author vs. illustrator

As someone who regularly reads illustrated books (graphic novels in most cases, but also picture books when I am looking to gift them to my niblings), I am fascinated by collaboration between authors and illustrators. Sometimes they are one and the same, but when they are not, I have questions about their dynamics – how much creative control does the author have? The illustrator? What makes a good artistic team… good? In their picture-book-with-comics sensibilities, Author vs. Illustrator, author Donald Lemke and illustrator Bob Lentz break the fourth wall and create a story on page with plenty of power struggles, changes of directions, and surprises to make readers of all ages laugh and understand more about the writing, creating, and bookmaking process. 

At the far reaches of Earth, high upon a mountaintop, a bustling city is under attack by a... cute little furball? Wait—what?! That’s not right. The author wrote this book about a “ferocious beast,” not a cuddly critter. Turns out, the book’s illustrator has other plans. Page by page, these clashing collaborators are writing (and drawing) themselves into the story for a full-on creator combat—a bookmaking BATTLE ROYALE! Can the author make a successful book with no pictures? Can the Illustrator tell a tale without words? (A picture is worth a thousand of them, he says.) Or will this dueling duo get on the same page at last to create the ultimate happy ending?

From Lemke & Lentz (the quirky collaborators behind Call of Doodie and Book-O-Beards) comes a laugh-out-loud picture book about the not-so-simple process of creating a picture book. Full of over-the-top humor and under-the-radar lessons—including the skills of teamwork, conflict resolution, and respect—this book is a must-have for young writers, budding artists, and lifelong book lovers.

 

In this picture book, the author and illustrator share the roles, choices, and process of a creative team. Using avatars of themselves, they show and tell through comic book dialogue how books are made: a process of trial and error, listening to each other, and making joint decisions. In the book-within-the-book that they are creating on page, Captain Sprinkle must defeat a legendary beast… but why is it so small and cute?! Miscommunications and creative choices filled with elementary grade humor (they give it jalapeño breath, the hero can shoot ice cream cannons, and so on) make for an engaging lesson in book-making and storytelling. 

The structure of this picture book is one of its most interesting features – the authors recreate themselves as comic characters in order to show how they go about making books. Their dialogue alternates as the author shares an idea, and then the illustrator pitches in with an innovative illustration of that snippet. As the process continues, it becomes clear that the illustrator and author have very different ideas of how the book should look, who has ultimate creative control, and how to work together successfully. While there’s not much deep characterization of the authors themselves, they hilariously demonstrate the process of creating dynamic stories and character design through their back-and-forth banter. The plot is simplistic enough for all ages to follow, though the dialogue includes advanced vocabulary that will appeal to older audiences.

This title offers a view into how books are made, but it’s not all smooth sailing. The main conflict is one familiar to anyone who has ever worked on a group project: a disagreement on roles and control. It is resolved by the characters sharing ideas gracefully and productively (but not before some shouted ALL CAPS words!). The lessons within the pages on healthy teamwork, collaboration, and resolving conflict will be welcome to all ages of creators or future-creators. As Lemke’s avatar says on page 36: “In a way, a book is a lot like a chili dog… When the parts come together, it’s totally worth the indigestion.” It’s meant for young readers, but I am tempted to use Author vs. Illustrator with my high school students to teach authorial choice as part of a unit on graphic novels. It’s definitely innovative!

Before we wrap up, the art! Lentz’s illustration style includes the aforementioned comic book avatars of the creators, including details like Lemke's dog and Lentz’s snacking, but otherwise their time on-page is mostly accompanied by white space and sparsely-traced suggestions of an office-type background. On the other hand, the “book” they are creating together gets the full color treatment. The step-by-step evolution of Captain Sprinkles’ and the beast’s character design is one of the most interesting visual aspects, and will make for a laugh or two as well. On the last page of the book, the creators include a brief collage of photos of some of their own inspiration, and how it ties into the creation of the book – a nice touch and teaching tool.

In all, Lemke and Lentz have created a picture book about making books – and as a dynamic duo have made it fun, funny, and interesting to boot. Author vs. Illustrator is silly, instructive, and honest – a great combination!

Recommended for: the early reader crowd (ages 6+), young readers who either love comics or may be interested in creating their own, and anyone fascinated by the creative interplay between authors and illustrators.

 

Donald Lemke and Bob Lentz's picture book Author vs. Illustrator will be out from Capstone Editions tomorrow, Thursday August 1, 2024. 

