Book Birthday Blog with Cathy Gendron

Welcome to SCBWI-MI's Book Birthday Blog! 

Where we celebrate new books by Michigan's children's book authors and illustrators

Congratulations to Cathy Gendron on the release of Trees Make Perfect Pets! 

In honor of Earth Day today, we celebrate the release of Trees Make Perfect Pets this March, and talk with Cathy Gendron about her experience illustrating this book!

Congratulations on the release of Trees Make Perfect Pets! Can you tell us a little bit about your experience illustrating this book? What was your favorite part? What was the most challenging?

I was in love with the story from the get-go. The possibilities of the narrative were pretty close to what I’d imagined when I set out to enter the children’s illustration field. My favorite spread is the greenhouse where Abigail meets Fido. The biggest challenge was the time frame. I work traditionally in oils so kids’ book deadlines are really tough!

Once you’ve read the manuscript, how do you move from there to your finished illustrations?

My first directive was to produce character studies for both the protagonist Abigail – and also her pet tree, Fido (He’s a dogwood. 😉). Abigail existed in my imagination but for Fido, I needed to consider several factors and do research. First I visited local nurseries in search of dogwoods, then rode my bike along the Huron River, photographing trees and leaves as I went. But my compulsive nature had me stewing over how I was to tell Fido’s story in such a short time frame. His journey from sapling to full-grown tree would involve years of growth, but the story needed to progress much more quickly – Abigail couldn’t age in the narrative. Just the right amount of magic was required! I actually created a Photoshop document that placed Abigail next to Fido for each page progression, so that he would grow proportionately through the book, leaves remaining the same size. Crazy, but it worked. Oh, and if I didn’t already have enough hours into research, I created a clay Sculpey tree. 

Once the character direction was approved we went through the normal procedure, from thumbnails and pagination, to rough page sketches, to tight pencils, to finished art. 

The Sculpey tree model Cathy created as an illustration reference.

What’s your favorite part of the picture-making process? The ideation and sketching? Finding the right colors? The finishing touches?

The ideation is fun, but the abundance of possible directions sometimes trips me up. Getting to the tight drawing is a lot of Just Plain Work, and oftentimes I feel like I’m never going to get it right. But then miraculously I’m there, color roughs finished, board primed and sanded. For me, the act of painting is the best part of all. 

In addition to your children’s illustration, you do a variety of creative work, including murals, editorial illustrations, and book covers! Why did you start illustrating children’s books?

During my entire career, I’ve wanted to illustrate children’s books. I’ve been collecting for all of my adult life, even before I became a mom. My own mother was an English literature major and my dad was a voracious non-fiction reader, so reading is almost like breathing to me. For a long time, I felt the place for me was in editorial illustration, and while I still love that field, it often favors young, fresh talent. A little voice in my head said “If not now, then when?”, so I started shifting gears, set a plan for children’s illustration and here I am. I still love doing adult book covers, and I make a habit of never turning down opportunities (thus the crazy large Ann Arbor mural). 

Cathy is the illustrator for another picture book, The Nutcracker Comes to America by Chris Barton

She also designed and painted this Ann Arbor mural, titled "Enduring Roots"

What illustrators do you look to for inspiration?

The list is so, so long and it changes weekly! My background is fine art so I drew first inspiration from artists like Edward Hopper, Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, Kathe Kollwitz, Max Beckman, then maybe Romare Bearden, Ben Shahn, Ralph Steadman. I adore Charley Harper and Tadahiro Uesugi, own most of Chris Van Allsburg’s books, love Lizbeth Zwerger, Julia Sarda, Oliver Jeffers, Victoria Semykina. And I could stand and stare at Charles McGee’s Noah’s Ark at the DIA for hours.

What advice would you give to an aspiring children’s book illustrator? 

Join SCBWI! In my planning process, it was the best move of all. 

What’s next for you? Do you have any events or projects coming up? Where can we learn more about you and your work?

The project that was to take up most of the summer is probably now sidelined because of the Coronavirus. So I’m enjoying revisiting watercolor painting for children’s book samples, and adding to an inventory of gallery paintings. 

To see more work, visit my website: https://www.cathygendron.com/
Check out my Instagram feed: https://www.instagram.com/cathgendron/
Friend me on FB too: https://www.facebook.com/cathy.gendron

A little bit about the book:

Trees Make Perfect Pets, written by Paul Czajak and illustrated by Cathy Gendron

Abigail is determined to get the perfect pet.

So she chooses Fido. He keeps her cool from the sun, stays where she tells him, and even gives her air to breathe. That's because Fido is a tree!

But not everyone thinks having a tree as a pet is a good idea, though, especially when Fido starts to grow. Will Abigail be able to keep her perfect pet?

A little bit about the illustrator:

Cathy’s picture-making passion was sparked by an early painting class at the Toledo Museum of Art. She survived several years as an art director for both the Ann Arbor News and the Detroit Free Press before leaving to pursue illustration full-time. From then on, she has combined freelancing for books and magazines and teaching illustration at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. She lives and works from her studio in Ann Arbor.