Drawn

Odds are your kids are huge fans of Mo Willems, even if they don’t know it. Mo is the author and illustrator of several books; among them Knuffle Bunny and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, both Caldecott Honor award winners. But the talent of Mo Willems doesn’t stop there. He has also won six Emmy awards for his writing and filmmaking on the Holy Grail of Children’s programming, Sesame Street, was head writer for the first four seasons of Codename: Kids Next Door and created the animated series Sheep in the Big City. Mo recently released his newest book, You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons, and was kind enough to answer a few questions for us.

First off, can you give us the back story on your latest book, You
Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons?

When I graduated college, I opted to postpone a shaky career in
animation for a year traveling around the world. In addition to a
change of clothes, I brought along a little sketchbook in which I drew
a single cartoon every day. 15 years later, I annotated the collection
of drawings and asked Dave Barry to write an intro (that kid is goin’
places!). The end result is a big, fat graphica travel memoir.

So how did this sketchbook finds its way from a diary to a
published book? Was publishing it an idea that you had toyed with for
a while?

If by “toyed with for a while” you mean, couldn’t find anyone to even
consider publishing it for years, sure, I “toyed with” it. Ultimately,
the Pigeon got the book published; the Caldecott honor for DON’T LET
THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS! kind of won me a ‘one free book’ pass from my
publisher. This was it.

Had you always kept a sketchbook diary before embarking on this
year long trip? Is it a habit that has stayed with you since?

I stole the idea from Theo Padavano, an artist who I worked with at a
gallery in Soho back in the late ‘80’s. He’d been doing an image-a-day
for years. Tiny, beautiful drawings. I suspect that he has decades
worth of those sketchbooks.

As for me, except for a few fits and starts on various trips, this
collection is the only one I saw all the way through, mostly because I
needed to create some structure to the year of aimless wandering.

When you sat down to start getting the book together did you find
it pretty easy to recall each event?

The annotation process was weird. I remembered specific events that
occurred 15 years ago with alarming clarity, yet was completely
surprised by how I reacted to them in my drawings. It’s as if I knew
the trip by heart, but never met the guy who took it.

You started out in the animation industry before gradually moving
over into the world of children’s books. Was that a hard transition
for you to make? Did you run into any challenges trying to switch
gears between the two?

Switching from animation to books is much easier than the other way
around. Compared to TV production, bookmaking is a leisurely endeavor.
But, as a TV writer you can learn quite a bit (i.e.: write crap) in
relative anonymity. If I’d published some of the stuff I wrote for
Sesame Street back in the day, my career in books would be short
indeed.

The biggest hurdle in the transition was to find a publisher who
believed I could segue into books. Once I did, I had to figure out the
elusive timing of the ‘page turn’ and re-discover a personal voice
(something that, ultimately, is frowned upon in TV).

Can you talk a little about your process when you start to form an
idea into a potential story idea for a book?

For me, it’s getting to know a character well enough to allow a story
to come out. So, every book starts with doodles followed by doodles
with a few doodles on the side. Once the main character(s) come into
focus, the frame-work of the story seems to build itself. I allow my
doodles to make most of the graphic decisions, from the palette and
technique to the books’ very important aspect ratio and size.

Often character’s stories don’t work out, so I put them on the self to
revisit later. I’ve made books that I’ve noodled around with for over
a decade to stories that came out in a matter of months.

What is your weapon of choice when it comes to
illustrating? Do you like to experiment a lot when it comes to media?

I actually experiment quite a bit with media, but up until now have
returned to pencil or ink with digital coloring. Partly it’s about
comfort level (I’m using animation production techniques I’m used to)
and partly it’s about simplicity. The only rule that I’ve given myself
is that the star of my books must designed so a 5 year-old can make a
reasonable copy of it. This has to do with my desire to see books
‘played’ instead of merely ‘read’.

I’ve found that paper stock is incredibly important and spend a good
deal of time trying to match the best charcoal or ink to the optimal
paper.

The combination of photographs and hand drawn illustrations that
you used in your book Knuffle Bunny was fantastic, in my opinion. How
did you come up with the idea to marry the two?

Laziness and character.

The story dictated that the piece feel like a reminiscence, such as an
old photo album, plus I hate drawing backgrounds. But as I worked with
the pictures, I discovered that, unlike my forgiving eye, they did not
edit out the ugliness of my neighborhood. Consequently, I had to spend
quite a bit of time digitally removing air-conditioners, trash, and
garbage cans, so that the pictures could have the ‘emotional truth’ of
my personal experience.

It was technically challenging and created huge files, but ultimately
made the story feel more real and handmade.

I’m currently working on a sequel that involves large night-time
panoramas, the prospect of which is both terrifying and exhilarating.

One continuing trait throughout all of your books is the simple,
clean design. Is design something that you keep in the forefront of
your mind when you are working on a new book or is it more
instinctual? Does the design of a book influence your work at all?

Design is the story’s soundtrack, everywhere and nowhere at the same
time. It’s essential, yet only works when it serves the characters of
the story, not itself.

I just returned from BEA, where I received a picture book filled with
astounding illustrations framed by terrible design and was infuriated.
It behooves illustrators to do the design themselves or, like Lane
Smith, marry their designers.

Was the best piece of advice that you have ever been given as an
artist?

“Spend six months working tirelessly to get your strongest material
together. Work and re-work. Then, throw the work away. Now you’re
ready to create at a consistent level on a consistent schedule.”
Brutal advice, but ultimately effective.

Where do you find inspiration?

My mortgage. It keeps me working.

Are there any artists whose work you really admire?

Anyone who can dance on the tightrope between personal vision and
respecting their audience has my greatest respect. Oh, and funny people
make me laugh.

Finally, when you work, do you listen to music? What types of
things do you like to listen to?

I prefer music by people who are dead or from New Orleans. Dead New
Orleanians, such as Louie Armstrong top my list. I suppose I write to
symphonic scores and draw to jazz and Mardi Gras music.

Thanks Mo for the interview! For all things Mo Willems, visit his website at www.mowillems.com or purchase his books through Curious Toys, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or any other place where books are sold.