This is Jan Brett, with my March hedge a gram, the time I take to give an overview of my work as an author illustrator.  I hope that all of you who are considering being an illustrator, or would enjoy a creative writing project for children will find my words helpful.

I’m focused on my turtle story, MOSSY right now, since HOME FOR CHRISTMAS I’ve completed with the exception of my “news notes”,  the letter for kids that I write that goes along with every book.

I’ve written the mossy story, and my editor Margaret has read it and offered some suggestions.  I think one of the biggest differences between a professional and a beginner is the ability to take instructions from one’s editor.  The hard part is finding the right editor.  A great editor like my editor Margaret, has a sixth sense about what the author is thinking,  what motivates them, and how hard they are willing to explore their creativity.  Margaret combines a sensitivity with a forward-looking practicality, which really helps me.  For example, in my book the main human character is the biologist and director of a little Victorian museum.  In the borders, and later, as the force that frees Mossy the turtle, a little girl makes an appearance.  Margaret has asked me to think about bringing the little girl more into focus.  This may seem like a small change, but Margaret knows I come alive when drawing the child/animal connection.  I think I remember that part of my childhood with a lot of emotion and happiness.  She is so smart to pick up on this.

I’m reading a book I picked up in Africa when I was there last month called THE ELEPHANT WHISPER by Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence.  I was really put off by the overused “whisperer” in the title, though the book surprised me by being illuminating and covered fresh material.  It’s about a man who runs a private game reserve in Kwa-Zulu Natal, Africa and was suddenly given the opportunity to save a herd of displaced and traumatized elephants.  Mysterious events unfold that reflect on the hidden intelligence and communication skills of the elephants, as he fights for their lives.  A similar theme unfolds in one of my favorite books, ALEX AND ME about the parrot that stunned the scientific world with his abilities, by Irene Pepperberg.  When I write and illustrate my books I like to think that there is always a subtext that “more is going on beneath the surface.”  Certainly in our interactions with the animal world, the more respect you can give whatever creature you are with, the more the animal responses back.  I raise exhibition chickens, meaning I breed them for certain traits, vitality and physical attributes rather than for food.  I raised about 50 last year, and I kept the four best ones.  All the others I placed with new owners.  I’ve kept all of the cockerels (male under one year) in a huge pen.  The pullets, there are about 10, have another pen.  When I sell the pairs, the cockerels have never been with a pullet.  You’d think by their behavior — always roughhousing and being tough with one another, that they would be bossy and rough with a pullet.  But no!  It was so sweet to see the two of them, standing beak to beak just staring at each other.  The cockerel, if I could have put a thought balloon over his head, would be thinking, “Oh you are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!”  He then found the food dish, offered her food, and later when I looked in, he was in the corner, having found a thick patch of shavings, and was sitting down making a nest for her, talking all the time.  Most people think chickens are dense and the males overly bossy when they obviously have a courtship ritual if given a chance.  It really made me stop and think about my role as their caretaker since they are so powerless to change their own day-to-day environment.  Sometimes I think that the same scenario that of giving others respect and opportunity, can help me think about the children I write for.  I don’t really think about teaching in my books, but I like to stand outside myself, and judge what I’ve written with those thoughts in mind.

My favorite places to go when I was little were the museums outside of Boston where I grew up.   We went to the Museum of Science, Museum of Fine Arts, the Boston Aquarium, and the Peabody Museum.  In my mossy book I want to show my love for those collections that entranced me so much as a child.  I love that feeling of being astounded that a particular bird or insect really exists when seeing it for real.  I remember the first time I saw a Pangolin, a creature that is hard to describe but looks like an animated pinecone.  In the next few weeks I’ll be doing thumbnails and a book dummy of Mossy.  I haven’t written down my goals until now, I’m eager to get started, but I’m also daunted by the task.  I do know I would like my story to have depth, embodied in the curiosity and perception of the little girl, and I would like the borders to reflect the fascination one feels at a field museum.

I hope you will be working on a longtime creative project of your own.  Sometimes it’s good to have a philosophy first, then sometimes it’s better to go ahead and let your motivations reveal themselves while you’re forming your project.  I think that’s what so attractive about writing and illustrating, there’s always a new route to try.

