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Book Week Series: The Art of Literature and Illustrations ft. David Barrow | Ep. 9
19 Plays10 months ago
Welcome to our ninth podcast episode, where we have the privilege of diving into the world of literature and illustrations with David Barrow. This special episode is a part of the Book Week Series.
Join us as we embark on David Barrow's journey, from his humble beginnings as a children's book illustrator in the heart of England to his influential role in shaping the world of picture books. In this episode, we'll delve into David's passion for storytelling and illustration, his dedication to nurturing young talents through teaching at the Cambridge School of Art, and his remarkable achievements, including winning the Sebastian Walker Award for most promising new illustrator.
Whether you're an aspiring illustrator, a children's book enthusiast, or simply curious about the creative process behind picture books, this episode promises to offer valuable insights and inspiration from David Barrow's fascinating career. So, join us as we celebrate the magic of storytelling with David Barrow, whose captivating illustrations continue to captivate readers of all ages.
About David Barrow:
David Barrow is a children's book illustrator based in the heart of England. He earned his MA in Children's Book Illustration from the Cambridge School of Art in 2015, winning the Sebastian Walker Award for most promising new illustrator. His debut book, "Have You Seen Elephant?," garnered international acclaim, followed by numerous publications, including collaborations with authors like Joseph Coelho. David now teaches at the Cambridge School of Art, leads the Picture Book Illustration Meet-up for the UK Association of Illustrators, and serves as ambassador for the Northamptonshire contingent of the Federation of Children’s Book Groups. He lives with his wife, son, and an annoying cat. David's website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0744KH4WN
About Book Week Series:
Book Week Series is a celebration of authors and illustrators from around the world. For the past two years, this series has been a favorite on Studimation, where we've explored the art of storytelling through insightful interviews. This year, we're excited to move the series to The Zainab Khan Podcast, now available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, iHeart Radio, and more. Join us as we highlight diverse voices in literature, sharing their journeys, inspirations, and advice. Whether you're a literature enthusiast or an aspiring writer, our Book Week Series offers enriching and inspiring conversations. Tune in to The Zainab Khan Podcast and celebrate storytelling with us!
To see the video version of this episode subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thezainabkhan
Website: https://thezainabkhan.com/
Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/zainabkhanpodcast/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to David Barrow
00:00:01
Speaker
David Barrow is a children's book illustrator based in the heart of England.
00:00:05
Speaker
He earned his MA in children's book illustration from the Cambridge School of Art in 2015, winning the Sebastian Walker Award for most promising new illustrator.
00:00:15
Speaker
His debut book, Have You Seen Elephant?, garnered international acclaim, followed by numerous publications, including collaborations with authors like Joseph Coelho.
00:00:25
Speaker
David now teaches at the Cambridge School of Art, leads the Picture Book Illustration Media for the UK Association of Illustrators, and serves as ambassador for the Northamptonshire contingent of the Federation of Children's Book Groups.
00:00:39
Speaker
He lives with his wife, son, and an annoying cat.
00:00:42
Speaker
Hi!
00:00:45
Speaker
Hi, thank you.
00:00:52
Speaker
Thank you for inviting me.
00:00:54
Speaker
Thank you so much for joining in.
00:00:56
Speaker
Are you excited for the interview?
00:00:58
Speaker
Of course, yeah, looking forward to it.
Journey to Illustration
00:01:01
Speaker
Can you share your journey from exploring various careers to discovering your passion for children's book illustration?
00:01:08
Speaker
Yeah, sure.
00:01:09
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I did graphic design at university.
00:01:13
Speaker
many, many years ago.
00:01:15
Speaker
And I think I just fell into it because I was fairly good at art at school.
00:01:21
Speaker
And I thought, well, graphic design, that, you know, I could earn some money doing that.
00:01:24
Speaker
But I did graphic design at university and I absolutely hated it and vowed never to do graphic design ever again.
00:01:30
Speaker
So I did various jobs when I left university.
