pink Hat
The Pink Hat was inspired by the 5 million people in 82 countries who participated in the 2017 Women’s March
This is the first book that Andrew has created entirely on an iPad
Andrew does his thinking by drawing
Andrew once worked in a record shop and has a big collection of vinyl records he likes to listen to as he illustrates in his office space at home
Gus Gordon – The Last Peach
The Last Peach is Gus' first book that is written completely as a dialogue
Gus was playing around drawing bugs to match a possible book title when he drew the two bugs that star in his latest book. A little dialogue between the bugs started in his head and their story was born
Gus chose to use a limited pallet of colours for this book and when collecting green papers for his collage he was amazed at the many shades of green that can be found
Gus wasn’t sure how the book would end. He found his answer when walking along a street in Paris and saw a vintage black and white picture with a bright orange sun…that looked like a peach to him!
Gus works in a gorgeous light-filled nook at home where he has an impressive set of drawers that hold his precious collection of vintage papers, cards, flyers etc that he uses for his collage illustrations
Gus enjoys listening to music as he illustrates
We both come from the same area in country New South Wales!
Jane Godwin and Anna Walker - Go Go and the Silver Shoes
Go Go and the Silver Shoes is the seventh book that Jane and Anna have created together. They see the world in the same way and their words and illustrations complement each other
The name Go Go is thanks to Andrew Joyner!
Jane is an author and a book publisher
Jane prefers doing her writing alone and in silence or with just the sounds of the natural world
Anna works to scale with her illustrations (same size as the book) and it takes about a year for Anna to complete a book from the roughs through to the final illustrations
Creating collages reminds Anna of playing with her doll's house when she was young and she is still very good at focusing and getting lost in her work
Anna enjoys working in a shared workspace at the Abbotsford Convent
Anna owns a pair of sparkly silver shoes just like Go Go!
We are lucky to have many talented Australian authors and illustrators! Thank you for a fabulous evening giving us a peek into your creative processes and for generously giving your time, Andrew, Gus, Anna and Jane...
Happy Reading!