Mélanie Watt Teachingbooks.net Original In-depth Author Interview Mélanie Watt, interviewed from her studio in Laval, Québec on September 27, 2010. TEACHINGBOOKS: You are perhaps best known for your Scaredy Squirrel books. How did you get started as an author/illustrator of childrenʼs books? MÉLANIE WATT: I drew a lot as a young kid; it was my favorite thing to do. Even in kindergarten, my teachers really encouraged me and talked about my art. As I got older, I started drawing portraits of famous people like the Beatles; I was totally obsessed with portraits. But I was not going to study the arts in college because I thought it was not possible to make a living that way. I didnʼt know anyone who studied art in college, so it was never an option to me. I went into business administration instead, and after a while, I figured out that that wasnʼt for me. I couldnʼt see myself working in an office with numbers and accounting. Then I found out about this course called graphic design, and I started taking that. I really loved graphic design because it was creative, but at the same time, there was the ability to work for agencies. Even at university, the thought of being an artist wasnʼt a reality for me. Even after studying design for six years, I was going to go work in an advertising agency. Eventually, I took an illustration class where one of the projects was to create a book about color. Most of the students in my class were making abstract, color-inspired art. But I decided to create a character called Leon the Chameleon who was always the opposite color of his surroundings. My teacher, Michele Lemieux (author of Stormy Night), was able to guide me through the creation of what ended up being my first childrenʼs book. At the end of the school year, Michele recommended I send my mockup to a publisher. She sent it to Kids Can Press, and thatʼs how my career in childrenʼs books began. TEACHINGBOOKS: What was your childhood like? Were you encouraged to be an artist? MÉLANIE WATT: We moved a lot because my dad was transferred frequently for his job with Petro Canada. I was born in Trois-Rivières, Québec, but we moved near Montréal and afterwards to Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, and back to Québec. I did not speak English until I was eight years old. I have a younger sister, and when we were moving, we always had the two of us, so we would always play together. We were really close, and we still are.
I was a really shy person, but I loved to draw. For some reason, I got other kidsʼ attention with my drawing, and thatʼs how I often made friends. I would draw little Garfields on their hand, and they would talk about it to other kids. Then the other kids would come and ask me to draw one for them. Often, I would get picked in class to do the decorations for Halloween or something. I felt like I had some sort of privilege because I could get out of class for a little while and work on art. TEACHINGBOOKS: What age were you when you started getting interested in portraits and fine art? MÉLANIE WATT: I was drawing portraits in my teens, and my art teachers in school were always pointing out that I should do something with this. I had never painted anything before university. I had learned the technical aspects of graphic design: how to work on the computer with all the programs and everything early on. At university, the classes taught a different approach: classes were more about the concepts and the ideas. I really started appreciating that creative aspect of design rather than the execution of it. And, itʼs the classes and the assignments that helped me discover what I could do. My classes would get me to sit down and explore art, because on my own, I was just working with pencil drawings. TEACHINGBOOKS: Do you do any non-book design work? MÉLANIE WATT: I started working on Leon the Chameleon when I still had a year of university left, and Iʼve done picture books ever since. Iʼve never had any other work. But when I work on a picture book, I am a graphic designer. I design my books. I assemble everything. I have like a clear idea of what fonts I want to use, what type of paper, how I see the cover, etc. Usually, when I present something to the publisher, it is really close to looking like what the final book is going to be. I have a really clear vision, and I want every one of my books to be different. At first, this was an issue for the publisher because they were concerned about how people were going to know that the next book is from me, because it doesnʼt look like the previous book I worked on. But for me, variety is important. What makes me want to work on a book is the ability to create something original; something I havenʼt done yet. I think itʼs the graphic design background that does that. Before I even start writing a story, I want to know what this world looks like, what type of typography Iʼm going to use, etc. TEACHINGBOOKS: Please share some examples of how you conceive of your books before you write them. 2 of 11