00:01:33
Speaker
I worked in print for a very, very long time.
00:01:37
Speaker
commercial print, but I got made redundant and my wife also got a job.
00:01:43
Speaker
We were living in the south of England and my wife got a job in the middle of England.
00:01:48
Speaker
So we moved up here and I couldn't find any work at all.
00:01:53
Speaker
So my wife said, well, why don't you go back to university?
00:01:56
Speaker
and I didn't know what I would study, but I found that fairly near to me is a course all about children's book illustration, and I thought, well, I love drawing.
00:02:09
Speaker
I love children's books.
00:02:11
Speaker
So I went there, and I managed to get on the course, and it changed my life, and I've been working as an illustrator ever since.
00:02:18
Speaker
I graduated in 2015, I think, and I've been lucky enough to
00:02:23
Speaker
to be illustrating and authoring ever since then.
Sebastian Walker Award Impact
00:02:29
Speaker
That's an inspirational story.
00:02:31
Speaker
Winning the Sebastian Walker Award must have been a significant achievement.
00:02:35
Speaker
How did it feel to be recognized as the most promising new children's illustrator?
00:02:41
Speaker
It's always nice to be awarded stuff, always a nice thing.
00:02:46
Speaker
to be recognised.
00:02:47
Speaker
It was a wonderful thing.
00:02:48
Speaker
It was right at the end of my course, so it was announced at my graduation show, so it was fantastic.
00:02:56
Speaker
Obviously, it comes with a little bit of pressure because obviously you've got this award for the most promising illustrator, but then you have to sort of live up to that.
00:03:08
Speaker
which has had a bit of pressure involved with it.
00:03:13
Speaker
But yeah, it's been wonderful to recognise.
00:03:15
Speaker
And I think it really did help the beginning of my career because it meant a lot of publishers.
00:03:20
Speaker
I could talk to a lot of publishers and show them the ideas that I had.
00:03:26
Speaker
And it just gave me a foot in the door, basically.
00:03:28
Speaker
So it did help at the very, very beginning of my career.
00:03:32
Speaker
So I'm very, very grateful for that.
Creating 'Have You Seen Elephant?'
00:03:34
Speaker
That's wonderful.
00:03:35
Speaker
Your book, Have You Seen Elephant?
00:03:37
Speaker
garnered attention internationally.
00:03:40
Speaker
What inspired this story and how did you approach illustrating it?
00:03:46
Speaker
It basically all came
00:03:48
Speaker
All my books are all based on very, very, very simple concepts, very, very simple ideas, because that's how my brain works.
00:03:56
Speaker
I can't think of, I can't work in complicated ways.
00:03:59
Speaker
And it was all based on the idea of, have you heard the phrase, the elephant in the room?
00:04:04
Speaker
Yeah, so where something is obvious in the room, but no one's talking about it.
00:04:10
Speaker
So I just thought it would be quite fun to have a book about an elephant
00:04:14
Speaker
That was physically in the room, an actual elephant that lived in a room, but no one was talking about it.
00:04:20
Speaker
So I came up with lots of ideas, like could he be a spy?
00:04:23
Speaker
Could he be a burglar?
00:04:25
Speaker
And then a very, very tiny little illustration in the tiniest little illustration in the corner of my sketchbook.
00:04:32
Speaker
It was just an elephant saying to a boy, would you like to play hide and seek?
00:04:36
Speaker
And I thought, ah, perfect.
00:04:38
Speaker
An elephant playing hide and seek.
00:04:40
Speaker
That's absolutely ridiculous.
00:04:42
Speaker
So I thought I could just think of it already in my head.
00:04:45
Speaker
I could think of lots and lots of ideas of how to put this elephant hiding.
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Would it be good at hiding?
00:04:52
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Would it be rubbish at hiding?
00:04:55
Speaker
Does it matter?
00:04:56
Speaker
So that's where the idea came from.
00:04:59
Speaker
And it was because it was my first book and I hadn't really sort of found, nailed down a way of working.
