Featured Illustrator Amy Nielander

MEET AMY

This questionnaire goes back to a popular parlor game in the early 1900s. Marcel Proust filled it out twice. Some of our questions were altered from the original to gain more insight into the hearts and minds of our illustrators. We hope you enjoy this way of getting to know everybody.


1. Your present state of mind?

Leary - after hearing strange beeping noises coming from my washing machine.

2. What do you do best?

I love pushing picture book concepts and pulling rough dummies together quickly.

3. Where would you like to live?

I’d love to live on the beach or near water in the summer months. I also think the hustle of city life is energizing. I lived in an apartment over a downtown bookstore for some time and felt centered in the city’s…center.

4. Your favorite color?

Red, yellow and orange.

5. Three of your own illustrations:

6. Your music?

Salsa.

7. Your biggest achievement?

My incredible kids. Career-wise it is believing that I had more to give creatively and going for it.

8. Your biggest mistake?

What I put in the washing machine before it started beeping.

9. Your favorite children's book when you were a child?

Popcorn by Frank Asch.

10. Your main character trait?

Determined.

11. What do you appreciate most in a friend?

Loyalty.

12. What mistakes are you most willing to forgive?

Mistakes made by kids. The younger, the easier.

13. Your favorite children's book hero?

I don’t have one hero that stands out. I enjoyed big characters like Pippi Longstocking and Miss Piggle Wiggle when I was younger. Willy Wonka (movie-version) also intrigued me, as did the tight bond between Charlie and his grandpa.

14. What moves you forward?

Creating goals and giving myself deadlines.

15. What holds you back?

Anticipating rejection.

16. Your dream of happiness?

I would be thrilled to have a partner (agent) on this journey. I also dream of long blocks of uninterrupted time to nail down revisions and flesh out new picture book concepts.

17. The painter/illustrator you admire most?

Too many…Marla Frazee, Mo Willems, Tony DiTerlizzi, Ronald Searle, Tony Fucile, David Small, Quentin Blake and Kirsten Ulve to name a few.

18. What super power would you like to have?

The ability to clone myself so I could get more done in less time.

19. Your motto?

Keep going.

20. Your social media?

Twitter: @nielanderamy

Facebook:  Amy Nielander - Illustration and Design

Website:  amynielander.com