Q&A with Julie Downing

 

Photo by Lorenz Angelo

 

 

Julie Downing is the author and illustrator of the new children's picture book Hello, Sun. Her many other books include Hello, Moon. She lives in San Francisco.

 

Q: What inspired you to create Hello, Sun?

 

A: The idea for Hello, Sun was inspired by friend and fellow illustrator Isabella Kung. We were talking about future projects, and I told her how much I enjoyed creating the art for Hello, Moon. She asked about the forest during the day. And that got me thinking about the differences between night and day.

 

Q: In our previous Q&A, about Hello, Moon, you said, “Even though the text is only about 100 words, it took me a surprisingly long time to create Hello, Moon.” Was that the case with this book too?

 

A: I created the art and text for Hello, Sun in eight months. I think that was the fastest I have ever created a book. One of the things that took so long with Hello, Moon was finding the form. After years of attempts I settled on the form and the rhyme scheme.

 

I knew I wanted Hello, Sun to follow the same form as Hello, Moon, so the hardest part of the project was already done.

Q: How did you choose the animals to illustrate in the book?

 

A: Many animals tried out for the book. I chose animals that actually lived in the woods in Marin County. I wanted the daytime animals to live in the same forest as the animals in Hello, Moon.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am currently working on a book about an unlikely friendship between a museum guard and a pigeon. Last summer I was lucky enough to teach in Florence and I spent the month of August in the city. If you have traveled to Italy in August, you know it is hot!

 

I spent a lot of my time sketching in the museums because they were air conditioned. In fact, the coolest part of the museum was usually next to the museum guard because they sat next to the air conditioning. I got a perfect view of the museum from the guard’s point of view. I loved being surrounded by magnificent art and the relative peace and quiet.

 

On the other hand, outside the museum was a garden, full of pigeons. Everywhere we went flocks of pigeons filled the air. The contrast between the inside of the museum and the outside garden made me wonder about the different characters who lived in each. And what happens when they meet.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: People always ask me how I start a story. My books almost always start with the art. I find the writing part much harder, but I see so much of the story in terms of images that I lay the book out with pictures and then think about text.

 

I usually start every morning trying to sketch in a sketchbook. Sometimes the sketches make it into the story and sometimes the drawings help me think about the sequence of action.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Julie Downing.