Featured Illustrator Katie Eberts

MEET KATIE

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?

Looking forward to the future.

2. What do you do best?

Details.

3. Where would you like to live?

I love where I live in the upper peninsula, but if I had to choose somewhere different, the idea of living abroad in London sounds fun!

4. Your favorite color?

Purple

5. Three of your own illustrations:

          

6. Your music?

The Shins, Bleachers, Andrew Bird, Taylor Swift

7. Your biggest achievement?

My first illustrated book was a cookbook called Fresh Made Simple that I worked on with my friend Lauren K. Stein and published by Storey Publishing. I’m really proud of it.

8. Your biggest mistake?

Dropping the ball on marketing my work when times were good. It makes the slow times even slower.

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

The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman

10. Your main character trait?

Optimism

11. What do you appreciate most in a friend?

Getting together and feeling like no time has gone by, even if it’s been a year or more.

12. What mistakes are you most willing to forgive?

Mistakes made in the moment without thinking.

13. Your favorite children's book hero?

Anne of Green Gables.

14. What moves you forward?

Excitement for the next thing.

15. What holds you back?

Second guessing and procrastination.

16. Your dream of happiness?

A summertime picnic with my friends

17. The painter/illustrator you admire most?

Rebecca Green. I just love her work.

18. What super power would you like to have?

Flight

19. Your motto?

Onward and upward! 

20. Your social media?

I’m just on instagram - @katieebertsillustration

Featured Illustrator Rebecca Howe

MEET REBECCA

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?

Tired, excited, hopeful

2. What do you do best?

Believe in impossible things.

3. Where would you like to live?

A warm place near water with nice people.

4. Your favorite color?

I can’t choose just one. Colors make me feel different things.

5. Three of your own illustrations:

6. Your music?

I’ve been going back to India Arie, Tracy Chapman, May Erlewine, Leon Bridges and Passenger a lot lately when I’m working or trying to be chill. We have a lot of family karaoke and dance parties that involve Beyoncé, Sia, Alessia Cara, Meghan Trainor and musical soundtracks like The Greatest Showman and Small Foot and many more. Also, I really want to try to figure out how to play Love by Cynthia Hopkins on piano. (Please email me if you figure this out!!)

7. Your biggest achievement?

Learning to forgive and accept myself and others.

8. Your biggest mistake?

Judging people.

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

I mostly watched tv as a kid, but when my 5th grade teacher read The BFG (and many other books) to us, a seed was planted. I picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as a senior in high school and eventually convinced my English teacher (who hated my constant interruptions and challenges to her classics) to teach them.

10. Your main character trait?

Uh...  I’m not sure I have one.

11. What do you appreciate most in a friend?

Resonance.

12. What mistakes are you most willing to forgive?

Those made for the sake of learning and helping.

13. Your favorite children's book hero?

Olivia, Matilda, Penpen and Tilly from The Canning Season, Mia Tang from Front Desk, Snap from Snapdragon

14. What moves you forward?

Dreams and purpose

15. What holds you back?

Illness.

16. Your dream of happiness?

Physical and emotional ease, however that manifests.

17. The painter/illustrator you admire most?

I can’t pick just one! I love so many illustrators and artists so let me tell you about some of the ones I admire most and have the pleasure of calling friends: Vanessa Brantley Newton, Kirbi Fagan, Amy O’Hanlon, Heidi Woodward Sheffield, Jenn K. Mann, Elizabeth Stanton.

18. What super power would you like to have?

As a kid I spent a lot of time imagining I could fly and had suction cups on my fingers and toes. As an adult I wish I had the power to understand meaning and insight the first time I try or experience things.

19. Your motto?

Choosing just one of anything feels limiting. I love the Poetry and writings of Maya Angelou, Nayyirah Waheed, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and others.

20. Your social media?

Instagram: @rebeccarhowe

Twitter: @rebeccahowe

www.RebeccaRHowe.com

Featured Illustrator Melanie Bryce

MEET MELANIE

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?

Excited. I am organizing my art space and setting goals for 2020.

2. What do you do best?

From my kids:

Eleanor, 6: Clean the house (after organizing her room), be polite, be helpful, and hug

Harrison, 9: Draw, drink coffee

3. Where would you like to live?

Somewhere really green with 60°–70° temps

4. Your favorite color?

Well, I wear a ton of black and grey, but if I had to pick to a color from my watercolor palette, it would be viridian or sap green.