Happy reading, Jan

HOME FOR CHRISTMAS Page 22-23

This is Jan Brett, and this is my February hedge a gram, the time I take to talk about what I’m doing at my job as an author and illustrator.  My book for the fall of 2011, HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, is completed.  I just had my first look at the printer’s examples of the jacket.  It is momentous to see the jacket for the first time because when I rendered the art, I had to imagine how the display type of the title, and my name would look.  There is also a solid color border that is added which changes the look of the art, somewhat like a frame either enhances or detracts from a piece of art.  Some of the images on the jacket have a spot varnish, which it makes it look subtly shiny, and gives the effect of more depth.  If you have a chance, take a look at some of the book jackets in the bookstore.  Art directors have lots of tricks to enhance the 10″ x 11″ shape or whatever that is the book jacket.  The printer also has the ability to take the display type and raise it slightly, giving a 3-D effect.  Even though I pay attention to the design of the jacket, it is the one time I take a backseat to the editor, art director, and designer.  They have a lot of input.  The team at Penguin is really great, and have always raised the standard for me.

There’s always a sense of sadness when I finish a book and have to say goodbye to my characters, and in this case, the beautiful landscapes of Arctic Sweden.  On the other hand, it is a marathon and the end of a year’s painting, plus lots of time thinking and planning the story, even before putting brush to paper.  Although I’m finishing the end papers — a decorative touch that I hope will add to the Christmasy atmosphere, I have already written the first draft of MOSSY the story of a turtle which means I’ve turned the page on one book and focused on another.  It’s been seen by my editor Margaret and she likes it, so the largest hurdle has been overcome.  My next step will be to do thumbnails — little sketches that fit a 32 page format, before making a book dummy.  I like to sew the signatures and create a coverless book at this stage.  I can patch over things if I need to, but I love the tradition of the sewn signatures.  It gives my efforts credibility, even if it is only to myself.
I’m not going to another country for my MOSSY book.  Mossy is an Eastern box turtle and they live in my geographic location in southeastern Massachusetts.  I may have seen one in the wild when I was little.  I know I saw a wood turtle — also a terrestrial one, about 20 years ago, and I see spotted turtles and red eared sliders in ponds.  I wanted Mossy to be a land turtle, although there is one scene in my book, where Mossy speaks to another Eastern box turtle in a pond, it can definitely happen, I found in my research.
We constructed a turtle pond, hoping to attract turtles two years ago.  It is deep enough for the turtles to hibernate below the frost line — 3 1/2 feet here south of Boston, it has built-in caves for the turtles to hide from predators like raccoons and flat rocks for sunning.  Last fall we planted lingonberries and this spring we are planting strawberries.  So far we’ve gotten a few frogs and I’m disappointed no turtles have arrived.  Just south of us, within 15 miles, there is a small population of red bellied turtles, which are protected.  I’m hoping to find out more about them because they’re endangered because of habitat destruction.  Plymouth County where we live was filled with bogs, ponds and lakes after the glacier retreated during the last ice age, and we have a lot of wetlands in back of our house.  No wonder I didn’t need to travel far afield for this book.  In a way, the setting for MOSSY will be similar to THE EASTER EGG a book I wrote and illustrated in 2010 also set in my backyard.
I’ll need to give MOSSY a different sort of look.  Much of it takes place in a small museum in the 1890’s, and I would like to show some of the museum’s collection in the borders — bird’s eggs, arrow heads, rocks, and minerals and butterflies.  When I was in art school in Boston, I made frequent visits to the Peabody Museum at Harvard.  I love that Museum, especially the folk art and artifacts from world cultures.  They have the famous glass flowers that look exactly like real flowers.  I remember going there with my little daughter and studying the mammals.  There are so many details a person needs to be aware of when you are are drawing.  I have a lot of enthusiasm for this book, and it is hard to rein in myself  while I work out the plans for the borders, and fine tune the plot.
As for the future, I’m hoping to illustrate and retell THE TURNIP, a Russian folk tale, so I’m blocking out some time to take a trip to St. Petersburg next year.  I still have a lot of work to do on the retelling, and that’s a challenge that I’ll think about when I’m running, or I’ll try that trick of thinking about of a puzzle in the story just before going to sleep.  Then sometimes you come up with the answer the next morning.  I’ll definitely need more of the story before I buy my tickets to Russia!
I hope February is the start of a new project for you, or a continuation of one you’ve got going already.

Your friend,

Jan Brett

King Arthur Flour Blog

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2011/01/07/a-loaf-with-a-story-jan-bretts-crunchy-whole-grain-bread/

National Geographic Traveler link:

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/traveler-magazine/one-on-one/jan-brett/

HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
Page 14 – 15

Happy December!

