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David Wiesner
Biography
David Wiesner studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, where professors Tom Sgouros and David Macaulay not only taught him the fundamentals of drawing and painting, but fostered his imaginative spirit. He has published more than 20 award-winning books for young readers. Two of his works were Caldecott Honor Books, and he received the Caldecott Medal for Tuesday (1992), The Three Pigs (2002), and Flotsam (Clarion, 2006). He is only the second person to win the Caldecott Medal three times. He lives outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Scoop
1. What sparks your imagination when creating your drawings? What artists have inspired you? Are you often inspired by your everyday surroundings or dreams?
The act of drawing is the catalyst for the things I imagine. The connection from my brain runs through my arm to my hand to the pencil to the paper. I can think of images or ideas, but it is when I put pencil to paper that I begin to make connections between the different things I am drawing. The drawing process allows my imagination to roam far and wide. Given that, anything can be a spark for that process. Often for me, it is ordinary, everyday objects or situations. I like the idea of the extraordinary set right in the middle of the ordinary, the mundane.
I have found, and continue to find, inspiration in the work of many artists. As a kid, I loved the Renaissance painters for the richness of their imagery. I also discovered the Surrealists and loved the strangeness of their imagery. Brueghel, Da Vinci, Durer and Dali, De Chirico, Duchamp. I drew inspiration from movies and directors like Welles, Hitchcock and Kubrick. Comic book artists like Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko and Jack Davis. And from Charles Knight, the painter who first conceptualized what dinosaurs looked like. I so believed his paintings when I was a kid; I thought for a while they were photographs.
2. What challenges do you face in your illustrating process? How do you overcome them?
The biggest challenge for me is finding the story behind the images that I come up with. That writing process can be a long and meandering path. But by continuing to draw, even when I know the story is not all there, I can see what isn't working and often the solution will reveal itself - only if I continue the search on the paper, as opposed to just sitting and thinking.
3. What tips or advice can you share with young students who hope to start drawing?
Concentrate on drawing the things you love to draw, not what you think other people want you to draw. This will allow you to find your own personal way of looking at the world. Don't worry about what other people think about your pictures.
4. What is your list of favorite children or teen books?
That is a very hard question to answer, and the answer will be different if you ask me an hour from now. At 3 P.M. on July 3, 2007, I would say: Space Case by James Marshall, A Time Of Wonder by Robert McCloskey, Short Cut by David Macaulay, Ox-Cart Man by Barbara Cooney; Rain by Peter Spier.
5. How is telling stories with pictures different than with words?
Despite appearances, the process of storytelling with picture alone is very similar to using words - they are just different tools. I am thinking about character, plot, pacing, setting - all the storytelling elements. In a picture book, the images do much of this anyway, so I am just carrying that process a little further.
The real difference comes in the reading of a wordless book. The author's voice - the text - is not telling the story. Each reader tells the story themselves. There is an element of interpretation going on, so each reader will tell the story in THEIR words, not mine. This isn't better or worse, just a different way to experience a story.
Book Covers
Flotsam |
The Loathsome Dragon |
Sector 7 |
The Three Pigs |
Tuesday |
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Last Updated: 08/26/2008