PICTURE BOOK REVIEW & AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR INTERVIEW : Snow Kid by Jessie Sima
ABOUT THE BOOK
Meet Twig, the snow kid! Like all snow kids, Twig was made from many snowflakes, twigs, stones, a crisp orange carrot, and a very fine hat. What a wonderful thing it is to be Twig! Except…could they still be Twig if a strong breeze blows away their hat? As Twig chases after the hat, more things keep changing, and they keep growing and moving and talking. Is there still a way to go back to being Twig?
Maybe not. But maybe there’s more than one way to be a snow person, and it can be fun to walk and talk and grow and change. Twig can find snow people like them even as they’re still learning how to become Twig, and that’s a wonderful thing!
AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR INTERVIEW
Q: What is the “story behind the story.”
A: In addition to being a book about a kid made of snow going on an adventure, SNOW KID is a story about how identity is something that can develop throughout your lifetime. It’s about asking questions about yourself, and embracing how you continue to change over time.
Q: I hope my book will .…
A: show readers that it’s ok to wonder about who they are.
Q: Which comes first: words or illustrations?
A: When developing a picture book, I usually write and draw at the same time. The only way I can figure out how to balance words and pictures, and create satisfying pacing, is by doing them together. So when I begin, I write and sketch, back and forth until I start to get a good idea of the shape of the story. While editing, I will focus on the text and make tweaks to the images as necessary. And then I shift to focusing on the art, and change text as needed. It goes like that until I have a clean “dummy” (the industry term for a picture book rough draft.) At that point, I can share it with my agent, editor, and art director, and we go from there.
Q: What are the advantages and disadvantages of being both author & illustrator?
A: The main advantage of being both author and illustrator is that I can think about how the words and images will work together from the very start. I don’t have to worry about leaving room for the artist while I write, because I’m the artist.
The main disadvantage is that the art takes a long time to complete. And if I write a story about something that I don’t like drawing, then I have to figure out a way to not hate the process.
Q: Your illustrations in the book are gorgeous. How did you go about creating them?
A: I work digitally basically from start to finish, using a Wacom Intuos drawing tablet and Photoshop. I create my dummy book in one file with separate folders for each spread. Once we’ve gone through a few rounds of edits and I’m starting on final art, I make a file for each spread or page. I’m pretty methodical in the way I illustrate books, which helps me to keep the style consistent over time. First, I go through the whole book and do the line art for each character. So it would look like just the outline of Twig on every page. After I do that for each character, I do the same for the backgrounds. Then I go through and do base
or “flat” coloring on each page. And finally I will do textures, shadowing, highlights, etc. To sum it up, I basically create a coloring book for myself, and then go through and color it in!
REVIEW
Growing up can be a confusing thing as Twig discovers when they lose their hat. Setting off to reclaim their hat, Twig finds themself changing in other ways. Getting rounder, finding a new nose after a dear eats their old one, Twig begins to wonder if it's even possible to go back to the original frozen and silent Twig. After discovering a group of snow people in all their diversity, Twig actively chooses things that they want to highlight the snow person they are becoming. They even help another snow person on their journey. Jessie's appealing digital illustrations wonderfully complement this story of growth and wonder. Like so many, Twig's journey of discovery is a challenging one, but those challenges are what allow them to learn and grow and change. Recommended.
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