Novia Heroanto shares her illustration journey from childhood to collaborating on Dragon Guest Handbook authored by Jeanette Stampone.

What do you love about illustrating children’s books?

Illustrating children’s books has a deep personal meaning for me. In my early years, I thoroughly enjoyed Mama (Mum) reading picture books as the bedtime ritual. When I was around 5, she witnessed my clean slate, untouched drawing paper from school. The teacher has facilitated a free drawing session in the classroom yet I even couldn't draw a dot! Mama became the first person in my life who modelled to make shapes and strokes on paper. I was a shy little girl, and on that day, I met the inner courage where I could freely express my ideas, thoughts, and feelings, as well as a medium to do it without words. I found it was liberating. I started making characters and stories mostly inspired by my daily life spiced with a bit of “what if” here and there.

Whenever I illustrated picture books, these memories flashed to life. It has become particularly meaningful as I have lived miles away from Mama since I was eleven. For me, illustrating picture books is a form of honouring my childhood and my relationship with Mama. Honouring those matters allows me to truly embrace the other children around me, observing their interests, and actively listening to and extending their ideas, which become a huge inspiration for my picture book illustrations.

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

I don’t have any preferences for the art medium but I particularly enjoy the illustrations with delightfully detailed background settings, imaginative characters and whimsical colour palettes. I love the illustrations which constantly reveal little hidden details every time I return to them. My all-time favourite artists are Graeme Base, Axel Scheffler, Ghibli Studio, and Oh... how I adore Helen Oxenbury’s babies!

How has your illustrating style changed throughout your career?

When I worked as an illustrator focused on children’s products in a graphic design agency in Indonesia, I adjusted the illustration styles based on each client’s requests. However, when I produced the character designs, I noticed a distinct influence of Japanese comics (manga), which I heavily grew up with. From a portfolio critique, I received feedback from an art director to break away from the anime style as the market for that was fairly niche and to give myself more options such as a few more types of facial features, more almond eyes, more rounded eyes, smaller eyes, and different body types. The feedback positively added nuances to my illustration works as I learned to be more courageous and honest in exploring and cultivating my voice, allowing richer details and expressions in my illustrations.

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

I tend to follow the similar process. Characters come first. Firstly, I will skim the manuscript, then I will reread it slowly and let it sit for a while before imagining the characters’ personalities and their life setting. I will ponder upon them while going for coffee, driving, interacting with others, researching online about different cultures and locations, and reading other books. Then, I will use those inputs for sketching the characters with a pencil on paper alone on my dining table. I normally don’t bring my sketchbooks around as I love interacting with people more. After I am happy with the characters, I will start exploring and making a set of colour palettes. Then, I will draft the spreads on Procreate and think of more details unspoken in the manuscripts as I go.

What did you enjoy about illustrating Dragon Guest Handbook by Jeanette Stampone?

I felt a deep personal connection between the main characters and myself, which were the dragon and the boy. The dragon arrived on her own, without knowing the norms, the culture and the language of the people. She came with full enthusiasm, ready to explore her surroundings. She looked at everything with a fresh pair of eyes. However, what she called explorations was classified as mischief as she crossed boundaries and defied the norms of society. But this helped her express herself and find joy within her experiences. The dragon can reflect my inner child by carrying that same adventurous nature. Moving between towns and countries on my own, I constantly learnt local dialects, languages and local cultures. Often, I made meaning through explorations and trial and error, whilst establishing meaningful friendships through reaching out to different kinds of people.

The boy, on the other hand, was also excited and interested in showing the dragon around. He was not overpowering and was kind without prejudice. He introduced the dragon to his family and the various local attractions, yet he also listened to her interests and expanded on them; He became the bridge between the dragon and the human world. How he integrated the dragon into the human world reminded me of the pedagogy in early childhood about active listening, inclusivity, and cultural connections. Being born and raised in Eastern cultures, it was a norm to fit into society by abiding by the rules and expectations of the majority. However, when I became an early childhood teacher in Australia, I learned to embrace each person and celebrate their interests and uniqueness.

But what I found was the most significant aspect of the book is the universal language of love. The dragon may not understand the written and verbal words of the boy and others, but she felt loved when she received hugs with warm smiles. Sometimes, most authentic heartfelt things are unspoken, just like the art of drawing itself.

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

This was my first picture book illustration project and I didn’t anticipate the amount of time invested in doing that. It also happened when I became a new mum, moved to a new neighbourhood and my husband just quit his day job to focus on his business. Everything is new! It was challenging emotionally and physically. That’s when Procreate and Apple Pencil came in handy because I can illustrate on the go, whenever, wherever. I just needed to be well prepared in terms of ensuringthey were fully recharged when I needed them and they were out of reach from my curious little Hugo!

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

They may give a little illustration notes but I am honoured that they gave me freedom as an artist to interpret their stories in my art direction. They may request some revisions which I feel it’s constructive to improve the illustrations. I also love the fact that the illustration outcomes may be different from the initial visualisations of the author, that’s when the collaboration shines.

Do you have any other projects in the works?

Yes, I am working on my second picture book illustration project :) stay tuned for more updates on my Instagram account @noviacreative or my website www.noviacreative.com. I would love to connect with you all.