00:05:07
Speaker
So illustration wise.
00:05:09
Speaker
So it was basically the first time I'd ever used a computer to make illustrations.
00:05:15
Speaker
So I was just, and I love printmaking as well.
00:05:18
Speaker
So I was basically trying to find a way of doing screen printing and
00:05:23
Speaker
and using the computer as well, because screen printing takes a lot of time and it's very sort of labor intensive.
00:05:31
Speaker
So I was just finding a way of sort of emulating screen printing on a computer.
00:05:35
Speaker
So I found this way of sort of making, using lots of layers on the computer to make the artwork.
00:05:41
Speaker
So it's almost the first sort of way, it's the first time I'd ever sort of developed this way of illustrating.
00:05:47
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So everything happened at once, it's first book, first way of illustrating.
00:05:52
Speaker
And yeah, so that's how it happened, really.
00:05:55
Speaker
That's
Artistic Style and Inspirations
00:05:56
Speaker
great.
00:05:56
Speaker
Transitioning from your debut to subsequent publications, what lessons did you learn along the way about the children's book market and the craft of illustration?
00:06:07
Speaker
Oh, I don't.
00:06:08
Speaker
I wish I knew more about the children's book market, because if I did, I would know the formula for writing the biggest bestseller in the world.
00:06:15
Speaker
But I don't know that, unfortunately.
00:06:20
Speaker
But I think...
00:06:24
Speaker
Basically, what I say is, regards to illustration, we had a guy called, do you know Jim Kay?
00:06:39
Speaker
Have you heard of Jim Kay?
00:06:41
Speaker
He basically did a book called A Monster Cause, but he did all the recent illustrations for the Harry Potter books.
00:06:47
Speaker
Oh, right.
00:06:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:48
Speaker
Yeah, he came he came into university when I was studying there and he was basically saying every book that he does, he likes to work in a different way for every single book.
00:07:02
Speaker
And I found that really revelatory.
00:07:04
Speaker
I found I thought, wow, you don't have to have the same sort of way of working every time you do a project.
00:07:10
Speaker
So I one I can never remember how I did the last project, the process that I use.
00:07:15
Speaker
I can never remember it.
00:07:17
Speaker
So every project I do, I like to sort of approach it in a completely different way, depending on what the theme of the book and the feel of the book and the atmosphere of the book is.
00:07:27
Speaker
And so every project I do, I approach it in a different way, different mediums, different.
00:07:33
Speaker
Normally it's whatever's closest to hand.
00:07:35
Speaker
So if I'm sat at my desk and I've got paint near me, I'll do it in paint.
00:07:38
Speaker
If I've got a pencil near me, I'll do it in pencil and then scan it all in onto the computer.
00:07:43
Speaker
So every time I do a project, I like to make it different every single time.
00:07:47
Speaker
And it makes me feel excited every time I do a project.
00:07:50
Speaker
And hopefully, I think every book that I do sort of feels the sort of same.
00:07:55
Speaker
But every time I do it, I like to do it a different way.
00:07:58
Speaker
It keeps me interested, keeps me excited about illustration and makes it more enjoyable, basically.
00:08:06
Speaker
So, yeah, so that's how I approach illustration.
Advice for Aspiring Illustrators
00:08:10
Speaker
What advice would you give to other illustrators?
00:08:15
Speaker
Basically...
00:08:16
Speaker
Be as authentic as you can.
00:08:19
Speaker
Try not to sort of...
00:08:22
Speaker
I mean, obviously every year there's two or three books that are massive and they're, you know, they're beautiful books and lots of illustrators get really inspired by those books and they try to emulate that sort of way of working.
00:08:35
Speaker
But all you're doing is essentially you're not, it's not your voice.
00:08:38
Speaker
It's someone else's voice that you're copying.
00:08:40
Speaker
So be as authentic as you possibly can make the work that you want to work, you know, work the way you want to work and,
00:08:50
Speaker
Take inspiration from lots and lots and lots of things, but feed it into your work and do the stuff that you want to do.
