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Susan Guevara has illustrated nearly twenty books for children, from traditional fairy tales
to stories set in the East Los Angeles barrio,
all in distinctly different styles.

Having trained at the San Francisco Art
Academy and Belgium's Royal Academy of
Fine Arts, Guevara has developed technical
skills and creative interpretations that have been highly praised by reviewers and readers alike.
Her picture books have been awarded many accolades, including the 1996 and 2002 Pura Belpré Award, the 1996 Tomás Rivera Award,
and the 2005 New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year.

Her first work of fiction, a monologue written
in the voice of a 15-year-old, has just been published as part of the anthology Voices in
First Person: Reflections on Latino Identity,
edited by Lori Marie Carlson (Simon & Schuster, 2008).

She lives in a large live/work space in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her cat, Bulldozer, and several rosebushes.

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Q&A

What's your approach to illustrating children's books? Do you have a favorite technique?

It’s my job to illustrate the specific world of a particular manuscript. The worlds of the books I have illustrated so far have all been very different from each other.  And so, my technique, my palette, and my compositional styles have been different for each book.  But the process - the not knowing  in the beginning what medium or materials I will use, the not knowing where I’m going as I’m researching or experimenting with compositional styles, the not knowing, especially,  what the book will look like in the end - always remains the same.  There is a lot of trust involved in the beginning stages.  And a lot of listening to the voice of the book. 

Please tell us a little bit about these different styles...

One of the first books I illustrated (The Boardwalk Princess, by Arthur Levine) was set in turn-of-the-century New York. First, I drew a graphite under-drawing that hinted at the engraving process that translated photos into mass print during that era. Next, transparent color was layered over the graphite with the use of a medium to keep the under-drawing visible.

The world of the "Chato" series (all by Gary Soto) takes place in East Los Angeles. In all the books, starting with the first, I "stole" from Mexican-American muralist, Gronk, for color and used that information when combining scratchboard and acrylic to emulate the Mexican black velvet paintings. In the third book I was specifically aiming for the “non-reading” fans I know these two gatos have. Hence, the comic strips.

The monologue you've written (in the voice of a 15 year-old who is contemplating suicide), which is part of the YA anthology Voices in First Person: Reflections on Latino Identity, packs a punch–quite literally. Please tell us about it.

I decided to write about the most challenging and persistent subject that faced me when in high school, and when searching for the voice for the anthology piece, the voice of previous criticisms came knocking.  Early on in my career I was criticized for not being “truly Latina” and my work was about my “father’s experience,” not mine.  In the face of that (and all doubt that arises when doing creative work) I had to slam the door. Lock it. Pocket the key and write my piece.

Even though I have a first generation Mexican- American father and a Euro-American mother, my upbringing was typically Anglo. The moments I experienced a notable difference between the cultures was when we went to visit my grandparents on the weekends.  One set lived in a small bungalow with a little kitchen at the back of the house that smelled of Chile, tortillas and the moldy dampness from the adjoining cellar door. The other set of grandparents lived in a large house on a hill with a long open kitchen that smelled of cigarettes and pot roast. One set clucked to each other in lilting words I didn’t understand. The other set sparred with each other in short shots of English. Being asked to write a piece about growing up Latina emphasized this schism.

Young people of every culture face fear, loss, heartbreak, identity crisis, and death. What we experience as people is fundamentally the same.  We are more alike than different.  What seemed most important is that my piece came from the roots of my own experience, not necessarily my exact experience.  Voilà, fiction.

Posted September 2008

Illustrated by Susan Guevara:

written by Tony Johnston,
Voice From Afar: Poems of Peace (Holiday House, 2008)

written by Eric A. Kimmel,
The Lady in the Blue Cloak: Legends from the Texas Missions (Holiday House, 2006)

written by Alex and Arthur Dorros,
Número Uno (Abrams, 2006)

written by Gary Soto,
Chato Goes Cruisin' (Putnam, 2004)

written by Gary Soto,
Chato and the Party Animals (Putnam, 2000)

written by Ana Castillo,
My Daughter, My Son, The Eagle, The Dove (Dutton, 2000)

written by Dee Lillegard,
Tiger, Tiger (Putnam, 2002)

written by Gary Soto,
Chato's Kitchen (Putnam, 1995)

For a complete bibliography and more information, visit her website.

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More on PaperTigers:

Literacy: A Path to Peace

More on the Web:

Susan's video interview about "Children's Book Day"

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