MÉLANIE WATT: Well, I knew that in Scaredy Squirrel, every color would be really flat, and there would be just a graphic outline on everything. The style reminds me of warning signs or a billboard. For Have I Got a Book for You, I wanted to have a 1970s look, so I knew my color palette would have to be orange and olive green. And I knew I wanted a font that reminded me of the 1970s. I knew there would be texture because of the plaid outfit. So thatʼs what inspires me. Before I start writing whatʼs in the pages, I have to figure out what this thing is. For Chester, I knew that I wanted a character that was going to cross out my name. Thatʼs the one thing I knew about it. I wrote a story in order to do that on the cover. I didnʼt know what kind of character I was going to create. Chester is a cat that I actually drew when I was at university, but he evolved. I always knew I was going to use this cat, but I didnʼt know when. TEACHINGBOOKS: What were you trying to accomplish with your book Augustine? MÉLANIE WATT: Augustine is about art, but I wanted a glimpse of how a young child/penguin would see the art. What you see on the left side of the book is what Augustine sees. Whatʼs on the right side of the book is whatʼs happening. When I was a kid, I focused on detail little things that maybe someone else wouldnʼt notice, but a young, artistic child might. And that was the idea behind Augustine, where you get a glimpse of what matters to Augustine and her inspiration to express herself through the art that she knows. It became a question of finding paintings and famous artists that have something that would relate to Augustineʼs childish point of view, like the idea of the first day of school, when you donʼt know anyone, and everyone is going to stare at you. I kind of knew what that was like. Augustine breaks the ice with new friends by drawing at recess. I think a lot of kids can relate to being alone and having no one to play with when they donʼt know anyone. Itʼs kind of traumatic for a child. Augustine copes in her own way. TEACHINGBOOKS: How did you come to create your concept books? MÉLANIE WATT: The concept books were part of a project at university, where we had to come up with a series of books. I didnʼt know that much about childrenʼs books yet, and I started researching and reading whatʼs out there. I noticed that a lot of the concept books that I came across had images that were kind of cut and paste numerous times in different books. For example, you could see an animal in a book, and that same image appears multiple times. For me, that was kind of frustrating. If I were a kid reading those books, I would have wanted every illustration to be unique and to have a lot of variety. So I put upon myself a challenge: I made five concepts books using animals, where I never repeated the animal, and I grouped them in different categories. It was a huge challenge because I was making the books in French and in English, so whatever animals I was choosing to put in the books, I had to be careful, 3 of 11
and I had to plan it out properly. It was kind of tricky. I think there are 75 different animals in those five concept books. TEACHINGBOOKS: What books did you create right after university? MÉLANIE WATT: I illustrated Margaret Carneyʼs Where Does a Tiger-Heron Spend the Night. I learned a lot about my technique and about using visual references in order to illustrate her poem about birds from different areas. Through my work on Bear Cub and Mama by Sharon Jennings, I developed my technique on canvas. After working on canvas with a subject thatʼs kind of furry and colorful, I wanted to explore that more. I did so with my own story, Augustine. I believe every book brings you to the next place youʼre supposed to go. I donʼt always know where Iʼm going, and itʼs always a challenge, but I always get through it, and I get inspired to go to the next step. TEACHINGBOOKS: It sounds like thatʼs part of the real fun for you: dreaming up your next challenge. MÉLANIE WATT: Yes. I sometimes look at my previous books, and canʼt believe I did them. There are moments in your life when whatʼs happening in your personal life and whatʼs happening in your work life are kind of linked, and you can feel it. TEACHINGBOOKS: What is an example where that has happened for you? MÉLANIE WATT: Scaredy Squirrel is a book idea that I had ten years ago. I had actually shown a story to the publisher, and it wasnʼt working. It was about a squirrel and a nut tree, but there were other characters, and it wasnʼt at all funny. The idea of being afraid to leave your tree was there, but there was no humor, and there were no Martians or things like that. I put it away for five years, and then I came to a time in my life where I thought, Well, Iʼve been making books for five years now, and I need to be able to make a living out of this. To be able to do that, I have to be at least able to make two books a year. I had just signed for Augustine and proposed to the publisher to have another book at the same time. I often go to bookstores and look around and see whatʼs happening. I had been really impressed with Donʼt Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems, and I thought, It is so cool that if a pigeon wants to drive a bus, it doesnʼt have to make total sense. It doesnʼt have to be real. It can be crazy. It can be out there. Thatʼs when I took out my manuscript for Scaredy Squirrel and thought, Okay, think crazy, think out there. I started thinking that he fears poison ivy and Martians, and thatʼs when Scaredy Squirrel started taking form. The personal connection to my professional life was that while I was working on Scaredy Squirrel, we were renovating our home. When a carpenter would come to our 4 of 11
