What where your early years like?
As
a child I carried around a picture book, ready to hand it over to any available
adult to read out loud. During
story time, I remember sitting on the floor looking up at our librarian,
mesmerized by her voice, the way she held the book, showed the pictures, and
turned the pages.
My
mother complained I was reading too many horse stories and not enough classics
like Little Women. Well, at least I
was reading and my teacher agreed.
Once
I took a book from my parent's collection and secretly read Thunderhead by Mary O'Hara. It had very few horse
pictures, but enough to grab my interest.
When
I opened my father's books I couldn't understand why he would want to read a
book with not one picture, just solid blocks of tiny type.
I
guess I was a visual learner. I worked with clay and drew all the time.
What kind of
writing and illustrating do you like to do?
I write and
illustrate picture books, and poetry.
Do you have any
published work?
Two electronic
picture books, I Am Me and An Elephant Named Fiesta and I recently collaborated
with eight other illustrators. We illustrated an old Mexican folktale for an
educational publisher.
How did you get
started in writing and illustrating?
I was
accepted into the medical illustration program at collage but my advisor thought
I'd be happier in a more creative field. He suggested I go into children's book
illustration. I'm so glad I listened to him.
Can
you describe your creative process?
The
story idea comes first. Sketches help to push it further. I bounce back and
forth between words and pictures, then complete the final art in gouache on
arches hot press. Sometimes I work with other mediums.
My
first portfolio was done with Photoshop, but I didn't like the process. I still
use Photoshop to resize, etc. but paint traditionally and exhibit.
Where
do you create your art work?
I
use the living and dining rooms as studio space. The entire house is actually
studio space shared with my husband who is also an artist and our five pets; two cats and three
dogs.
Cynthia Iannaccone can be found:
Twitter @cynthiai
If you have questions or comments for Cynthia Iannaccone, please leave them below.
Come back next Wednesday (and every Wednesday all summer long) to see my Featured Author/Illustrator of the week.
