News and Reviews for the Youth Librarian is most pleased to present this conversation with Raúl Colón, author/illustrator of Draw!
Q. What event, idea, trip, etc. prompted you to write/illustrate the title Draw! taking place in an African savanna?
A. Two events led me to write and illustrate Draw!: An exhibit in NYC by the photographer Gregory Colbert titled “Ashes and Snow” where wild animals were shown interacting with young human beings in exotic situations. The other was a desire to write about my experience and passion for drawing as a little boy.
Q. You are known as a fantastic illustrator. What induced you to also author this original title?
A. I had written and illustrated a previous picture book Orson Blasts Off. I felt the itch to write another one.
Q. At what age did you begin to view art as more than just a pastime hobby and what type of positive encouragement did you have along the way?
A. I was probably eleven-years-old when I realized that I wanted to do what Norman Rockwell was doing. I had seen his work in Life (or Look) Magazine. I learned that the term illustrator applied to him. I wrote and sent an "art test" to a correspondence art school known as "Famous Artist's." A representative visited my home and told my mother that I definitely had talent and if I still had a desire to study art when I was older, we should seriously consider doing that. It was my first professional encouragement I guess.
Q. Was there a certain library book and illustrator which led you down the path to illustrating children’s titles?
A. I always enjoyed going to the bookstore and looking at children's book illustrations even after I had been working as a freelance illustrator for years. An editor had noticed my work in the New York Times Book Review and offered me a manuscript for my first picture book, Always My Dad.
Q. What would be your advice to a student who is seriously pursuing the career as an illustrator?
A. A young person today needs to have a hunger, a passion to do this kind of work. That will cover a lot of the supposed impossibility of breaking through that may take years to achieve.
Q. What can we look forward to in the future from you?
A. A couple of books will be published soon—one on Leontyne Price and another on Spanish American Heroes.
Q. Since this newsletter goes out to our librarian customers (public and K12), could you share a favorite moment relating to libraries?
A. As a child everything I learned about art at the time was based on all the books I read or checked out at the public library. I could spend two or three hours at the library going through dozens of art and photography books. Therefore, my first art teachers, beyond the comic book artists I knew—Steve Ditko (Spiderman), Joe Kubert (Sgt. Rock) and Jack Kirby (Thor), were Da Vinci, Michaelangelo and the French Impressionists. They were at my reach thanks to my local library. |