00:08:56
Speaker
Make it your own voice.
00:08:58
Speaker
The more you draw, the more you take inspiration from things, but lots of inspiration, the more authentic your voice will be.
00:09:05
Speaker
So basically, be true to yourself is the succinct way of saying that.
00:09:11
Speaker
That's a great piece of advice.
00:09:13
Speaker
Collaborating with authors like Joseph on Budgie must have been exciting.
00:09:17
Speaker
Can you tell us about your creative process when working with other writers?
00:09:21
Speaker
Yeah, sure.
00:09:23
Speaker
I find working for other people really liberating because when you're doing your own books, you know, it's your words, your project, your illustrations, and you feel very precious about it.
00:09:36
Speaker
And so when you're working with publishers and they maybe suggest different ways of working, you feel very precious about it and it's very difficult to let go of certain things.
00:09:45
Speaker
But when you're working with an author who's already got his text or her text or their text,
00:09:53
Speaker
is your interpretation of it.
00:09:55
Speaker
And publishers tend to sort of let you do what you want.
00:09:58
Speaker
You know, they've hired you for a reason.
00:10:01
Speaker
So you get a text and they'll say, you know, go for it.
00:10:05
Speaker
And it just gives you all this massive freedom.
00:10:07
Speaker
You've already got the bones of a story, but you can do anything with it.
00:10:11
Speaker
So it gives you more freedom in a way and you feel less precious about what you do.
00:10:15
Speaker
And it's more, you're more open to suggestion.
00:10:19
Speaker
I don't know if you know this, but most when you're working with authors, most publishers
00:10:25
Speaker
You will never meet the author.
00:10:26
Speaker
You'll never sit down in the same room and say, and talk about the book together.
00:10:31
Speaker
The publisher will organise all of that.
00:10:34
Speaker
So you'll get the text from the publisher and then you're free to do with it as you will.
00:10:40
Speaker
I think the reason being is that they don't want the author to influence your images and you don't want to influence the author by suggesting certain things as well.
00:10:50
Speaker
And it seems to work really, really well.
00:10:52
Speaker
So, yeah, I find it really, really liberating just finding ways of interpreting a text.
00:10:58
Speaker
And hopefully it's it pleases the author, you know, the author's happy with it.
00:11:04
Speaker
But also maybe you're approaching it in a way that they haven't even thought of.
00:11:08
Speaker
So so it's a really fun thing to do.
00:11:12
Speaker
Absolutely.
Revisiting Familiar Characters
00:11:13
Speaker
Your book, Have You Seen Dinosaur?
00:11:15
Speaker
seems like a delightful follow up.
00:11:17
Speaker
How do you maintain creativity and freshness in your illustrations when revisiting a familiar theme?
00:11:22
Speaker
That's a great, great question.
00:11:26
Speaker
Thank you.
00:11:27
Speaker
Before, I like to do a different thing every project, working a different way with every project.
00:11:36
Speaker
And basically, because it had been, I don't know how long it had been.
00:11:39
Speaker
It had been eight years, I think, since that first book came out.
00:11:42
Speaker
And I couldn't remember how I'd made the illustrations for that book.
00:11:46
Speaker
So it was basically relearning how to
00:11:49
Speaker
how I made that book and I just could not remember how to do it.
00:11:52
Speaker
So it is similar in aesthetics, but also it's a progression of where I am now in illustration as well.
00:12:01
Speaker
But it was really, really fun revisiting those characters again.
00:12:05
Speaker
To be honest with you, I couldn't think how I was going to do a second book.
00:12:10
Speaker
I thought the first book was pretty much self-contained.
00:12:15
Speaker
But yeah, it was fun.
00:12:16
Speaker
It was really, really good fun.
00:12:17
Speaker
At the time I was working, I didn't have a lot of illustration work on and I didn't have a lot of teaching work on.
00:12:24
Speaker
So I was working in a factory at that particular time.
00:12:26
Speaker
It was during the summer.