house, I would help him out. He would go home at 4:00, and I would sit down in my unfinished basement and write Scaredy Squirrel and draw and make mock-ups. It was a weird time, because Scaredy Squirrel never leaves his nut tree, and I wasnʼt leaving my house much. I was totally obsessed with making the book work. TEACHINGBOOKS: The Scaredy Squirrel books are quite funny for children as well as for the teacher or other adult reading the books. MÉLANIE WATT: I have never had that much fun working on a book before. I didnʼt know it was possible. Honestly, I previously liked to illustrate, but working on Scaredy Squirrel, everything kind of clicked for me because the story was funny. And laughing does not come easily to me. TEACHINGBOOKS: Did you know you wanted to do more Scaredy Squirrel books right away? MÉLANIE WATT: I knew that Scaredy was about graphics and telling a story through graphics. At first, there was some concern from the publisher about whether or not kids will get the humor of the Scaredy books. But I think itʼs been proven that kids do get it. Scaredy, at the end, always takes a baby step forward, but heʼs still Scaredy Squirrel. He doesnʼt turn into this perfect squirrel every time at the end. He just gets a little bit better. I think thatʼs what everyone kind of has to deal with every day just trying to cope and trying to get better and figure out whatʼs next. TEACHINGBOOKS: What are some specifics for the different Scaredy Squirrel books? Please share a little something about the stories. MÉLANIE WATT: The first book, Scaredy Squirrel, is about fear in general; the unknown and kind of breaking out of a routine. The important thing about that book was the implied questions, How are you supposed to know what youʼre capable of if you never try anything? How are you ever going to discover if you have a talent? How would he know he was a flying squirrel if he never had to fly out of the tree? Itʼs easy to get too comfortable in one place. The second book, Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend, is about socializing and the fear that is all around us. I always try to have some sort of reflection of whatʼs going on in the world, and today, people donʼt seem to want to talk face to face. Theyʼd rather send emails. We see in the media that you need to fear germs with handshakes, and that you shouldnʼt talk to strangers. Thereʼs so much fear out there. Thatʼs what I wanted to reflect in Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend: that you might not know exactly what package friendship can come in. And the idea of a squirrel being friends with a dog that drools and has muddy paws would be a squirrelʼs worst nightmare. But he ends up being a friend in his own way. 5 of 11
TEACHINGBOOKS: How did you decide what animal would become Scaredyʼs friend? MÉLANIE WATT: I didnʼt know that a dog would be Scaredyʼs friend when I started working on the book. It was originally a rabbit. Then I figured out that it was going to be a dog, because it made more sense to me. I was halfway through the book by that point. I never know how the Scaredy Squirrel stories are going to end when I start. Itʼs a big puzzle. I have pages and pages of graphics, but I donʼt know whatʼs going to go into that graphic. It can have a pie-chart graphic and know that I want to use one, but I donʼt know what it will be about. It will come as I go. TEACHINGBOOKS: How about Scaredy Squirrel Goes to the Beach? MÉLANIE WATT: Scaredy Squirrel Goes to the Beach is about the fear of traveling and going outside your comfort zone. Itʼs about wanting to experience a vacation without having to go through the trouble of planning one or going somewhere. Itʼs also about a fear of over-packing, and packing for safety. When people take a vacation to somewhere where they donʼt know whatʼs going to happen, they want to be overly prepared. Scaredy traveling to the beach is a big issue, and the trip happens all because his beach at home is not perfect; itʼs also about his quest for perfection. In every Scaredy book, what he tries to avoid always comes to him anyway because of the way he tried to avoid it. So when I sit down for the next book, I think, Okay, what is Scaredy trying to avoid? Heʼs going to cause the problem by trying to avoid it, and heʼs going to have to deal with it. TEACHINGBOOKS: And Scaredy Squirrel at Night? MÉLANIE WATT: Scaredy Squirrel at Night is about how weʼre becoming a sleepless society by trying to do too much. People have crazy schedules and they donʼt want to sleep, or theyʼre thinking too much to sleep. Again, itʼs about the vicious cycle where what youʼre trying to avoid is creating problems and comes back at you. How are you supposed to think straight if youʼre not getting enough sleep? In Scaredyʼs case, I added the other dimension of the fear of fantasy: nightmarish things like unicorns and ghosts and all that. I think every kid at one point dreads having a monster under their bed. Itʼs easy to get carried away with your imagination, but sometimes just taking a step back and realizing that this might be your imagination is what can solve the problem. TEACHINGBOOKS: Are you tiring of Scaredy Squirrel? MÉLANIE WATT: Well, heʼs getting more and more complex, but I donʼt want it to become complex. There are usually two or three different levels in every book topics I want to talk about. Itʼs getting more tricky, but I think thereʼs a lot of fear in everything. Fear is different for different ages and situations. It can be a visit to the dentist. It can be 6 of 11
