Growing Authors and Illustrators - Part 1

   What does it take to grow an author or illustrator? Is artistic talent somehow genetically predisposed, like an overstuffed paint box of observational skills, handed down from one generation to the next? For some artists this is true.

    Norman Rockwell's grandfather was an itinerate portrait and landscape painter. Tasha Tudor's father was a yacht and airplane designer, and her mother was a renowned portrait painter. Lois Lenski's father was a pastor whose hobbies included photography and drawing. Beatrix Potter's father was a photographer and draughtsman who supplied photographs of models and backgrounds for the painter John Everett Millais. He also collected over thirty of Randolph Caldecott’s illustrations (Caldecott is one of the foremost illustrators of all time). Children’s author/illustrator Marguerite de Angeli of Door in the Wall fame remembers the first time – at the age of two – that she experimented with her father's pastels and experienced the "joy of color".

    Although it may be true that each of these artists had creative ancestors in their family lineage, there are unique factors that added to their success. A common thread that ties them all together, however, is their insatiable desire to draw.
   ”I think I’ve always wanted to be an artist,” said Norman Rockwell. “I certainly can’t remember ever wanting to be anything else. Not that I awoke one morning with the full-blown idea swimming around in my head. It was gradual. I drew, then I found I liked to draw, and finally, after I had got to know something of myself and the people and things around me, I found that I didn’t want to do anything but draw.” (My Adventures as an Artist by Norman Rockwell, page 37. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, New York 1960)  
    Do you have a child who likes to write or draw – or both?  Maybe he’s a first generation artist and you don’t know what to do with him. Why not read the biographies and auto-biographies of famous author/illustrators this summer? Their stories will inspire  your children to write and draw from life!  Here’s a list of some of our favorites:

Beatrix Potter’s Art – by Anne Stevenson Hobbs

Drawn from New England: Tasha Tudor

by Bethany Tudor

Journey Into Childhood – by Louis Lenski

The Life I live – the poetry of Louis Lenski

Butter at the Old Price – The Autobiography of Marguerite de Angeli

My Adventures as an Illustrator – Norman Rockwell (parent must edit a few chapters, but definitely worth reading )

Treasury of the Great Children's Book Illustrators

by Susan E. Meyer

Meet the authors and illustrators: 60 creators of favorite children's books talk about their work

Look at the work of today’s illustrators at: http://www.childrensillustrators.com

All Material Copyright © 2005

Jill Novak
All Rights Reserved

11:00 AM - Jun. 6, 2005 - post comment

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