The Stories We Tell

Debra Garcia

My favorite book as a child was Saint George and the Dragon by Trina Schart Hyman. I never actually read the words until I was an adult reading it to my own children, but I would stare at that book for what seemed like hours at a time, and imagine a story to go with the illustrations.

I also really loved Harold and the Purple Crayon. He was so smart and creative.

It's interesting to see how these two favorites have influenced my drawing. I always have two warring asthetics in my imagination: either realistic/idealised with tons of details and rich backgrounds, or very graphic-design-esque with simple lines and nearly no background.

Whitney Simms

Great topic!

@Will-Terry please please please do the book I poop you! Or just a poster art, see where it takes. My gosh. The boys would love it!

Can I ask my question here? What has been your favorite art “gift” you’ve given someone. A piece of love or joy that you were able to share because of your art. A Christmas present, or to help someone who is mourning the loss of a loved one or a pet, a silly drawing to cheer up your sister in law in the hospital?

NessIllustration

@Jake-Parker My most remembered childhood book was a non fiction hardcover about the sea! The illustrations were so big and beautiful - I remember most the one with the whales, I thought it majestic! The book ended with narwals, and I thought for sure they were made up haha

Joen Söderholm

I really enjoyed this episode. The sound was rather off to me through large parts of it though. But it was really nice to hear more about the narrative part of all this. Would love to hear you talk more about this in the future. Perhaps the narrative aspect when you plan out individual illustrations for example.

Me, I've been extremely influenced by Swedish illustrator/author Sven Nordqvist. I read his books a ton as a kid. Internationally, I think he's most famous for the books about Pettson and Findus (I think they were called Festus and Mercury in the US?).

But my favorite book was Hattjakten, The Hat Hunt. It's about this old man who goes through a whimsical adventure as he's trying to find his missing hat, and ends up rediscovering parts of himself and remembering his childhood. Nordqvist's illustrations are always amazing and there was something special with this book that was so funny and whimsical but also strangely melancholic. Don't know if it has been translated to English, but I sure hope so!

MOO

@joen-söderholm I just looked up Sven Nordqvist art. Love it. I see that they have some books on Amazon too. Thanks fo rsharing. Maybe I'll send some to my little grandson

Joen Söderholm

@marsha-kay-ottum-owen glad to hear you were able to find some! Nordqvist has a talent for making his stories just as good as his art, so I highly recommend those books. They are still insanely popular here in Sweden.

Sarah LuAnn

So I'm working my way through the story and I want to clarify something that @Will-Terry was saying about the didactic story Rick Walton used to share in his classes. (I was in two of Ricks classes

It wasn't just a submitted manuscript that he begged from an editor or anything like that. He would make very clear in his classes that he would never ever make fun of an unpublished unfinished story because our rough drafts are always rough, etc. (Particularly since we would be bringing our drafts to share in class and he didn't want us to think we were just going to make fun of peoples work.) He told about how this author was very very successful, one of the big money makers for this publisher, and she demanded that the manuscript be published as it was.... and they did it to keep this author happy and continuing to publish with them. So it was actually a published book.

And yeah, it was an awful story. It was so perfect because it literally had all the most common mistakes you see in picture books--too many unimportant details, super preachy, adults solving problems for the kids, etc. etc.

ElBench

I've rushed through all the episodes and now I have to wait for more Really enjoy this podcast, I find them very motivating. Are there any art-related podcasts you guys can recommend?Just to fill the void until the next 3PP. Cheers.

burvantill

@mr-kite Will Terry’s You Tube videos are great to listen to. You don’t need to watch them, just listen to the majority of them because he mostly just talks and they are super long so you can get stuff done while listening.

ElBench

@burvantill Good shout, I've been on a bit of a binge. Thanks!

Spencer Hale

Two books that impacted me a child are Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein
and Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel

I can see how they visually influence my art today, and this podcast has made me think about the way the stories have had an impact as well.

Thank you for such a helpful and entertaining podcast!

MOO

@joen-söderholm Sent one to my grandson today

Nyrryl Cadiz

I personally think the I POOP YOU BOOK would be a fun read. I have a neice and the books we both like are the ones that make us laugh a lot.

NessIllustration

I want the poop book too!

Joen Söderholm

@marsha-kay-ottum-owen Glad to hear that! Hope he'll enjoy it. Which one did you find?

Nyrryl Cadiz

@nessillustration haha don’ t we all

Annie Barnett

@debra-garcia I second that, @Will-Terry! I told my kids about it and they thought "I Poop You" sounded amazing!

RHirsch

Well-loved books from my youth - "The Simple Prince" by Jane Yolen, and "A Bag Full of Nothing" by Jay Williams. In having to remember the titles of these two books, I've found they are available on Amazon. Might have to buy them for nostalgia's sake...

MOO

@joen-söderholm When Findus Was Little and Disappeared. I haven't read it myself, of course, but I hope to read it with him someday! Did I pick a good one?

Joen Söderholm

@marsha-kay-ottum-owen ah, nice! That one didn't come until I was already a teenager, but I have it here at home anyway. It's a great choice. A very touching origin kind of story for the characters (and you don't need to have read the previous books to understand the story).