     This is Jan Brett with my monthly report on my book progress. I write and illustrate a children’s book every year, and I chronicle the process monthly, thinking it might be interesting for people that are working on their own creative projects.
     Since I started HOME FOR CHRISTMAS last January I’m coming into the home stretch. It is exhilarating to look at my bulletin board where I hang all my completed paintings, and see a world take shape. And it is a world that evolves some spread and spread. I’ve always been able to see the Arctic Swedish setting and my troll characters in my minds eye, but once I’m familiar with them, it’s amazing to me how they dictate the way they should look. I don’t feel I’m inventing them as much as I am discovering them. The trip to Sweden last spring gave me a lot of ideas about the setting. It’s that magical atmosphere of a rarefied place that I want to capture in the paintings. The mountains up there, have very recognizable shapes, and especially one called Skerfe in the Rapa Valley. It is known as the sacred mountain of the Lapps, and ancient legends tell that the Lapp people sacrificed to the gods there. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that human beings with a similar brain capacity to ours have lived on earth for 30 to 40,000 years. When I wrote and illustrated THE FIRST DOG (1989), I was inspired by an exhibit about early man at the Museum of Natural History in New York City. Many artifacts were displayed that had a soulful, sacred quality – animals carved from stone or bone. It makes you wonder about little pockets of mankind that may have built on themselves and become insular and strange to other humans. Just looking at hidden cultures today that have custom so different from ours makes one ponder. In many cultures, children, traditionally boy children, complete a solitary journey before becoming a man. Rollo’s walkabout in HOME FOR CHRISTMAS seems very natural to me. Many of my favorite books when I was a young girl or about a young person being tested by a harsh world, often with an animal guide. One book was JULIE OF THE WOLVES by Jean Craighead George and another MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN also by Jean Craighead George. I also am enamored of HATCHET by Gary Paulsen.
     I love to read as a child and still do, but my picture books evolve from the visual part of my expression, and my words aren’t as natural. I think everyone has different paths for their creative energy, and it’s like a psychic eruption when the story takes hold and presents itself. We’ll it to ourselves to be on the lookout for stories that want a breakthrough, they may come in the form of dance, music, painting, or who knows? We just must be on the lookout for them.
   As I finish tallying up sequences of paintings that will make my book, I’m astonished at how it can be so hard and so easy at the same time. I would love to encourage or stories to take shape – it’s illuminating!
     Happy reading, drawing, and creating,
 
                          Jan Brett

 
HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (preliminary jacket idea)
                                                          

     I’ve created a new Jan Brett page on Facebook. I hope that you’ll come and visit me there. I’ve uploaded artwork and photos and have a preview of my fall 2011 book. Here’s the link to Facebook. Please click on it and then on the “Like” button to receive daily Jan Brett projects and coloring pages.
http://www.janbrett.com/facebook_like.htm

Happy November!

This is Jan Brett and I’m going to give you an update on my work as a children’s illustrator and author. My book year begins in late January, when I write up a manuscript, and ends in mid-December when I finished my final illustrations.
     I work on the jacket of my book in October so my publisher, Penguin Putnam, can start rolling on presenting the book to buyers. I’ve been home for one week after a 2 1/2 week book tour. I spoke to different journalists and interviewers in the weeks that preceded the tour. I’m very glad to be back at work on HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. Just before I went on the trip, I brought the nine finished spreads to New York City to show my editor, and art director and designer, as well as a sketch for the jacket. No matter how good copies are, or how long a telephone call is, there is no substitute for showing the actual artwork and discussing it face-to-face. It is an intense time. It is difficult to keep an open mind when I’ve invested so much time and effort into my book. However, the team I work with has a tremendous amount of talent and experience. I often go from feeling despondent to exhilarated and back again. Most times I leave New York in a positive state of mind, but utterly exhausted. The experience of looking at one’s characters and artistic ideas through another person’s eyes is illuminating. It is funny how an image can be jarring even if it is out of proportion a bit, or an expression is off. I spent a week or more on each double page spread, so it’s easy to accept things in a picture just because I’ve seen them over and over that is why I welcome my colleague’s opinions.
     The designer, Marikka, is tremendously talented, and has a whimsical and buoyant approach to designing the typeface and display type. She will work very hard to make things work. I’ve just received a design sketch of the jacket which will tell me how much room I have for the art. The publisher asked that my name appear above the title which gives me more room for the art at the bottom of the jacket. Last year, we changed the jacket at the last minute, making lots of extra work for Marikka and for me. I’m hoping to get the jacket right the first time.
     I’m looking forward to planning a great big moose face in a snowy background for the jacket. Often people ask me why I always write snowy books. It’s really not true, because only about one half of my books are snowy. I think it’s because my artwork is very detailed and busy. Snow makes a good contrast and gives the image a chance to shine. When I was little, I would fill up every last inch of paper. Now, I edit heavily, and use snow to simplify things! Sand works too!
     Now that I’m home, and have started to work on the jacket, I can reflect on the people I met at my book signings. I was thrilled to see kid’s drawings. Some were done during my presentation, when I gave an art lesson, and some were masterpieces the kids did at home. I’m so wowed by the imagination and exuberance of style that seems to come so naturally to children. I always think of the fairy tales that have a scene when the fairy godmother gives a gift to the child character. I wish I could wave a magic wand and give children the gift of time. It’s in our nature to imagine, transform and create. I think of the real people I’ve known on Earth, and there are as many fictional people in my mind that seem as present. I like to think the children will have the time to go into themselves and create characters that will someday be as memorable.
     My mother, who taught three-year-olds, encouraged me and my sisters to draw but she didn’t believe in art lessons for young children. I think she believed the ability to be artistic was inherent. I remember being eager for tidbits about shading, perspective, and for shadows, but I had to figure them out for myself, using my picture books and real life as guides. Maybe that is why my pictures are somewhat primitive. I do know, that the one factor that is still important is time – to feel unhurried enough to play with ideas but still feeling the import of creating a picture. So I will sign off wishing you some extra hours to create a memorable character in your drawing.
     Good luck with your creative time and have fun, your friend,