a camping trip. Itʼs just a question of me trying to figure out how to really refresh it every time. The next Scaredy book is called Scaredy Squirrelʼs Birthday. TEACHINGBOOKS: Please talk now about your Chester books, and how your creative process compares to that of your Scaredy Squirrel books. MÉLANIE WATT: I use a totally different approach with Chester books. Scaredy Squirrel books are like a bunch of puzzles that need to fit in together. But Chester books involve action-reaction. I work one page at a time, and I kind of have an idea of how itʼs going to end, but I donʼt know what Chester is going to say back to me. Itʼs like having a little discussion in my head. TEACHINGBOOKS: Chester really brings the elements of a book to the attention of the reader: the voice, the author. I love that you (Chester) messed with all the little parts of the book, including the dedication and the author notes. MÉLANIE WATT: Chester defies authority and the standards of what a book should be. He takes the serious side out of things. His message is that books should be a certain way, but he can change that if he wants to. Itʼs like Iʼm the parent and heʼs the child. You can see the mouse as being the sibling or competition for attention. Chester has an ego. Heʼs bossy, but heʼs not a bad cat. Heʼs always questioning me, wondering, Why do you get to decide? Chester always uses a little twist, or wittiness, with his responses, and gets readers thinking. It empowers kids, to have these books mirroring their creativity and how to use it. The books are also about problem solving. Iʼm in the way, so how can Chester get rid of me? I get a lot of letters from kids where they talk to Chester and say things like, Chester, give back the marker. But they have Chester interfere with their own letter. I just love how this triggers creativity on so many levels. Children know how Chester works, and they have fun continuing that character on their own. I think itʼs cool that kids can tap into Chesterʼs character right away and know how to continue. In a way, they become the adult with Chester. TEACHINGBOOKS: Please talk more about the role-playing that the Chester books inspire. MÉLANIE WATT: I went to a school, and around the gym were pictures of kidsʼ interpretations of Chester. There was a drawing of the principal tied up in the office. I thought, Wow, kids drew that but blamed it on Chester. Itʼs interesting to me to see them express themselves in a way that usually would not go well. But since itʼs Chesterʼs fault, itʼs acceptable. Itʼs using art and creativity to express how you feel at that moment. Sometimes kids focus more on that expressive aspect of Chester, and some focus more on the celebrity-driven aspect of Chester. For example, I have seen 7 of 11
drawings showing Chester on Oprah. Or heʼs in a limousine or something, where the appealing side of Chester is that he wants to be a star. TEACHINGBOOKS: You also put yourself in the Chester books. Youʼre an imperative character in the stories. MÉLANIE WATT: Yeah. I must admit, at the beginning, I had my doubts about doing that, because I didnʼt want to attract attention to myself. But it takes away the seriousness of being an author-illustrator. Sometimes I think people think Iʼve studied writing, but Iʼve never considered myself a writer. The first story I ever wrote was Leon the Chameleon. I did not write before. I want children to understand that I donʼt have an intimidating background. Anyone can write. Anyone can draw. TEACHINGBOOKS: It doesnʼt sound like you were given that message as a child. MÉLANIE WATT: I wish someone had told me that anyone can write and draw. When I was little and studying French in Québec, I was told I was not good at spelling or writing. When I was in Toronto studying English, I was told I was not good at spelling and writing. Iʼve always been told by teachers that I was not good in the languages, so it kind of got ruled out for me in my brain. I donʼt want kids to rule out a career in the arts because they think that other people have known how to do art since they were born. I really want kids to know that itʼs about creativity first, and then a willingness to do it. It is intimidating at first, to sit down and start writing a book. But you have got to take a risk. You have got to just draw and start thinking of ideas and not be afraid to do it, because it is intimidating to first sit down and start writing a book. I remember typing Scaredy Squirrel on the computer and thinking to myself, What are you doing? What is this thing? Itʼs very scary to put down your thoughts and go to someone and say, I think this matters. I think you need to read this. TEACHINGBOOKS: How do you see your books being used in the classroom? MÉLANIE WATT: Whatʼs really cool is that the stories can be used in classrooms to inspire kids, and they can be helpful not only in terms of art, but in how we think of things. Iʼve gotten letters from teachers saying that when they present things, theyʼre starting to use the graphics of Scaredy Squirrel to break topics up into different graphics. Theyʼre inspired by the books to do that. I struggled in school because I was so visual. If things would have been presented in more visuals, I think they would have been easier for me to understand. I think itʼs cool that we can use art to help understand things that donʼt have to do with art. 8 of 11
