S.K. Edwards is the author and illustrator of the children's book series The Doggos.
Q: What inspired you to create The Doggos series?
A: My inspiration is twofold. As a girl, I lived in the Virgin Islands and there were not a lot of other kids to play with, so my little poodle Beau became my constant companion. Throughout my life dogs have always been important to me for their love, loyalty and fun. As an adult, I became involved with animal welfare organizations.
The Doggos evolved as a creative expression of all of this. I have always loved to write, and I taught myself how to make art on my iPad in Procreate.
Q: How do you come up with the idea for your stories?
A: I don’t really know how I come up with any of my ideas, except they all come from a quiet meditative place. Either sitting or walking images come to me, and as I begin to write, the stories evolve. The stories come first and then the drawings.
Q: Can you say more about how the book’s illustrations were created?
A: I taught myself to use the program Procreate on my iPad. I get an idea for a drawing and then I find an image online that resembles what I see in my mind.
For instance, if one of my characters is sitting in a chair, I will find an image of a child sitting in a chair and then draw over it to turn it into my character. It’s kind of a collage process where I put together a lot of images. I never use images directly.
A good example is the cover for Simon and Butch, which was inspired by the image for Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. If you look at it, you can see where the inspiration comes from, but I turned it into my characters, and that’s how I work.
Q: What do you hope kids take away from the story?
A: I hope that they are inspired to be the best versions of themselves. All the stories have drama; kids have to overcome obstacles. Dogs are always part of the healing process.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: We just published the sixth Doggo book, Theo, Young Prince of Harlem. I have been working with a team of two other women, my agent/editor and a formatter who puts the books together and posts them online in both Amazon and Ingram Sparks. My goal is to have a contract with a traditional publisher.
I have already started writing the seventh Doggo book, tentative title “Mary, Around The World.” It is about a little girl who lives on a cruise ship with her parents. Her father is the chief engineer and her mother is the cruise director. When she becomes elementary school age, she goes to live with her grandmother in the Midwest, and the story with her dogs evolves.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: There are 15 books planned in the Doggo series. They are international, interracial, and educational. All are exciting adventures that take children on imaginative journeys to places beyond their everyday lives.
The Doggos are great for kids who love to read, and also wonderful for those who don’t. The illustrations lead children into the stories so even kids who are not readers become involved. The illustrations look real, just like a television show. At the end of the series, all the characters will come together.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Enter this giveaway for a chance to win a full set of The Doggos series! This Q&A was conducted in partnership with Suzi K. Edwards.
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