I love pop-ups that are just in white because I love the way that the simplicity of the light and the shadow plays on the shape. I think that in our busy, crazy world of blackberries and DVD’s and computers and everything, there’s all this kind of staticy noise, things going on, visually too.
I like working in white a lot because it’s just a quiet moment. You open the page and there’s this white kind of sculpture that’s on the inside. For me, I find that very soothing. People say, oh you must love children and you make these books for children that are great — I like children, they’re okay and everything, but I really make my books for the child in me, things that really interest me and excite me.
I’m always getting ideas from people about pop-up books. You should do a pop-up book about that, or you should do a pop-up book about motorcycles. Well, I don’t even drive a car. I mean, I’m never going to do a pop-up book on motorcycles because that does not interest me. I’m only going to work on the stuff that I really find interesting and creative. A lot of my holiday titles are just white because I love it.
It reminds me of my childhood in Michigan when it was very snowy, before global warming there was a lot of snow in Michigan. It just takes me back to that. For other books, like Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs, that book requires a different look. Each book should be illustrated as the manuscript dictates. If I’m doing a book on the 12 days of Christmas, I love working in white, that’s going to have a very quiet, subtle, beautiful view to it.
If I’m working on something like Encyclopedia Prehistorica, that has to have something totally different. It has to feel old, it has to feel fun, even though everything’s been dead for millions of years. It has to feel scaly and texturey, and each book is really dictated by that. That continues also into the future.
I’m starting another series, Encyclopedia Mythologica. That will require a whole new look. I’m investigating using marbleized paper, becuase the first book in the series is called Fairy, which is unicorns and wizards and fairies. I see marbleized paper for a lot of those surfaces and textures. That’s really all dictated by the story or the message I’m really trying to convey in a book.