00:12:28
Speaker
But it was very sort of, it was not easy work, but I didn't have to think a lot about it.
00:12:34
Speaker
So it gave me all this time to think about this book that I was trying to write.
00:12:39
Speaker
I had all this thinking time.
00:12:40
Speaker
So I was put, you know, boxing stuff up and all these things.
00:12:44
Speaker
The ending of the book came to me, basically, because I had all this free time to think about stuff.
00:12:49
Speaker
So, yeah, it was great to revisit it.
00:12:53
Speaker
And I'd hope to revisit those characters again.
00:12:57
Speaker
Were there any key lessons you learned from this process?
00:13:00
Speaker
What's that, sorry?
00:13:02
Speaker
Were there any key lessons you learned from this process?
00:13:06
Speaker
Any, sorry, this connection's gone a bit.
00:13:09
Speaker
Any key lessons?
00:13:11
Speaker
From this project?
00:13:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:15
Speaker
Any key lessons?
00:13:16
Speaker
Well,
00:13:18
Speaker
I put it off for a very long time.
00:13:21
Speaker
The publishers kept saying to me, would you like to do another one?
00:13:24
Speaker
Would you like to do another one?
00:13:25
Speaker
And I was scared to go back to that project.
00:13:29
Speaker
But when I went back to it, I absolutely loved it.
00:13:31
Speaker
So probably the key lesson I learned was don't be scared.
00:13:35
Speaker
It's fine to go back and revisit these things.
00:13:39
Speaker
And you don't have to overthink it as well.
00:13:41
Speaker
It's, you know, it's, there's kids books.
00:13:44
Speaker
Like I say, I like doing simple things.
00:13:46
Speaker
So it was basically, think of another simple way of approaching this with these characters.
00:13:52
Speaker
And all I did was think, well, an elephant's a pretty big thing.
00:13:56
Speaker
What's bigger?
00:13:57
Speaker
A dinosaur.
00:13:58
Speaker
So I just basically upped the size, scaled it up, basically.
00:14:01
Speaker
So yeah, key lesson was don't be afraid to re-approach these projects.
00:14:07
Speaker
Right.
Teaching and Student Inspiration
00:14:08
Speaker
Teaching at the Cambridge School of Art and leading the Picture Book Illustration Meetup are impressive roles.
00:14:14
Speaker
What do you enjoy most about mentoring aspiring illustrators?
00:14:18
Speaker
Oh, yeah, another great question.
00:14:22
Speaker
I mean, I love teaching.
00:14:23
Speaker
I find it really, really, really inspiring.
00:14:25
Speaker
I find that, I mean, I love teaching.
00:14:28
Speaker
I love to hopefully inspire my students.
00:14:32
Speaker
But when I see their progression,
00:14:34
Speaker
or where they sort of, you know, see their germ of an idea blossom into these wonderful books that they produce.
00:14:41
Speaker
I find that really inspiring.
00:14:43
Speaker
So hopefully my inspiration feeds their inspiration, which feeds my inspiration.
00:14:49
Speaker
I always think at the end of the day when I've been teaching all day,
00:14:54
Speaker
I need to make work.
00:14:55
Speaker
I need to make work because I've been so inspired by these guys making this work.
00:15:00
Speaker
Unfortunately, I put my all into teaching.
00:15:03
Speaker
I love teaching.
00:15:04
Speaker
I put everything into it.
00:15:05
Speaker
So I drive home and I'm really, really inspired.
00:15:07
Speaker
But I'm absolutely exhausted because I've been putting everything into teaching.
00:15:11
Speaker
So I don't do anything when I get home.
00:15:14
Speaker
But yes, I find it really, really, really inspiring.
00:15:20
Speaker
I see the students from the very, very beginning when they first come to the course all the way to graduation.
00:15:27
Speaker
So I see their progress all the way through and seeing how they started to how they end.
00:15:33
Speaker
It's just so inspiring.
00:15:34
Speaker
And we have a big graduation show in London at the end of the course.
