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Interview with children's
book illustrator, Meilo So
Courtesy
of Book Trust, UK
(BookTrusted
News, Issue
4, Spring 2003)
How did you begin your career as a book illustrator?
When I was studying in Brighton College of Art
in the late 1980s, the students in the illustration department were
taught by book illustrators: John Lord, Raymond Briggs,
Gerald Woods, John Lawrence and Ron Sandford. We were encouraged to
take book illustration very seriously as an important means of acquiring
the expertise of illustrating in general. This, together with the study
of bookbinding, led us to making books of our own, often based on experiences
of our own. In the final year of my studies, I made a book about a
contrary fairy who had three black spots on her face. This was later
published in Hong Kong and that was my first published children's book.
I also have an agent, Allan Manham, who has always been very interested in
book publishing. He understood that the book is one of the most enjoyable
areas of work for an illustrator, even though it is not the best paid
area of work.
The Merchant Enticed by
the Pearl of Great Price is
a visual feast, with vibrant, lively pictures. What inspired
you to create these beautiful illustrations?
I enjoy the process of researching.
Every new project is something I know nothing about. By looking at and studying
the subject matter, images and ideas started to come alive. This is what
happened with this book. Apart from the story there is a parable; the pearl
fishing in a far away exotic land made an excellent background for illustrations
to the story. I also liked having the opportunity of illustrating the same
character from boyhood to manhood, which is quite unusual in picture books,
and to bring modern commerce into a bible story. These were challenges, pushing
me to do something a bit different from what I have done in the past, and
it kept the work fresh.
You use watercolour and ink to illustrate your books. Have you experimented
with other mediums?
I must be one of the first Chinese artists to work in Hong
Kong as a full-time freelance illustrator, as most work was done by
'in house' illustrators who were very good at imitating the different
styles of others. My clients naturally thought and expected that I
would do the same. I was a bit too proud to do that, perhaps because
I was trained in the West. To survive I did not learn to imitate other
styles; I did what I did, but with different materials. So, perhaps
with the exception of airbrush, I used everything: gouache, acrylic, woodcut,
lino, collage, coloured inks, black ink, different papers, conte crayon,
pastel etc. This way I seem to have managed to fool clients in Hong Kong
for nine years into thinking I was more versatile than I was!
Do you think that your early life spent in Hong Kong has strongly
influenced your style?
Perhaps not so much my style, but certainly with
regard to subject matter. Hong Kong is a very crowded place, and everywhere
you can see advertisements selling rubbish of all kinds. There are
also markets and market sellers, old trades, and so on. I find such
things very rich and interesting, whether found in Hong Kong or elsewhere.
There have been countless illustrated versions
of 'The
Ugly Duckling'.
Do you think it is more difficult to illustrate a well-known tale
than a newly written story?
A classic story like 'The Ugly Duckling' has the ideal ingredients
for an illustrator to work with and it is so finely written that it
would be difficult not to do it well. However, there are also drawbacks and
pressures, such as avoiding being compared with previous illustrated versions
and indeed with the writer himself; finding ways of enchanting the story
without overpowering it; trying to compliment the tale without being too
sentimental; and bringing a contemporary touch to an old story without losing
the elegance of the time in which it was written.
In your opinion, what makes your style so unique and different from
most British book illustrators?
Every illustrator is different, as every person is different.
I am a Hong Kong born Chinese who was educated and trained in Britain. This
makes what I can do as an illustrator different from others. Fortunately
- or unfortunately - I was never taught by a traditional Chinese artist,
so I didn't learn the traditional Chinese way to paint, but I am aware of
the tradition. In Brighton Art School, teachers did not impose their own
styles upon us; they tried to encourage you to work as seemed natural. The
tradition was of course Western and I became aware of that tradition. Maybe
that is why I have ended up with a sort of half-Chinese style.
Who has influenced your work?
A Chinese artist named Feng Tse Kai, who worked from
the 1930s to 1960s. He did simple brush drawings about children, childhood,
wars, ordinary folks. They are very straightforward observations done without
fuss and almost like handwriting. I find these drawings not sentimental
but very touching. Similarly I find the drawings of Ben Shahn very good
to look at when I get stuck on some drawing difficulty. The work of my
husband, Ron Sandford, has influenced
me a great deal.
Britain has a tendency to stereotype children's book
illustrations from other countries as 'different'. Do you believe that
British publishers are reluctant to embrace styles from other cultures?
No, I don't think so. Otherwise my second book The
Emperor and the Nightingale would not have been published in Britain. I was aware
that I could be easily labelled as a 'Chinese illustrator' for just Chinese
stories and indeed my first three books were such, but my agent tried to
avoid this stereotyping and fortunately I have been given other opportunities.
Which of the books you have illustrated is your favourite and why?
My favourite is The Beauty of the Beast for Knopf/Random House
(published as Collins Treasury of Animal Stories in the UK), which is a large
collection of poems about animals. Many of the things I am doing now I learnt
from working on that book. It was reassuring at that time - when I felt labelled
a 'Chinese illustrator' - that a major publisher approached me to do something
totally different. As I had drawn hardly any animals before, the publisher
must have been imaginative and brave to commission me to do such a work and
I am still grateful for the opportunity.
Is it easier to illustrate other people's stories or to create your
own?
They are both difficult. With other people's stories you must really understand
them and you have to bring something that is really appropriate to them.
It is a duet; both parts are very important and one must not take over the
other. I would like to attempt illustrations to accompany The
Pied Piper of Hamlin, The Soldier's Tale and The Happy Prince. To create your own story
seems easy but a good one with fresh ideas that will really bring something
to life is extremely difficult. I hope I am able to write such a story for
my own daughter, Ming, but I doubt my ability to do so!
Posted:
January 2005
Meilo So's Bibliography:
Central Heating, written
by Marilyn Singer (Knopf Books, 2005).
Hurry and The Monarch, written
by Antoine O. Flatharta. (Knopf Books, 2004).
Gobble, Gobble, Slip, Slop, written
by her (Knopf Books, 2004).
Countdown to Spring, written
by Janet Schulman (Knopf Books, 2004).
Fairy Tales, writen
by e.e.cummings (Liveright Publishing
Corporation, 2004).
How to Cross a Pond, written
by Marilyn Singer (Knopf Books, 2003).
A Bunny for All Seasons, written by Janet
Schulman (Knopf Books, 2003).
Footprints on the Roof, written by Marilyn
Singer (Knopf Books, 2002).
Moombeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats: A treasury
of Chinese holiday Tales, Activities & Recipes, organized
by Nina Simonds & Leslie Swartz (Gulliver Books, 2002).
The White Swan Express: A Story About Adoption, written
by Jean Davies Okimoto & Elaine M. Aoki (Clarion Books, 2002).
The Merchant Enticed by the Pearl
of Great Price, written by Mary
Joslin (Lion Children's Books, 2001).
Tasty Baby Belly Buttons, written
by Judy Sierra (Knopf Books, 2001).
The Ugly Duckling, written
by Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland (Knopf
Books, 2001).
It's Simple, Said Simon, written
by Mary Ann Hoberman (Knopf Books, 2001).
The 20th Century
Children's Poetry Treasury, selected
by Jack Prelutsky (Knopf Books, 1999).
The Beauty of the Beast: Poems from
the Animal Kingdom, selected
by Jack Prelutsky (Knopf Books, 1997).
The Monkey and the Panda, writen by
her (Frances Lincoln, 1996).
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