Who or what made you want to become an illustrator?

As I kid growing up, I was always reading, and have always loved books. I’ve loved making things – crafting, drawing and painting –for as long as I can remember. But I hadn’t really thought of art as a career until my last year of high school. My school didn’t have art for the OAC (senior) level, but my teacher the previous year, Ms Thorne, saw some creative spark in me and three of my friends, and lobbied hard for the school board to create a senior-year art class for the four of us. We were given our own painting studio and the freedom to devise our own curriculum. I’ll always be so grateful to Ms Thorne for not giving up on my friends and me, and for seeing the value in an art education!  After that it was a simple decision to pursue an education in art after high school. But for some reason it didn’t occur to me that illustrating children’s books was a real job, until I went to a gallery show in Toronto (where I was at York University for Fine Arts) – a gallery show of original illustrations from established children’s book illustrators. That was a huge turning point – as I remember it, I decided on the spot that was what I was going to do.

Did you attend art school or undertake any other formal artistic training?

After getting my BFA at York, I took a year to travel and then went back to school at what I still believe is the best post-secondary illustration program in Ontario – at Sheridan College in Oakville. So between the two programs I’ve had seven years of art school! I liked to say “I could’ve been a doctor after all this education” but that’s really so not the case. 

Where do you currently live and where did you grow up?

I’ve lived in Toronto, Canada, ever since leaving home for university. Currently I live right in the centre of the city, which is super fun and exciting. We just moved here less than a year ago after spending many years in a quieter, more family-oriented neighbourhood when my daughter was little. I spend a good chunk of the summer and various holidays in the country a couple of hours away, at my family’s little old farmhouse on a former sheep farm, overlooking Lake Ontario. It’s not fancy but it’s a lovely spot in a beautiful part of the province. I grew up about 2 hours north of Toronto in a small city called Peterborough. It’s in an area surrounded by lakes – so my childhood was spent swimming, biking, camping and more swimming. 

Which books from your own childhood really stand out?

My favourites were the Curious George books - I remember I really identified strongly with goofy little George. I loved Madeline and Babar books, too. All the Little Golden Books... Richard Scarry’s amazingly detailed scenes and adorable characters.

Once I got into chapter books I really loved the Little House on the Prairie series, Nancy Drew, Harriet the Spy and the Choose Your Own Adventure series. 

What was your first commission as a professional illustrator?

I’m not sure if this was my VERY first commission but it was close to it: I had created my own little picture book of the story “The Little Red Hen”, had the pages printed, designed a cover, and hand-bound them into about 12 or so little books, which I then mailed out to all the kids’ book publishers I wanted to work with. Happily (and quite surprisingly), I heard back from two of the companies, with offers of a book deal. I felt the project offered by Kids Can Press (amazing Canadian publisher) was the most interesting – it was called Three Barnyard Tales and was a compilation of Little Red Hen (I did have to re-do the illustrations), Chicken Little, and The Ugly Duckling. With that commission I quit my day job as a project manager for a corporate graphic design company. 

Was creativity part of your childhood?

Creativity was a HUGE part of my childhood, thanks to my parents. My mom worked as a grade one teacher before I was born, but when I was little she got interested in weaving. She had a workshop / studio in the basement where she always had several projects on the go, all sorts of textile-based crafts, needlework, and big complicated weaving looms. As well as colour-coded baskets of brightly coloured yarn lining the walls. So I was surrounded by colour and crafts and any art supplies I could ask for. My dad painted and did printmaking around that time as well – so his paintings hung on the walls along with prints by diverse artists like van Gogh and Canadian artist Greg Curnoe. For the longest time I thought my dad had painted the beautiful vase of sunflowers that hung in their bedroom (later realized it was van Gogh - oops!). 

What piece of software or hardware could you not live without and why?

100% Photoshop – thank you, Adobe! When I first started out after college, I was very against computer illustration. I’d found it frustrating to work in Illustrator or Photoshop in school and was very adamant that hand-painting everything was going to be my thing, forever. See the illustrations above for my first book – all hand-painted. But about 10 years ago I started playing around with scanning in hand-painted bits and swatches of textured colour and lines, and then compiling them in Photoshop digitally, collage-style – and everything changed overnight. I could work so much more quickly and more efficiently – which freed me up creatively. I still draw by hand for initial sketches, but everything else is done with my beloved Photoshop. I work on a big desktop iMac, and don’t have a laptop or iPad, which I know is unusual these days. I have a Wacom tablet and stylus for drawing fine details and little flourishes here and there. 

What do you hope children take away from your drawings?

I think back to how I saw myself in Curious George, with all his ambitions and enthusiasms, and the scrapes he got into. So I hope kids can see themselves in my illustrations, whether it's in the little critters or human kiddos I am asked to draw. For this reason I work hard to develop each character to be able to show a wide range of emotion – not just joy but uncomfortable emotions, too, like frustration, confusion and embarrassment. When I'm commissioned to show kids, I always make sure to include a variety of sizes, shapes, ethnicities and abilities, so ALL kids can see themselves in the story. 

What do you do in your spare time?

I really love being outside and active, so the first thing I do with a little spare time is go on a long walk with my dog, or a run or bike ride. I love being at the beach, and swimming. A couple of summers ago I bought myself a kayak, and I haven’t had the chance to get it out as much as I’d like so far – but have big plans for this coming summer. I read a bunch, and love going to the movies. The best thing, however, is going on adventures with my family (husband and teenage daughter) – we just got back from an amazing holiday in Italy and can’t wait to explore other fantastic parts of the world together!

Take us behind the scenes and describe your studio / workspace.

When my family moved from our previous house, where I had a backyard garage studio, we moved to a downtown apartment where there isn’t a workspace for me. This meant finding a studio to rent nearby – which sounds like an inconvenience but in fact has led to a much better work/life balance for me! I’ve got a small but cozy studio in a 130-year-old building about a 20-minute walk from home and I love it. It’s a slightly odd and historic building that feels to me to be haunted (although I have no proof... yet). I have a desk to work at with all my supplies and technology at hand, a bookshelf with my collection of children’s books for inspiration, and a cozy chair that belonged to my Grandpa, for the occasional afternoon nap.

Which 4 words would you use to describe your illustration portfolio?

Whimsical, happy, warm and varied

Animals feature heavily in children’s books – do you have a pet?

I do! I love all animals but am currently mostly a dog person. Our dog, Red, came to us in 2017 as a rescue from West Virginia in the US. He’s part hound, part lab, and maybe a few other things... who knows? He’s sweet and goofy, sleeps hard and plays hard, and loves to follow his nose on our walks. He was my inspiration when I was asked by a healthcare organization to illustrate a poster showing yoga poses. He can’t necessarily do these poses, as he mostly lies around like a big sausage or bounces off the walls chasing a ball. He’s just a big orange goofball and we love him.