Author & Illustrator. Here is our little chat with Lucinda Gifford. What do you love most about kids books? I love the immediacy and fun of children's stories. There’s room for wild, fascinating ideas, but also stories that reflect deeper human truths (without being preachy, ideally). And, of course, I love that children’s stories lend themselves to illustration. Did you have a favourite childhood book? It’s a toss up between ‘Burglar Bill’ by Allan and Janet Ahlberg – so funny and wry and gentle – and ‘Charmed Life’ by Dianne Wynne Jones, which is a terrific read and genuinely dark in parts. I used to devour the Enid Blyton school stories - Mallory Towers and St Clare’s - and read them over and over. Now though, I feel these stories are probably too judgemental. We’re kinder about children these days, thankfully. Does it take long to complete a book? Picture book illustrations can take months, but it depends on how detailed the style is. With writing, a simple story can come to me in a day, but take hours to perfect, over many, many weeks. I find black and white illustrations easiest and quickest. They can generally be looser, and the shading is more simple to do and I can usually do at least a couple of illustrations a day. How many books have you done? I’ve illustrated 26 books so far, four of which I’ve written myself. When did you start drawing? I’ve always drawn, though I’ve had moments of giving up, or getting interested in other things. About 15 years ago, I decided to find a way of drawing for a living, worrying that I would have failed myself otherwise. So I started practising in earnest: going to life drawing classes, researching illustration styles and creating my own stories. Did you take any art classes growing up? Only the ones at school, though I studied Architecture at Uni. This was in the 90’s, so we were still drawing by hand. LOTS of drawing! What is your studio like? It is a small, light, comfortable room in my house in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. My studio is lined with books, scattered with art materials and smells of fresh coffee and not-so-fresh Labrador. If you could be anything, what would you be? I'd be me! I like being me. I am horribly lucky as I get to do what I enjoy every day, with a dog for company. What inspires you to write/draw? Most of my ideas start with stories. And I have lots of stories circling in my head. Sometimes I'll see something – like fat tortoiseshell cat in a corner window – and start building their story. Any excuse really... Do you have a favourite thing to draw? Creating monsters, hairy animals and scary things makes me happy. And drawing dogs, preferably with funny expressions. I also enjoy making up extravagant castles and houses – I never became an architect, but I still enjoy architecture. Any new up coming titles coming out soon, that we should be looking out for? My Picture book ‘Duck Duck Moose’ will be coming out in June, in Australia and online in the UK. It’s about a friendly moose and some not-so-friendly ducks. It’s the brightest, most orange book I’ve ever done! I’ve also illustrated a gorgeous picture book by Lydia Williams, Goalkeeper for the Australia Women’s Soccer Team. It comes out in July and features lots of cute and competitive Australian animals. Thanks for answering our questions, thats a lot of books you have done! More Information on Lucinda Gifford. lucindagifford.com Instagram @lucindagifford Facebook @lucindagiffordbooks Twitter @LucindaGifford You can purchase books below. https://www.waterstones.com/author/lucinda-gifford/3135883 https://www.booktopia.com.au/search.ep?keywords=lucinda+gifford&productType=917504 https://www.dymocks.com.au/books/?term=lucinda%20gifford https://www.amazon.com/s?k=lucinda+gifford&i=stripbooks-intl-ship&ref=nb_sb_noss
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