The papermaking technique is very physical and that’s one of the things I like about it. The technique that I used to illustrate in, I call it the ricky, ticky technique. It was really tight little colored pencil lines and watercolor. To begin with, it made me very cranky when I worked that way because I was all hunched up all day long.
And with the papermaking, it’s very physical and I love the water, the sound of water dripping through all the time. It’s very physical. And my old style, it was not really me. It was kind of sweet and quiet and I’m not sweet and quiet at all.
And the papermaking is very graphic and very bright and it’s a louder style and really out there. And also, in the design in my books, when I was a kid, I really wanted to get up close and put my nose against the glass and touch things, so I do a lot of close-ups in my books, too, and the papermaking lends itself to that.
It’s also a challenge to figure out how to do things in the paper. And as I’ve worked with the paper, I’ve gotten more skilled so there’s more that I can do with it, because it was a little intimidating in the beginning to try and get tiny detail areas.
But I go to the home improvement centers and look at all the new materials out because I found that under-layment for laminate floors and I now can use that to cut stencils. So I’m always looking for new products to work with the paper.