Maria S. Costa is the author and illustrator of the new children's picture book How to Find a Friend.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for How To Find a
Friend?
A: Sometimes, when I start thinking about a new project, I
doodle or I write phrases that come to my mind, waiting to see if an idea
interesting enough shapes up.
In the case of How to Find a Friend I started by writing a
bunch of sentences, mainly thoughts about loneliness. Those sentences evolved
to a dialogue between two lonely persons. Or should I say instead, two
monologues, like when you have two persons who talk about their own problems
but don’t even care to listen to what the other is saying.
This gave me the main idea of the story: two lonely animals
so immersed in their own thoughts and busy lives that they keep missing each
other and the opportunity to start the friendship they both wish.
By now this must look like a depressing idea for a
children’s book. However, I related the subject to what a child must feel when
it is hard finding new friends after moving to a new neighborhood. I tried to
create a cheer-up story to show that to find a friend could be easier than we
think if we keep alert to the opportunities in front of us.
Q: Did you write the text as you drew the illustrations, or
did you do one part before the other?
A: I first wrote the text of How to Find a Friend. Then I
started making character studies and sketches of the scenes. But along the way
the text suffered changes.
Also, I cannot say that the illustration work was secondary
to the text. In fact, the book has a strong correlation between text and
pictures as we cannot understand the story without both.
That is because text and pictures show us different things.
What we see in the illustrations is even the opposite of what characters tell
us. And that creates the dynamic and humor of the story.
Q: What inspired your style as an artist?
A: My inspiration comes from several places. I love, for
instance, the graphic look and colors of vintage posters, Miroslav Sasek
vintage travel books or the use of color in David Hockney’s art.
The current rediscovery of old printmaking techniques, and
their mixing with new digital techniques, was also an inspiration to me. I
started doing monoprinting, and then I was attracted by the boldness of linocut
prints and that persuaded me to try this technique.
Q: What do you hope people take away from the book?
A: How to Find a Friend intends mainly to convey a
positive message about life to its readers, whether they are children or
adults, using humor to create great moments of fun.
In the meantime, it would be wonderful if it would be able
to help lonely children or adults to feel more confident that somewhere there
is a friend waiting to meet them, as long as they don’t give up. And to
remember that sometimes a friend may be nearer than they think.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m always thinking about ideas for new children’s books
and I work on several projects at the same time. Those projects are not
necessarily limited to picture books. For instance, I’m developing a project
for a novelty book, but I have also in my mind an idea for an early
reader/chapter book that I would like to develop in the near future.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Well, I can tell you something about me: I like to hum while
I’m illustrating, I’ve already slept on the top of a volcano and I would like
to have a chameleon but I’m afraid to lose sight of him.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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