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the synergy of words and pictures

tonight at work in the art store, my coworker alerted me to the fact that the older gentleman whose 2 prismacolor pencils i was ringing up is a children's book author/illustrator (mordicai gerstein). i was like "oh cool!" but at first didn't know if i'd say anything (i'm still haunted by a negative experience i had with shell silverstein on martha's vineyard back when i was 20 and saw him on the beach and swam up to him and thanked him for writing such amazing books that had inspired me to be a writer. he was totally rude and it kind of broke my heart because i could not understand how a mind that could create 'the giving tree' could be so without soul.) there was another occasion recently when my coworker pointed out a different customer/children's book author (apparently the pioneer valley is teeming with this species of human), but for whatever reason i hadn't felt comfortable saying anything to that person about my own project whereas tonight i really felt drawn to this man and so broached a conversation.

i asked him for advice about an issue i'm struggling with in translating the verbal story i've written into images. i asked him what his process is for deciding how to illustrate the words, what to show, etc.... i said that i'd read a quote by allen say about how he sometimes starts out with the images first--just doing paintings--and then finds the story that way. i asked mordicai if he ever works that way. he said no, he hasn't.

he told me this sage piece of advice, which is so simple but has clarified things for me to a miraculous degree.... he said (and here i will very badly paraphrase) to start illustrating the story without the text--tell the story only using pictures. Then you will discover things in the pictures to add into and grow the story--little surprises.

he was so kind and warm and gracious (like the grandfather i'd love to have) and seemed genuinely tickled to have advice to pass on that i might find useful. i wasn't familiar with his books, and based on his good nature and lack of ego, i was really surprised afterwards to discover how famous and successful he is. after he left the shop, my coworker told me about his most famous book "the man who walked between the towers" and on my break i ran out to the bookstore down the street (ostensibly just to look at it) and upon seeing it fell in love and had to buy it. It is such an inspiring story and the illustrations are so stunning. i'm glad i got to meet him, and i'm glad that i could support him by buying the book.

i hope he will come into the store often. in lieu of having an "illustrating kids books for dummies" course available to me, it would be great to periodically get to seek his advice. i tend to keep my verbal creativity and my visual creativity rather compartmentalized, so it's overwhelming me to try to bring the two together on this project.

btw, mordicai has some amazing speeches here on his homepage that defy description in how exponentially inspiring and heartwarming they are.

before = after