Tamlyn Teow, the illustrator of The Other Side of the Clouds by Matt Samuel, shares what she loves most about illustrating children's books and how she evokes emotion in readers.

What do you love about illustrating children’s books?

I’ve been drawing since I could pick a dirty stick up! If there were no crayons, I’d be drawing with my finger on condensate windows or with dust on white walls. Illustrating to me has always been a way of self expression and means of escapism, imagination and story telling. I’m that annoying person with doodles all over their worksheets and forms, I still do it now!

I’m so blessed with where I am today, the journey has consisted of many twists and turns doing things either because elders have told me it’s the right thing to do, or because they’re tasks I need to do in order to do what I really want to do. I’m now at that latter stage in life. I am not sure if I can put it into words but I’ll try! I’ve always had issues with presenting my work and struggle with stage fright/social situations. So I’ve never had art exhibitions and did a convention a total of ONE time (still recovering from Supernova — which was 6 years ago). To be able to find this pathway has been a blessing — because not only can I interpret a text and put my imagination in response to it on paper via drawing (it’s like watching a film in my head), but I work closely with people on the same wavelength as well as have the art reach readers in such an intimate setting. Rather than loud forms of presentations such as art galleries or conventions, the platform is a quiet and heartfelt one like it’s a secret — when the parents are reading the story to the child before bedtime or if the child is reading the book on their own in any mood they’re in. To be able to communicate or help the child visualise and jumpstart a journey into their own imagination and keep them company through childhood growing up is a real privilege. And I hope to be able to continue this line of work for many years!

Do you have a favourite style of drawing or painting in illustrations?

That’s a tough one! I love it all (except digital, I can’t seem to get into it but I have nutted out a suitable technique that works for me! Phew!)

What I love the most with illustrating is the feel of the paper, the smell of the paint, the frustration when the pencils break and making mistakes, having the goal in my head and always being surprised where it ends up, complaining about sharpeners, and getting kneadable eraser stuck under my nails. I love the challenges and being proud of myself when I figure out a solution to work around it. I LOVE stationary and get way over-excited with all the different pens/pencils/paint/paper and figuring out the purpose they serve.

But of course, the best things come from the cheapest and simplest tool — the pencil. There’s a romantic feeling picking up a pencil and doing sketches, there’s a connection with artists in history, like you’re connected by the method of thinking and drawing out ideas as it’s what they did since the beginning of time. What’s special about book illustration is that you pick your methods based on your feeling of the text in combination to any references and preferences provided by the publisher too. My favourite style is whichever the team I’m working with responds emotionally to!

How has your illustrating style changed throughout your career?

It has definitely changed over the years as I grow older and spend more time on this planet; and become more equipped to gain further exposure to information or resources all around — books, internet, learning from doing, meeting others, film/TV and exploring how it was done, reading etc.

The more I learn, the more I can filter out methods that are relevant to my work. You compartmentalise and never know when you can go into your mental archive aisles and pick the file out with that memory! It’s pretty amazing, it can be the most random skill you never knew you had the basics of; then finally get to slide that out and develop it further for a project at hand. After doing so, then it’s an actual skill in your pocket that you can use down the track for something else. My ability to illustrate is only there/continues to develop due to decades and thousands of hours of practice, failing, falling, getting up and trying again, changing courses of actions and always keeping an open mind (there’s so much to learn! I hope I can take on much more learning and knowledge as the time is ticking before my brain and body goes kaput)

What process do you follow when illustrating a new children’s book? Does this change depending on the story?

