Eileen Christelow is the author and illustrator of more than thirty picture books for children. Her books include the Five Little Monkeys series,The Great Pig Escape (which takes place in Putney), Letters from a Desperate Dog (a Windham County Humane Society adoptee), Where’s the Big Bad Wolf? and many more. Several of her books are non-fiction including VOTE! and Robins! How They Grow Up!. She lives in Dummerston, Vermont.
“Writing picture books is a process of telling stories with words AND pictures. I start with sketches: Who are the characters? What are they doing? I write some words, sketch some more. As I change the words, I change the pictures. As I change the pictures, I might decide to change the words again. I put everything on the wall so I can see the whole story. The process can take months.” “Art for picture books is sequential art; one picture leads to the next. I make dummies of the books to see how the illustrations work as I turn the pages. Do my surprises occur when I turn the page?”
“Until 2010 I worked with water colors, acrylics, water color crayons, pencils, and pens. And then I discovered Photoshop and Wacom tablets. Why use a computer? I can move characters around and I can change colors without having to redo the entire illustration. And Photoshop offers me dozens of media options: watercolor, acrylic, pastels, pencils, pens etc. But I do miss the feeling of real paper!”
If you’d like to know more about her books, visit www.christelow.com
Interviews with Eileen Christelow at C.X. Silver Gallery in her exhibition:
EILEEN CHRISTELOW
CX Silver Gallery presents Eileen Christelow Telling Stories With Pictures a retrospective exhibition through May 6 2024
Eileen Christelow: Telling Stories With Pictures at CX Silver Gallery Brattleboro VT
Open Thursdays through Sundays 11am - 8pm
Dinner with the Author at the Gallery: (reservations required)
Saturday April 20 5:30pm · Contact: Adam Silver
814 Western Ave. Brattleboro VT 802.257.7898 x1