00:15:38
Speaker
And seeing how professional the things that they're producing at the end of it is wonderful.
00:15:44
Speaker
Absolutely wonderful to see.
00:15:45
Speaker
And it does inspire me.
00:15:46
Speaker
It really does inspire me.
00:15:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:48
Speaker
Can you share any memorable moments from teaching someone?
00:15:55
Speaker
Oh, I mean, I've seen germs of ideas, like really, really simple ideas, turn into books where publishers have done bidding wars on them.
00:16:08
Speaker
You know, all these publishers want this book.
00:16:10
Speaker
And it just makes me feel very proud to have been part of the process of making that book wanted by all these different publishers.
00:16:20
Speaker
So, yeah, again, I find that really, really inspirational and proud.
00:16:24
Speaker
I'm just really, really proud of what these guys achieve.
00:16:27
Speaker
And it's just wonderful to be part of their process.
Sources of Inspiration
00:16:30
Speaker
Living in the heart of England, do you find inspiration from your surroundings?
00:16:35
Speaker
How does your environment influence your work?
00:16:39
Speaker
Another great question.
00:16:40
Speaker
I mean, where I live, it's not my hometown.
00:16:45
Speaker
We've lived there for about 12 years now.
00:16:48
Speaker
I wouldn't say it's so much the place that inspires me, but it's the people around me.
00:16:53
Speaker
I'm a big, big fan of observational drawing.
00:16:56
Speaker
I love going out with a sketchbook and just drawing life.
00:17:01
Speaker
I'm a big fan of drawing boring things.
00:17:03
Speaker
I love drawing in supermarkets.
00:17:05
Speaker
I love drawing in English pubs.
00:17:09
Speaker
You see so many great characters there.
00:17:12
Speaker
Where I live as well, a lot of the schools around me, which I visit occasionally, have lots of children where English is a second language.
00:17:22
Speaker
And I
00:17:24
Speaker
So they're very, very diverse classrooms.
00:17:26
Speaker
So going in there and drawing all these children in there is absolutely fantastic to do.
00:17:31
Speaker
I mean, English pubs, I mean, they're very, very English-centric, basically.
00:17:36
Speaker
You don't really find them out anywhere else in the world.
00:17:39
Speaker
But what I'll do is I'll take my sketchbook in there
00:17:42
Speaker
No one bothers me.
00:17:43
Speaker
Everyone's going about their business.
00:17:46
Speaker
I'll spread out, I'll put all my inks, all my paints out on the table and I'll just draw the characters that come in and out of the pubs as well.
00:17:54
Speaker
No one really wants to see my work.
00:17:56
Speaker
They just let me get on with what I'm doing.
00:17:59
Speaker
I can make a Coke last for about three hours now because it costs too much money if I'm constantly buying drinks.
00:18:06
Speaker
But yeah, just seeing all these different characters
00:18:09
Speaker
and observing them and drawing them is just wonderful and a lot of these characters that I draw in some shape or form end up in my children's books as well even if they sort of get anthropomorphic I can never say this word given animal characteristics anthropomorphised that's the word and
00:18:29
Speaker
They still retain the characteristics of these guys that I've seen in the pubs or in the supermarket or in cafes or in schools.
00:18:37
Speaker
So, yeah, I take lots of inspiration from the characters from where I live.
00:18:42
Speaker
I think they're the most sort of inspirational things I observe.
00:18:47
Speaker
Has there been a particular incident from someone else's story that influenced your work?
00:18:53
Speaker
From someone else's story?
00:18:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:57
Speaker
Good question.
00:19:01
Speaker
I mean, a story that I've read or something that I've experienced?
00:19:08
Speaker
Could be anything.
00:19:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:11
Speaker
I mean, most of my stuff is based on experience, tiny little experience that I've had.
00:19:18
Speaker
I mean, influence-wise, story-wise, I'm a big fan of...
00:19:25
Speaker
Do you know this term shaggy dog stories?
