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Children respond to what is
true, illustrator says
By Sue Careless.
Although he lost an eye as a
child, Tim Ladwig is today a renowned children's book illustrator. He believes
that the art in picture books can be life-affecting. "Children respond to
what is true," he says. Ladwig remembers as a child being moved by a picture
book about the life of Jesus as seen through the Apostle Peter's eyes. He
remembers thinking, "This really happened in this world. It triggered my faith."
Ladwig's Psalm Twenty-Three,
which won the American Bookseller Pick of the Lists Award, portrays the universal
reality of the psalm through vivid images of an inner-city black family. "Psalm
Twenty-three is familiar to almost everyone," says Ladwig, "but because it
is so familiar, we don't enter into its beautiful truth: the Lord's care and
presence are real no matter who or where we are."
Ladwig visually translates the
ancient prayer of a Hebrew shepherd into the contemporary trust of two children
living with their grandparents in Newark, N.J. They live joyfully and courageously
amidst urban dangers, but like the psalmist, they rely on the Lord. The artist
worked for 15 years in the African-American community of Wichita, Kan. with
World Impact, an inner-city mission.
He also worked in Newark, N.J.
and Los Angeles teaching in teen Bible clubs, helping with reading enrichment
programs and assisting in the mission's elementary schools. While teaching
art classes in Newark Christian School, Ladwig had a discussion with the principal
about the need for culturally accurate children's books. That discussion led
to the painting of Psalm 23. Ladwig believes an illustrator must be able to
tell a story without words and have a sense of playfulness.
"Too often illustrators are
out to impress other illustrators which results in art books but not children's
books. I have to watch that I keep the work playful. Sometimes sophistication
masks sincerity. And an illustration for a children's picture book should
have a sense of wonder. Stars are pinpricks in the sky where heaven pokes
through. "And the better the marriage of words and art, the more wonderful
the book. When teamed with a good illustrator, a writer can be economical
with words. Pictures do some of the storytelling.
Like a movie, a picture book
must move and not be slowed down by words." After the publisher sends Ladwig
the writer's manuscript, Ladwig divides the text into scenes. He then sketches
all the scenes on one page so he can see how they flow. There is no detail
at this stage. "It is one step above scribbling. Nobody but me knows what
it means."
Like a film director, Ladwig
works hard at a variety of viewpoints: some crane shots or aerial views, some
at ground level, some close-ups, some wide-angle cityscapes. Next he works
on full-size "roughs." When drawing figures he uses his wife Leah and their
children Briana, 5, Makalya, 4, and David, nearly 1, as models. He takes photos
of their poses with an inexpensive camera. Such poses show him how fabric
hangs or how light hits a face. He purposely works with a poor camera so he
does not become "too married to the photo reference" but flexes his imagination
instead.
Then he must decide on type
placement so that it neither obscures nor crowds his art. Usually he completes
the cover first because the publisher needs it for promotional purposes. And
hemust get the cover right, because it sets the tone for the whole book. Working
an eight-hour day, it takes a week to paint one illustration. He starts with
one he really wants to paint. He saves the most difficult for about two-thirds
through the painting process and the easiest for last„just before the deadline.
He can comfortably finish a
picture book in six months. Ladwig illustrated Walter Wangerin's Probity Jones
and the Fear Not Angel which also features an urban black family. He also
illustrated Morning Has Broken and Margaret Hodges' Silent Night. Just released
this fall, Mary's First Christmas, also written by Wangerin, has Mary telling
the young Jesus of his birth. Ladwig is currently illustrating The Lord's
Prayer. Again it will feature a black family, but this time set in a western
city. The Ladwigs live in Wichita, Kan. Ladwig believes, "Kids need friends
and books are friends." And he loves his work. "I couldn't do anything else,"
he says. Sue Careless interviewed Tim Ladwig at the Faith and Writing Conference
in April 1998.
Article found on the web in
1998.
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