Author/Illustrator Spotlight: Eric Rohmann

 

Steam shovel, page turn, earthly delights, Oxford, giant squid, and a sketchbook: author/illustrator Eric Rohmann

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI-MI. In this piece, meet author/illustrator Eric Rohmann, esteemed faculty member of the 2014 Mackinac Island conference.

Eric from his website

You mention on your bio page some of the children’s book makers you admired. The two well-known males, Maurice Sendak and Robert McClosky, the female names unfamiliar to me. Wanda Gag at least has a website, but Virginia Lee Burton has an expired link. What can you tell us about the works of these two female author/illustrators?

Wanda Gag (pronounced Gog) was of Czech heritage—like me—and if you look at her books you will see the influence of folk art and culture in the images.  The book which enchanted me as a child was called,  Millions of Cats.  The pen and ink drawings are unique, bizarre and wonderful.  The story itself is rather absurd, and that’s always a good thing. As a boy I found myself wanting to believe every word.  That’s the thing about books—they make the impossible, probable.

Virginia Lee Burton was a spectacular book maker and artist. Have a look at The Little House or the Illustrations from Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. Like Wanda Gag she was influenced by folk art, but had a modern sensibility that was clearly influenced by the art of the mid 20th century.  

I love these artists because they understood how pictures fit into a book, how to use page turns and tell a story with clarity.  I also love them because their work is nothing like mine and so seems forever fresh.

In a video interview you talk about your childhood struggles with reading, and even today you read slowly. Have you been diagnosed with a reading disorder?

I think my struggle was due to having never developed the habit of reading early on.  My mother read romance novels and mysteries, but we never had many books in the house. 

Later in life my father discovered he was Dyslexic and he finally discovered why he couldn’t stay focused on a book.

I ask this because your own picture books seem word-scarce, or wordless. Have you ever “read aloud” one of your wordless books to an audience of kids?

“Word scarce”!  I Love that. 

Most of my stories begin as pictures and I find that as I am working the images often do most of the talking.  I add text when it’s needed because words and pictures do different things.  

Often, I use text in a way that allows the reader to visualize the moment. The last thing I want to do is rob from the collaboration between story and reader.  And yes, I have “read” my wordless books to children, but of course, allowed them to tell the story back to me.

Page Turn. Go.

The singular characteristic that makes a picture book a picture book,  the page turn takes collection of words and images and makes it into a narrative.  When we turn the page we recall the page we just left— and we then imagine what will happens next. As we turn the page we fill in the moments  in our imagination thereby linking one page with the next.  The page turn is the confluence of anticipation and surprise.

How did a mid-western boy like you end up in Arizona?

I wanted to study artist books and fine bookmaking.  I got into four programs— Wisconsin, Iowa , Michigan and Arizona State.  I figured, why not try the desert for a while (and they had a wonderful program—as did the other schools!)

Death of Sardanapalus? Wikipediae. It’s in my notes. Does it mean anything to you?

The Death of Sardanapalus

That crazy Wiki page!! Eugène Delacroix painted The Death of Sardanapalus in 1826 or 1827, inspired by Lord Byron's play Sardanapalus.  I saw the painting in the Louvre and was stunned by its energy, color and subject matter.  It’s one of the paintings I keep coming back to. Others include, The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch, Goyas’s “Black Paintings”, Breughel’s Hunters in the snow, Pollock’s Autumn Mist… and about a hundred more!

Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights

Oxford the dog keeps popping up in any conversations from Candy or you. He was your three-mile-a-day walk. Was he inspiring in other ways?

Oxford and a friend's portrait

There is an old saying that says, I want to be the person my dog thinks I am.  He was always a positive presence, a model for a many pictures and animal personalities, and always a way to connect with the playful part of my nature.

I loved the origin story for your collaboration with Candy, GIANT SQUID. Started with a napkin at a restaurant?

In true cliche fashion I scribbled sketches on a napkin while having lunch with our editor Neal Porter!  The idea was to divide the squid into parts…tentacles, beak, fluke etc. on separate spreads.  I made drawings and Candy wrote from those images—a truly backwards and inspired collaboration.

I’ve only known you as Candace Fleming’s partner. How did two children’s book creators, one of them an illustrator, meet and fall in love.

Honey Bee rough sketch

I wish I could say our meeting was more romantic, but we met at Children’s book panel event for Booklist.  After that we became friends and a few years later became that and more.

And collaborate afterwards, creating together, I’m guessing, more than half a dozen books. Candy talks about taking her manuscript up to your office, but also hearing you use colorful language in your workshop in the basement. Is that you, upstairs and downstairs?

Final art
part of a three-step process

We have a small house so where I work is divided between part of an upstairs room and the basement.  My work area in the basement is directly below Candy’s office and so the curses and lamentations are crystal clear through the floorboards.

Does it seem like you lucked out in life, with a talented, adventurous partner, getting to make art for kids?

Yes and yes.  I live a fine life because I have worked hard and paid attention to what I do. But having a brilliant writer and story teller like Candy in the same house has made me a very much better artist and maker of books.  Lucky, indeed.

Have you done an audio book? What’s it like?

I have not… I did some promo spots for the animated version of My Friend Rabbit and have great respect for those who record stories…I was pretty bad.

Eric in Egypt

What’s on the drawing board?

A friend and I put together a show of drawings influenced by Goya's prints that we are trying to get museums and galleries to exhibit

I am also working on paintings, prints and drawings influenced by our time spent in South Africa working at conservancies.  And, I always keep a sketchbook and that where book ideas are incubated and born.

 

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