About Making Picture Books
An interview with Tohby Riddle

1. When did you start to take an interest in illustrating/drawing?
Before I knew what it was, I'd say. Though I'm still working out what drawing and illustrating is – always a good question to ask myself while I work. Nonetheless, from childhood onwards, I kept drawing for one reason or another – and am still going!
2. You seem to have a distinct style of illustrating, present in your books and the cartoons from the Good Weekend magazine. How did you develop this style? Does it come naturally to you or is an eraser always on hand?!
I guess three main factors impact on my style – influences from other work I love; the idea for the image – how it needs to be expressed; and who I am – my art is a form of self expression therefore who I am contributes to my style. Beyond that, I am always learning – and always hope to be – so an eraser comes in handy from time to time.
3.What do you aim to achieve through writing picture books?
I aim to realise the potential of the idea and go some way toward realising the awesome potential of the medium.And of course it gives me great pleasure to hear if the books meant something to anyone else.
4. Do you feel the illustrations or the text are more important to a story?
If the picture book medium is truly the most appropriate vehicle for a particular story then it would be because the words and pictures are of equal importance in the telling of it. If not, something might be wrong with the choice of medium or the execution of the words and pictures.
5. Do you start with the illustrations, or the text, when writing a picture book? Which is easier for you?
I start with an idea. This could be a word or a picture or both. Both writing and illustrating are challenging – I'm not sure I ever think in terms of "easy", but picture books are definitely a "hard", demanding, challenging … medium. The battles seem to be ones worth battling. Picture books are also great fun.
6. I've read that you keep a notebook handy to record any ideas you may have. Could you give a few examples of what you may include, i.e. do you record sketches of future illustrations, concepts, characters, text etc.
All of those things and more. Often without a firm idea about what the thought on paper could become – a cartoon, a story, a poem, a song lyric – or just some new idea, question or way of looking at something.
7. You appear to reach a wide variety of age groups through your books and cartoons in the Good Weekend magazine. Is there an age group you find easier to communicate with and do you try to keep this wide audience in mind when writing?
Well, first, I often seek out what it is in an idea that might transcend the specifics of the idea and represent something more universal. Second, I find it an immensely challenging and worthwhile discipline to express my ideas as accurately, simply and intelligibly as possible – in any medium or format – so that even a child could understand it, as they say. Some ideas for adult audiences, however, will not necessarily interest a child or be relevant, but picture books as a medium needn't exclude anyone of any age – especially since the experience of reading one is often shared between a child and an adult ... and often repeated, for that matter.
8. Is there a book that you enjoyed writing and illustrating the most?
I enjoyed creating all of them, maybe some a little more than others but they have all been distinctive experiences with new challenges for me at the time – I suppose, in particular the last two: The Great Escape From City Zoo and The Singing Hat, but maybe because they are fresher in my memory.
9. Is there a topic you particularly like to write about and why, i.e. a special interest?
Not that I'm aware of. But I'm attracted to ideas that can be humorous and pose interesting questions about life and the world.
10. Why have you chosen to write children's books (as opposed to other types)?
I grew up loving cartoon books like Peanuts, graphic novels such as the Tintin series, illustrated stories such asThe Little Prince and various books on art and illustration. Then, after high school I went to art school. Later, while working as a mailing clerk in a publishing house, I got the idea that a picture book would be a great thing to try and do. I was thinking as much about the medium as I was about writing for children. But certainly there is a magic about childhood as I remember it – a hyper-real world of great drama and enchantment where anything can happen – and that excites me still. Furthermore, writing and drawing for children – handling often complex meanings with such simplicity, succinctness and clarity that they are comprehensible to a young human is a valuable discipline. There's also a joy in feeling that you might have moved a child to laughter and hopefulness and wonder. But in addition I aim to communicate in such a way that no one is excluded as potential audience for the book. Because of the amazing chemistry of the word and the picture, picture books can have layers of meanings and, to me, the best ones are ones that an adult can share with a child – swapping their experiences of the book with each other. And the child rather than growing out of the book will grow up with it – gaining new meanings from re-readings.
11. Do you feel that authors today are increasingly competing for attention with technology (tv, internet, computer games...)? Do you have any suggestions for a developing teacher as to how to motivate children to read as opposed to going to the technology for entertainment?
I imagine this could be so, but it hasn't been my experience. The book, it seems, is an incredibly durable and enduring piece of technology. To be honest I don't have a formal training in children's education, my background is as an author and artist. As such my feeling is that anything that inspires delight and wonder and hope is going to motivate children to read and read on.