Design Jones

Last Friday I travelled down to London to hear one of my favourite artist, illustrator, authors… Oliver Jeffers. He was at the Association of Illustrators to talk about his career and approach to making picture books.

First of all this man has one of the greatest moustaches I have ever seen! But apart from that it was so inspiring to hear him discuss the way each of his books have come about and showcase some of his other work – the paintings and in particular a glimpse of some fantastic sketchbooks! I thought I’d share a few highlights from my notes.

• He fell in to children’s books almost by accident. Oliver had been trying to choose between a career in fine art and illustration and was always fascinated by the interaction of words and pictures. Picture books seemed to be the perfect medium so he created ‘How to Catch a Star’ as his final year project.
• He describes himself as a picture book maker not a writer & illustrator. He allows the words to be in formed by the pictures and vice-versa. This allows him a lot of freedom to avoid saying the obvious and avoid being too ‘cutesy’ or sentimental despite covering serious topics.
• He always set out to be proactive, authorial and almost entreprenuerial in order to avoid beconing the kind of illustrator that is simply a designer’s play thing. He always saw the boundaries between discilines such as fine art or design or typography as being unnecessary.
• Oliver stressed the importance of sketchbooks. He will often have one for each book project as well ones for fine art projects and another for random drawings mixed with shopping lists!
• “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”
• Oliver wins work as much for the way he thinks as the way he draws!
• He was very clear about his job being to entertain rather than educate. His books appeal to both adults and children alike and that duality is certainly intentional – after all it’s the adults that have to read these books to their kids!
• Don’t confuse playing safe with being predictable. Take risks even though it’s a risky thing to do.
• Look everywhere and listen to all things.
• Draw what you like in the way you like to draw, how it feels right. Don’t try to emulate others.

Thanks Oliver! If you’d like to see more of Oliver Jeffers’ work click HERE.