00:19:28
Speaker
It's basically a joke.
00:19:30
Speaker
It's like a really, really long joke where it's got a really rubbish punchline at the end, like a really sort of like where you hear the joke.
00:19:39
Speaker
It goes on for ages and ages and ages and you hear the joke and you go, oh, at the end because the joke is so bad.
00:19:46
Speaker
But I love them.
00:19:47
Speaker
I love those sort of things.
00:19:48
Speaker
And I love picture bookmakers that do those sort of things where it's called an inevitable surprise where you,
00:19:57
Speaker
you know that there's going to be this really bad pun at the end of it, but it's still a nice surprise when you hear it.
00:20:05
Speaker
So I love picture bookmakers that do that sort of thing.
00:20:07
Speaker
There's a guy called David McKee, who's a British illustrator.
00:20:11
Speaker
He's the king of the shaggy dog story, storytelling.
00:20:16
Speaker
I just love really sort of rambling stories, but just with this silly joke at the end of it.
00:20:21
Speaker
So that's, I think that's my biggest sort of inspiration when it comes to storytelling.
00:20:25
Speaker
But yeah, when it comes to getting ideas for things, yeah, it's just little things, just tiny little things where you go, oh, yeah, that's a good idea for a story.
00:20:35
Speaker
I can't think of one specific incidence where that's happened.
00:20:39
Speaker
But that's why keeping a sketchbook's really good because you can just jot down if you get any of these sort of ideas or any sort of turn of phrase that you hear or any sort of conversation that you might overhear or even just a guy I'm drawing in the pub.
00:20:54
Speaker
You sort of like, well, what's his story?
00:20:56
Speaker
Maybe I can make a, you know, you just project a story onto them.
00:21:00
Speaker
So everything, I guess, influences how I write stories.
00:21:06
Speaker
And observational drawing really, really helps that as well.
Social Media and Authenticity
00:21:10
Speaker
How do you stay updated on trends and developments in the world of children's literature and illustration?
00:21:17
Speaker
How do I keep track of it?
00:21:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:22
Speaker
I am terrible at social media.
00:21:25
Speaker
I am absolutely terrible at it.
00:21:28
Speaker
But I do sort of follow sort of Instagram and various other social media platforms.
00:21:34
Speaker
And I find it quite inspirational.
00:21:36
Speaker
But again, going back to what I said earlier, it's quite easy to get influenced by, you know, you see something that's got loads and loads of likes and it's something, you know, it's a piece of artwork or an illustration or a photograph that you really, you know, wow, that's really amazing.
00:21:52
Speaker
And sometimes it's difficult not to have that influence lead into your own work.
00:21:58
Speaker
So again, it's like it's wonderful to see all these pictures and all this lovely stuff happening on social media and all these wonderful books that are coming out.
00:22:09
Speaker
But always sort of absorb all of that.
00:22:13
Speaker
But also, again, be authentic to your own voice.
00:22:16
Speaker
Try not to be, oh, wow, I love this.
00:22:19
Speaker
I'm going to work like this.
00:22:21
Speaker
See 100 pictures and take inspiration from those 100 pictures.
00:22:25
Speaker
The thing with trends and fashion is that they are cyclical.
00:22:30
Speaker
They don't last forever.
00:22:32
Speaker
So if your work is doing really well at one particular time, it might not be doing well the following year.
00:22:41
Speaker
So just be true to yourself and hopefully your work will always find an audience because it's authentic.
00:22:48
Speaker
It's your work.
00:22:50
Speaker
So I do sort of keep in, you know, I follow publishers, I follow social media.
00:22:56
Speaker
When I'm working at Cambridge, we have lots of dealings with publishers.
00:23:01
Speaker
So I sort of have an ear to the ground of what's happening out there.
00:23:05
Speaker
But again, just be true to yourself, be authentic, wonderful to be influenced by it, but
00:23:11
Speaker
make it your own.
Digital Techniques and Tools
00:23:14
Speaker
How do you incorporate technology in your work?