I think the process doesn’t change unless it has to but you definitely adapt your style in response to the text. For example, if it’s a deeper story, you’d change the setting in your head to accomodate for the emotions it evokes. If it were a lighter story, you’d want to add a bit of a humorous tone to it. Either way, you’d start with reading the text (I use music to help create the mood), then grab a pencil and draw a character from it that stands out to me. Once that concept is established, it helps with visualising what world this character lives in, what is their environment like, what kind of characters does this one interact with, how do they feel, what is their goal/back story and obstacles, and would they dream about? By exploring and immersing yourself in the shoes of your character of interest, you’re world building based off that. Once you have a solid foundation of your own ideas, then you can allow yourself to be exposed to external factors without letting them change the essence of what you want to achieve. When I’m ready to come out of that bubble, I’d look up references, other artists’ work, books, book covers, walk outside or engage in procrastination projects (I call it productive processing haha) until I get the “AH HAH” moment and start unpacking it all.

What did you enjoy about illustrating The Other Side of the Clouds by Matt Samuel?

Oh so much! Firstly, Matt and Rowena were a dream to work with. They gave me so much freedom to interpret the text and left me to my own devices. Personally, the story made me fly off into the coral sky and dance among the fluffy clouds. This I felt, could only be captured with brushstrokes — the post-impressionistic and impressionistic style that communicates emotions in a flowing way. The combination of short and long with broad and refined brushstrokes, create the tension and release which supports the happiness and sadness Finn experiences. I enjoyed creating the emotions through colour, movement and state of the sky — the clouds and sky are a character. Because most of the book features Finn working through his inner turmoil, I thought of his environment as another character so that he can interact with it. The spaces all around him are his emotions and it gives back what he gives it, it is both the antagonist and his mentor. The thing I love most of all, is watching Finn’s journey and character development, where the environment is testing and working through all the feelings with him and giving him gifts (such as eels, fish, water) along the way to push the learning curve. These creatures are elements of Finn’s emotions manifested into physical objects by his environment.

Was there anything that surprised you or was challenging about this process?

Oh yes! To be honest, I was Finn as I painted this. Immersing yourself in the character or story means being in that headspace. About three quarters of the way through, I wanted to give it all up but bless Rowena, she convinced me to stay and made me push through. We both encountered a few issues in our professional/personal lives that were unrelated to the book but worked things through (such are the lemons of life!) and my goodness, I couldn’t thank her more for her encouragement to get me over the hurdle (over the clouds, so to speak!). When I finally got to the last pages, it captures how I felt -- the freeing feeling of being trapped and finally seeing the sun.

What is it like to collaborate with authors on their books?

It is immensely enjoyable! As an illustrator you get so caught up being in your own bubble and imagination, that having an author and a publisher to bounce things off or collaborate ideas with is incredibly rewarding! Especially if you’re all compatible, it’s like creating magic or our very own glittery Frankenstein unicorn! Bouncing off each other and arriving at a finished result is completely different than doing something on your own. That’s the beauty of good collaborations especially when there’s mutual respect and consideration for each other — it’s not your project, it’s the team’s. The result is a combination of all member’s ideas and love. The product of that is always going to be very very special.

You’ve also been involved in films and worked as a painter and sculptor. What did you enjoy about these projects and how did they shape you?

I love it all! I think the beauty of being an artist is that you can adapt your style, utilise yet learn and pick up skills from various activities then use/customise it for another. They’re all different mediums but you can use the discipline and concept of the foundations in many aspects of life (not just art). For example, in film design, you think about the stage and how it frames the character, or what the personal environment is like for the character — can you tell their backstory through dressing? Is the place meant to make them feel small or empowered? Does the setting frame and support or compete with the character antagonistically?

You can then bring this into book illustration with the same principles!

With painting/sculpting, you’re thinking about perspective, framing, emotions through brushstrokes, using drawing and pencils/pens to respond to the text, thinking about proportion and warping, subtraction and addition, silhouette, big picture and details — they all are relevant to book illustration!

Do you have any other projects in the works?

Thanks so much for asking! I’m so so blessed to say yes! Unfortunately I’ve signed non disclosure agreements but I can perhaps tell you they’re projects with Riveted press, Wombat Books and University of Queensland publishing. I can’t express in enough words how incredible all of them are, but I think that’s what happens when you begin to believe in yourself and practise a code of respect and love for others: you inevitably attract a similar breed of people into your circle of life.