View Gallery

Illustrator Helen Cann was born in Bristol, UK, and studied Visual Art at the University of Wales. She works mainly in watercolor and collage, and has illustrated many anthologies of stories from around the world, the most recent being Fireside Stories: Tales for a Winter Eve. She is also the illustrator of the prize-winning Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing , which has been selected for inclusion in the 2010 Spirit of PaperTigers Project.

Helen shares a studio above a milkshake shop in the sunny seaside town of Brighton, UK.

......................................................................................

Q&A

Your illustrations for Little Leap Forward, a biography-based story, provide an essential dimension to the book. What was the experience of working on this project like for you?

I researched hard and long for this project!  I read books on Revolutionary China - poring over old photographs and collecting details.  I read Yue's biography and used his own personal photographs for reference too, especially for the main characters.  My studio in Brighton is round the corner from several Chinese supermarkets and shops and on some occasions I took paintings there to check colours specifically, as most of the photographs I'd seen were in black and white.  People's stories of the time, both about themselves and their families, were extraordinary.

How have you been influenced by the work of illustrating stories from all over the world? Have these stories influenced your choice of media and style?

I have always been interested in cultures and languages from around the world.  I lived in Germany for a long time and even in another European country relatively near to my native Britain, I was aware and fascinated by the cultural and visual differences.

Researching details for multi-cultural stories brings me into contact with lots of different images and visual material and I've got a great collection of it now.  In the past I've used decorative details from each country to include in the relevant stories.  For Little Leap Forward, I used Chinese paper - from newspapers, wrapping paper, packaging - as collage.

I get a lot of satisfaction from the different aspects of my technique: from putting the watercolour down, to the collecting and placing of the collaged papers, to the strengthening and darkening using the pencil crayon at the end.

What are you working on at the moment?

I visited Japan earlier in the year and at the moment am using my photographs and memories of the trip to do some more personal work.

If you were to pick a place anywhere in the world to send Little Leap Forward, where would it be and why?

I'd like Little Leap Forward to go anywhere where lives are repressed and people are told what to think and do.  Little Leap Forward is about the triumph of hope, love and imagination over oppression.

about us | newsletter & privacy policy | downloads | site map | search | testimonials | disclaimer

home | outreach | blog
©2001-2011 Pacific Rim Voices