 

Fine print: I received an advanced digital copy of the text from the publisher (Capstone) at Picture Book Palooza. I did not receive any compensation for this post.

handwriting and blogging

You may have read a recent article in the New York Times about handwriting and education, and the links that researchers see between putting pen (or pencil!) to paper and idea creation, memory and learning ability.  What you probably didn’t do is print it out, highlight the particularly interesting bits, and then carry that paper copy around in your purse for two weeks, waiting for the ideal moment to stop and write a reflection blog post.  Who does that, anyway?  A nerd like me.  *grin*

Maria Konnikova’s June 2nd piece gathered information from recent studies that suggest that handwriting can have a long-standing effect on learning.  She wrote that “[P]rinting, cursive writing, and typing on a keyboard are all associated with distinct and separate brain patterns – and each results in a distinct end product,” and, “[W]riting by hand allows … a process of reflection and manipulation that can lead to better understanding and memory encoding.”  It’s an interesting premise, and in my case, a convincing one.

I began to think of the ways in which I wrote as a child, and continue to write today.  I learned to print in kindergarten.  I began to learn cursive lettering in first grade (age six!).  In third grade, my mother began homeschooling my siblings and me, and handwriting landed very far down the priority list.  In middle school my family bought a home computer, but I shared the use of it with everyone else. I wrote anything I wanted to say down on paper, usually in print.  And I eventually started corresponding with pen pals all over the world, some of whom used beautiful and peculiar print that almost looked like a different script. 

By the time I was back in a formal classroom in high school, I’d taught myself to write only in my version of perfect print: some of it borrowed from the Norwegian pen pal who lived above the Arctic Circle, some handed down from my mother, some cadged from an English teacher whose chalkboard printing I particularly admired.  I learned to type in a high school class by sheer force of will – I would not get anything less than an A grade!  And most of the rest of my life has been spent typing (with the essential caveat that I took class notes by hand), including college and grad school papers, work and personal emails, and endless chat messages to friends. 

The interesting thing about blogging is that it has reintroduced me to handwriting.  Over the past 5+ years I have filled a succession of notebooks with scribbled thoughts on characters, plots, weaknesses, strengths, lists and who I’d recommend the book to.  Whether or not I put those notes in a later review doesn’t matter – there’s something about writing out my visceral response to a book that helps me connect to it AND dissect it.  I begin to see larger themes and similarities, and I remember the reading experience far longer. 

So, that NYT article made perfect sense.  Handwriting has always been one of my outlets of personal expression, but it is also a tool that helps me understand things on a deeper level, and think more creative thoughts overall.  No wonder I love it!  And no wonder I persevere in writing my reviews and blog posts long-hand, even when it would be far easier to type and hit ‘Save,’ and not bother with that in-between draft. 

Now I’m wondering about you, my fellow readers.  Where does handwriting fit in your life? Do you believe the handwriting hype?  How do you write your reviews?

things to muse about

NaNoWriMo has taught me a couple of things. I know, I know. You’re like, ALREADY?! It’s been…nine days. But these are pretty basic, so I’m going to get them off my chest.

First, I only have a certain number of non-academic words in me per day. In my hey-day, I could pull off a fifteen-page paper in one sitting, if the occasion arose (and I’d been that bad about procrastinating, which was almost always, truth to tell). But as I’ve been blogging over the last six months and writing fiction for the last nine days, I’ve come to the conclusion that I now only have about 2,500 words in me at any given time. After that threshold I get irritable and unhappy and start taking coffee breaks (even if it’s just to stand in front of the coffeemaker, and not actually refill my cup) every five minutes or so. Very Maddening Behavior. So I’m behind on NaNo, and I’m behind on my blog, and I don’t really know that I can do both well at the same time. This is sort of an apology/excuse in advance, in case you weren’t picking up the hints. I may be around a little less for a couple of weeks while I try to salvage my word count.

Second, it’s almost Christmas. I know, I know. Not really a revelation. But it hit me when I came downstairs and Ginny was crafting and listening to Christmas music. NaNoWriMo is a November thing. Followed by a December thing. December = holidays. So we put in Love Actually, a fun and modern holiday film, and had a little bit of Christmas cheer. I can’t imagine what my word count will look like in a couple of weeks when Thanksgiving rolls around and all the attendant merry-making, food-preparing and house-cleaning. Erm…maybe I’d better get going now…

Photos are of Ginny’s (best sister ever) work space & latest project. Guess the theme?