TEACHINGBOOKS: Do you compose in French or English? www.teachingbooks.net MÉLANIE WATT: I write everything in English but think in French. Iʼm considering French while Iʼm writing in English. In the Chester and Scaredy books I try to make sure that I can translate the humor and the gags in French, so the languages are not something I can separate. Whatʼs really interesting is that sometimes I can translate word for word in French. Because English is not my first language, often the way I write in English is really close to some of the sentences in French. Sometimes when Iʼm doing the French translation, Iʼll go back to the English text and make a change because my thought process in French brings me to another level that I hadnʼt thought of in English. TEACHINGBOOKS: What do you do when you get stuck? MÉLANIE WATT: I work on something else, or I try not to think about it in my office and I get out. TEACHINGBOOKS: What is a typical workday like for you? MÉLANIE WATT: Iʼll be drawing things, scanning things, assembling them on the computer, then changing them around until something triggers an idea that I really want to pursue. Usually, that will take up a couple of weeks of intensive time. And then Iʼll figure out what the book is, and I will go one page at a time and execute it. Some days I can finish at 11:00 at night. Sometimes Iʼll finish earlier. Not every day is the same. I donʼt have a routine like Scaredy Squirrel, but my work is really driven by my investment, my passion for the project in the moment. Iʼll be totally obsessed with something and work on it all the time and hardly stop for anything. But other times, I will have days where I just go and sit outside and think about things in a non-rushed way. Itʼs all or nothing for me. TEACHINGBOOKS: What inspires those periods of passion in your work? MÉLANIE WATT: I donʼt always know whatʼs going to trigger my interests. But what makes me work well and quickly is when I feel like Iʼm working on something thatʼs new, something that could surprise people. Something that feels weird or cool. The best part is when you work without knowing youʼre working, when everyone around you is going, what are you doing? But I feel like Iʼm not working. TEACHINGBOOKS: What do you like to tell teachers? MÉLANIE WATT: I like to tell them that I remember all the moments when teachers encouraged me. It matters. Taking time with kids to say something or to encourage them or to guide them in a direction is worth the time. 9 of 11
In some cases, I had teachers telling me, No, youʼre not good at that. That stays, too. Sometimes kids give the impression that theyʼre not really there and they donʼt care. But they do, and they remember. TEACHINGBOOKS: What do you like to tell students? MÉLANIE WATT: Do not be afraid to try and be creative. Do what you want to do. Itʼs just a question of working at it. TEACHINGBOOKS: Please talk about your art technique or media. MÉLANIE WATT: I have always worked in acrylic paint. But now I tend to explore the digital aspect of art. It doesnʼt mean itʼs entirely digital, but I like to manipulate images on the computer, and see what happens when I layer different techniques and textures. My work has evolved. When you look at the Chester books, Chester is made out of pieces of art. I assemble Chester on the computer: I draw him, scan him, and assemble him. For me, itʼs freedom because I used to send originals and have them scanned. But to be able to work on the final files and send those, it gives me more freedom to fuss over all the details. Iʼm a control freak. My characters, it turns out, are also control freaks. I got a letter once from a class that had drawn a Venn diagram of Scaredyʼs and Chesterʼs characteristics. Where the two circles overlapped, they wrote, control freak. I had never thought about that, that they are both control freaks. Itʼs interesting that a nervous, scared character like Scaredy and an egotistical, loud personality like Chester have that in common. TEACHINGBOOKS: What projects are forthcoming? MÉLANIE WATT: There is a book coming called Youʼre Finally Here. Itʼs entirely digital, and kind of 3D looking. Itʼs the story of a rabbit thatʼs been waiting in a book for you to open the book and read. Heʼs excited about you finally arriving to open the book. But heʼs also asking, Where were you? It is inspired by kids asking their parents Are you going to come and pick me up? Or Where were you? I was waiting for you. Itʼs about wanting to constantly be reassured. Iʼm hoping that kids will get out of this that you canʼt just focus on what didnʼt happen. You have to focus on whatʼs happening. Itʼs about being in the moment. If I had to sum it up in a sentence, it is: enjoy whatʼs happening now and not obsess about the past, the future, or your worries. TEACHINGBOOKS: Whatʼs the design element that motivated you for Youʼre Finally Here? 10 of 11
MÉLANIE WATT: I wanted a character to address the reader. I want it to be interactive in the sense that the rabbit is talking directly to you, the reader, and making arguments about why you should have been there sooner. TEACHINGBOOKS: What do you like best about being a childrenʼs book author/illustrator? MÉLANIE WATT: My favorite thing to hear from people is that my books have made reading time with their kids fun. They say they do the voices, and they take turns, etc. It makes me happy to think that reading my books can create a fun, relaxing moment. This In-depth Written Interview is created by TeachingBooks.net for educational purposes and may be copied and distributed solely for these purposes for no charge as long as the copyright information remains on all copies. For more information about Melanie Watt and her books, go to http://teachingbooks.net/. Questions regarding this program should be directed to info@teachingbooks.net. Copyright 2011 TeachingBooks.net LLC. All rights reserved. 11 of 11