What Really Happens When an Author and Illustrator Work Together

by Audrey Wood

As an author, I am fortunate to be able to work with a very inspiring editor. One day Bonnie Verburg called me and asked, “What would you think of retelling the Paul Bunyan tale?”

I thought it was an interesting question. “Why do you want to know?” I asked. Bonnie then informed me that David Shannon, the illustrator (also a friend of mine) grew up in the Pacific Northwest and had a fondness for the Paul Bunyan folk tales.

I told Bonnie I would think about it. When I hung up the phone I did just that. I thought about the Paul Bunyan stories I had heard in my childhood. To tell the truth, writing about a giant lumberjack at first did not interest me.

But as I pondered my editor’s request, I began to imagine the fabulous illustrations David would produce if I could just give him the right story.

I didn’t want to just retell the story; I wanted to write something new. So I went on a research quest. I read every version of the Bunyan tales I could find. I discovered many background details about the Paul Bunyan legend, but most important were the references about the giant man having a family.

Frankly, a lot of the scant history about the family was very rude. Paul’s wife, Carrie McIntie, ran their farm, was very strong, and cursed a lot. Their son, Little Jean, didn’t amount to a hill of beans, and their daughter, Teeny, was always the brunt of mean jokes.

Well, I decided to change all that! I felt that the family should have a place in the genre that had meaning and dignity. I began by daydreaming. If the Bunyans wanted to have some recreation as a family, what would they do? How would the giant family change the landscape of America and Canada? Could it be that they used Niagara Falls as a shower? What about Old Faithful, the geyser? Could they use that giant hot water spout to clean their camp dishes? And was the continental divide erected to keep the giant Bunyan children from wandering off too far?

After I wrote the story, Bonnie sent it to David Shannon. He liked it and agreed to illustrate The Bunyans. When he finished drawing the sketches for the book, Bonnie sent them to me for a look, and was I surprised! David had added a new character that I had not even mentioned in the story. The new character was fantastic, a giant purple puma, a pet belonging to the giant kids. I loved David’s addition so much, I went back into the manuscript, added the cat to the story and gave it a name – “Slink.”

Creating picture books is a collaborative effort. Authors and illustrators can work together to inspire each other. My text inspired David; his art inspired me. And thanks to our editor, Bonnie, a perfect match was made and a new book born!

How The Bunyans Was Illustrated

by David Shannon


Step 1

“The first thing I do in the process of illustrating a book is to read the story several times, and then start imagining how to tell the story through pictures. The words tell one version of the story, but the pictures tell an entirely different version which leaves room for lots of imagination on the readers part. The illustration process initially, involves drawing many different thumbnail sketches. The sketches are called “thumbnail sketches” because they are about the size of a thumbnail, and are very scribbled. An important part of the process is drawing character studies, while imagining how the characters in the story might look. It is interesting to research at the library and learn how characters from different time period might dress, live, also what the landscape looked like.”

Step 2

“The next thing I do is make full-sized drawings for each page of the book. Sometimes I make several drawings for a page. If I have more than one idea, then I decide which one is the best.”

Ma Bunyan had to build a barrier to remind her children not to wander off so far. That’s how the Rocky Mountains came to be.

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