00:23:17
Speaker
Oh, another great question.
00:23:19
Speaker
I am not brilliant with technology.
00:23:24
Speaker
However, everything I do does end up digital.
00:23:27
Speaker
It does.
00:23:28
Speaker
I do work digitally.
00:23:31
Speaker
So basically, everything I do is all hand-drawn, sort of lots and lots of sort of textures and
00:23:38
Speaker
mark making and I've got paint brushes, I've got crayons, I've got loads and loads of stuff.
00:23:44
Speaker
And I make all these different marks and then I scan it into a computer and sort of it's basically like digital collage, really.
00:23:51
Speaker
So I use a program called, you know, Photoshop, obviously.
00:23:56
Speaker
I use a program called Photoshop and I stitch it all together on there.
00:24:00
Speaker
But if Photoshop is this big, I know this much Photoshop.
00:24:05
Speaker
I just need to know the tiny little bit that I need to know.
00:24:09
Speaker
And this is why YouTube is a wonderful thing, because if I need to know how to do something, there's a million tutorials on YouTube where I can find out what I need to know.
00:24:20
Speaker
So, yeah, I do use technology, but I only know this much about it.
00:24:26
Speaker
Hopefully one day I'll know this much, but I'm not great with it.
00:24:30
Speaker
But I know what I need to know, basically.
00:24:33
Speaker
Lastly, can you share any upcoming projects or aspirations you have for the future of your career?
Current Projects and Aspirations
00:24:40
Speaker
Yeah, sure.
00:24:41
Speaker
I'm trying to write the third book in the elephant series at the moment.
00:24:46
Speaker
I'm trying to think of a concept for that.
00:24:48
Speaker
Nothing has come quite yet, but I'm sure it will.
00:24:51
Speaker
I don't know whether to go bigger in the size of animals or go really, really, really small.
00:24:57
Speaker
So I'm just trying to work on that.
00:24:59
Speaker
I'd love to do more sort of stuff for older children or even adults.
00:25:06
Speaker
I'd love to sort of try that because all my work so far has been mainly picture books.
00:25:11
Speaker
So I'd love to sort of broaden my illustration sort of way of working.
00:25:15
Speaker
I carry on teaching.
00:25:18
Speaker
I love teaching.
00:25:20
Speaker
So hopefully that's going to continue in the near future as well.
00:25:25
Speaker
And carry on observational drawing.
00:25:27
Speaker
Even if I've got no projects on, I will draw.
00:25:30
Speaker
I will just keep a sketchbook and I'll just keep drawing.
00:25:33
Speaker
And hopefully that generates more ideas.
00:25:36
Speaker
The project I'd love to do is I'd love to illustrate Dracula.
00:25:40
Speaker
That would be the thing I would love to do most of all.
00:25:43
Speaker
I don't know why.
00:25:44
Speaker
I just want to love to do that.
00:25:47
Speaker
Where can the audience find your work?
Global Reach and Online Presence
00:25:50
Speaker
Basically, the best place online is probably Instagram.
00:25:54
Speaker
It's David at David Barrow illustration.
00:25:57
Speaker
Books are available everywhere.
00:25:59
Speaker
They're available in the US.
00:26:01
Speaker
They're available in the UK.
00:26:02
Speaker
They're available all over the world for all the bookshops.
00:26:06
Speaker
the best place to buy the books.
00:26:10
Speaker
I do okay in America, lots of bookshops and libraries have been very, very supportive, especially of the elephant books.
00:26:17
Speaker
So they're available in most places, libraries and bookshops in America and in the UK, and also most online shops as well.
00:26:27
Speaker
I'm pretty easy to find basically.
00:26:31
Speaker
Awesome.
00:26:31
Speaker
With this, we end our chat.
00:26:33
Speaker
Thank you so much for joining in.
00:26:35
Speaker
It was fun talking to you.
00:26:36
Speaker
Thank you for inviting me.
00:26:38
Speaker
It's been a pleasure.