Jan Brett

     Hi, this is Jan Brett, letting you know what’s happening in my life as a children’s book illustrator and writer. If you have ever traveled to a foreign country, you may recognize the feelings I experienced after a trip to Africa. I did miss drawing and painting every day, which makes me feel like my true self. What made the trip valuable, was that I was filled with new images of landscapes, animals, birds and African people with traditional clothes and manners that impressed me in a way that makes me want to draw them. I am filled with a motivational excitement that makes me want to bring the images to life on paper.
     In the traditional village I visited in Namibia, Otjongombe, I admired the long dresses, shawls and turbans the woman wore, especially since they were created from beautiful fabric. Most of the women made their own dresses and kept to a certain style that has been worn for generations.

Herero Family from Namibia

    

     I bought many samples of cotton printed fabric to use when creating the clothes for the 3 Little Dassie (rock hyrax in English) that will be characters in my book. I brought colored markers with me, so I could experiment with just how I could transform the tradition dress of the stately Namibian woman to the dassie who I will dress just like them, but who are a bit chubby and short limbed.

Pimbi or Rock Hyrex in Namibia at Little Ongava

     My husband and I went to a school where I met the children of the village. They performed a program of song and dance which we greatly admired. We had some time to chat with the children who liked practicing their English with us. Their birth language is either Herero or Himba. They were interested in how old I was, so I told them that I was 59. I left some of my books for their library, since they all could read English and a beautifully illustrated science book about extreme animals that I bought especially for them, as well as President Obama lapel pins since the President’s father was from Africa. Everyone we met in Africa is elated by our country’s choice of President Obama.

K.J. Kapewa Public School in Otjongombe, Namibia

     During our two week trip to Africa we went for our second time to Namibia and our first time to Tanzania. Spending time in the bush or wilderness area learning about African birds, mammals, and reptiles is my idea of an energizing, inspiring, awesome time. Our African guides, Martin Benadie, who is South African and specializes in birds, Uanee Karuuombe, a Himba guide who introduced us to the Herero people, and Peter, our guide in Tanzania, brought events and encounters into focus and shared their knowledge. For example, Martin could walk into a stand of acacia trees listen carefully, and then point out eight different birds. Sometimes he would hear a bird call and then would imitate it with a whistle, and the bird would come out to investigate. Often he spotted birds unknown to the local guide.
     In Namibia, Uanee helped me understand about the pride the Herero have of their beautiful cattle. Peter, whose family have lived on the Serengeti plains for generations, looked at a herd of zebra (properly known as a dazzle of zebra), and see that they were intently staring at a fixed point not far off. He drove us in his Lad Rover slowly that way, and soon we saw the elegant cheetah the zebras were looking at but who had been hidden from our sight.
     Excited as I am by all the new African ideas, I am still finishing my Easter egg book, correcting, polishing, and adding to the year’s work. It will take all my self control not to start work on 3 Little Dassie!     Happy creating, reading and especially drawing.

Your friend,

Jan Brett