Q&A with Diane Ewen

1. You are a picture book illustrator who has already published several books. Have you always been interested in writing for this age group too? 

I think my real interest in writing for children came much later than my dream to illustrate children’s books. I always thought that being an author was for other people, and if I’m honest, I thought that writers were really well-off people who didn’t come from my background. I was aware of writers like Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, Michael Morpurgo, etc. and that they came from a part of society a million miles away from mine. If you don’t read books by or see illustrations created by people of colour, you tend not to think that this is something that you could do. I realised when I was on my university course that being an illustrator could come hand-in-hand with writing, and as soon as I realised that, writing also became a dream too!  

2. Could you tell us a little bit about the story that won the ‘Best Picture Book Manuscript for Children 4+’  Jericho Prize? 

My story is basically about the strength and the relevance of intergenerational relationships, together with determination and persistence. My story is about a little boy called Winston who is very happy with his life, except for one thing. He LOVES music and really wants to play a musical instrument, but he has failed miserably at everything he has tried. One afternoon, his grandfather shows him his much-loved old steel pans, and when Winston hears the magical music his grandpa makes, he wants nothing more than to learn to play. But will he be able to learn this new, special instrument?

I chose the theme because it related so much to the Caribbean fun-loving culture of music and the connection that Caribbean people maintain towards the islands of their birth. They love to tell stories all the time to the younger generation, and they’ll always contain a joke or two within them.

3. As part of your prize, you have been mentored by publishing professionals to help develop your manuscript. How has the experience been? What things have you learnt about yourself as a writer?

I was paired with the amazing Anna Maquinn. I felt Anna gave me loads of great advice. The fact that Anna is a practicing author is so good as she gave me insight into her journey and the way things work in the industry. She helped by giving me confidence first and foremost, as she believed in my story about Winston and his grandpa. That my story had a good theme and overall story. She also gave me advice about the following: 

•    Ideas of where to take Winston’s story from beginning to end in terms of development
•    How to think about how the story worked from different angles and to try out some things differently
•    We also spoke about ‘voice’ and ‘rhythm’ of the story

4. What mediums do you create your illustrative work in?

I’m a bit of an eclectic artist/illustrator. I will use the methods and tools to get the results I feel I need for the illustration. It all inevitably starts with pencil and paper. I work things out in rough sketchy mode, but somewhere along the line I could be working with ink or chalk pastels or wax crayons or watercolour paints. That’s why I say I’m eclectic and any of these mediums are mingled into the picture book spreads amongst something that could be digital art.
  
I also use a tablet and pen, mainly for sketching ideas, but everything ends up going through Adobe Photoshop;  that’s where I can hone and try to perfect all the work I produce. 

5. Can you give us recommendations for your favourite kid’s books?

I have different tastes in books, so I can give you recommendations of what has impressed me lately. I particularly love all of the books I’ve created with Rashmi Sirdeshpande. We call them the ‘Never books.’ All containing a little girl and her adventures with different dinosaurs. I would recommend them for action and silly fun, and also the message that is in all of them, which is the ability to achieve anything, is within our grasp, even if you are a dinosaur!

I could recommend so many books but the ones that jump out in my mind are those where the words and illustrations ignite my imagination. Books that make me think, either about them, the way they’ve been written or for just the illustrations, once I’ve read them. I would recommend The Girl and The Dinosaur by Hollie Hughes and Sarah Massini. It’s written in rhyme and the images are ethereal. Everything matches perfectly.  

Diane Ewen is British illustrator, born in Walsall, in the West Midlands. She has always been in love with art and graduated from the University of Wolverhampton with a B.A. Honours Degree in illustration. Diane likes to create illustrations that are hand-drawn in pencil before painting in watercolour and acrylics prior to embellishing them using Photoshop but she also enjoys working directly on the computer screen creating her designs; constantly developing her style as she progresses.

She likes the fact that illustrations are the first things that entice the reader to engage with a book and is inspired by the use of vibrant colour. Her debut into publishing was the illustration of the “Pretty Poodle Parlour,” published by Orion and written by Angela MCallister.