5. Three of your own illustrations:

6. Your music?

Stevie Wonder or dance, new wave, and alternative music

7. Your biggest achievement?

My family

8. Your biggest mistake?

Not going to art school after high school. I went the safer route, into business and marketing. I am thankful and do love the job I have in marketing. It has been a success, and I understand now that you can have more than one career or change careers later in life.

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

The Secret Garden, which I am now making a goal in 2020 to reread as an adult and share with my kids.

10. Your main character trait?

Realistically optimistic with a touch of goofiness

11. What do you appreciate most in a friend?

I appreciate picking up where we left off, no matter where we are in life. I am drawn to friends that love to laugh, are driven, and are supportive.

12. What mistakes are you most willing to forgive?

Making small wrong choices because we are all human. Even when I see myself, my children, or others being unkind to another person, I believe it’s coming from something going on that day or in their life.

13. Your favorite children's book hero?

My childhood heroes, which are Ramona Quimby, from the series by Beverly Cleary; and Pippi Longstocking, from the series by Astrid Lindgren, both adventurous and bold.

14. What moves you forward?

1) Coffee and music

2) Seeing others in action and surrounding myself with others who are motivated moves me forward. With the support of my best friend and the Borgess Run Camp teams, I completed multiple half marathons and a 25K run. Also, the SCBWI KAST (Kalamazoo) group is a huge motivation for me to keep going on my writing and illustrating journey. The group is so uplifting and encouraging.

15. What holds you back?

My own fears of failure and feeling average

16. Your dream of happiness?

My kids to grow up happy and stable; a peaceful mind for my husband; and days and days of open art and yoga studio time for me

17. The painter/illustrator you admire most?

I love Corrina Luyken’s color choices in her art and books, which can be very minimal, like My Heart or extremely colorful, like in Adrian Simcox Does Not Have a Horse. Both books are beautiful. I appreciate her celebration of ink mistakes in The Book of Mistakes. I’m going to cheat here and also add another illustrator, Erin Stead, whom I admire because of her printing techniques and softness in her illustrations. A Sick Day for Amos Gee is one of my favorites.

18. What super power would you like to have?

My super power would be being a power hugger, which is inspired by my huggable son. I would go by “Huggy” for short. The power of my hug would help others protect and overcome sadness and fear. I’m already prototyping this power on my kids.

19. Your motto?

Seize the day. This is my mindset, even on vacation. Always do or experience something.

20. Your social media?

Website: www.melaniebryce.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hellofridaymb/

Featured Illustrator Ruth McNally Barshaw

MEET RUTH (and Charlie)

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?

Happy.

After 10 years of constant life-changing stress, things are calm, and so am I.

2. What do you do best?

Draw. And write concisely (given enough time to edit).

3. Where would you like to live?

Right where I live now. (Michigan, this house, these bookshelves, these neighbors, these lakes.)

4. Your favorite color?

Blue-green.

5. Three of your own illustrations:

6. Your music?

Detroit Motown. Also Disney hits. And 70s road trip. And intense concentration music. And soft jazz. And Christmas songs in any style. And folk songs. And some country. And whatever I can play on my harmonica.

7. Your biggest achievement?

My family.

My four kids, ages 36, 33, 30, and 22, are good people and close friends with each other. To me, that’s the pinnacle of success.

8. Your biggest mistake?

Lack of confidence. 

Young friends: build it up and preserve it for when you need it.

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

Age 4: Blueberries for Sal.

Age 5: Sugarplum.

Age 6: Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile.

Age 7: The 5 Chinese Brothers

Age 8: The Mouse and the Motorcycle.

Age 9: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Age 10: Ellen Tebbits.

Age 11: The Little Colonel.

Age 12: Emily San.

10. Your main character trait?

Finding the bright in the dark/creative problem-solving.

11. What do you appreciate most in a friend?

Kindness.

12. What mistakes are you most willing to forgive?

Breaking things.

13. Your favorite children's book hero?

Teachers and librarians.

14. What moves you forward?

Deadlines.

15. What holds you back?

Indecision.

16. Your dream of happiness?

Pay all the bills on time without worries and start a free writing camp for kids.

17. The painter/illustrator you admire most?

The children I observe in schools. Such fearlessness and openness!

18. What super power would you like to have? 

Absolute confidence.

19. Your motto?

You can’t always get what you want. 

(I sing it, like the Rolling Stones do.)

20. Your social media?

twitter: @ruthexpress

Instagram & Facebook: Ruth McNally Barshaw