Creekfinding with illustrator Claudia McGehee

Claudia McGehee
Clau­dia McGe­hee (pho­to: Thomas Langdon)

While tak­ing a clos­er look at Creek­find­ing: A True Sto­ry, it is impos­si­ble to sep­a­rate the nar­ra­tive and the illus­tra­tions because togeth­er they make the book whole. And yet two dif­fer­ent artists cre­at­ed the words and the illus­tra­tions that guide the read­er toward an under­stand­ing of the Brook Creek restora­tion project. Clau­dia McGe­hee notices the details, the encom­pass­ing emo­tions and the nuances of the land­scape that encour­age to walk along­side Team Brook Creek while they explore this restored ecosys­tem. Do add this book to your book­shelves. You’ll want to read it and soak in the art when­ev­er you need reas­sur­ance that we can be good stew­ards of this Earth..

When you begin work on a new book, what is the first thing that you do?

I find a quiet place to read the manuscript several times, close my eyes, and imagine the “scenes” the words bring forth to me, keeping a sketchbook handy to get these “first blinks” of inspiration. This goes for when I have authored the book as well; I don’t start illustrating until the manuscript is complete.

Claudia McGehee at workIn the Illustrator’s Note, you state, “I made the ripply, sturdy lines of earth, water, and sky in scratchboard and painted the prairie greens, creek blues, and everything in between with watercolors and dyes.” Can you tell us a bit about the tools you use for scratchboard?

I use a sharp skinny X-acto blade (a number 16, with a beveled end) to carve into the scratchboard surface, revealing the white chalky layer below. I scratch out what I want to be white or colored, and leave an outline and detail in black. When all the line-work is complete, I scan the image into my Mac and print it onto watercolor paper. From here I use watercolor and dyes and paint traditionally at my board.

Claudia McGehee scratchboard artFor readers who would like to work with scratchboard, what type of paper do you use? What do you mean by dyes? How do you apply them to the paper? And why do you use them?

I use Essdee brand scratchboard. It is robust enough to be scratched, inked again if I want to make a correction and reworked. There is also a thinner grade of scratchboard (the company Melissa and Doug makes this kind) that younger people can scratch with wooden stylus, much less sharp than an X-acto blade.

Claudia McGehee applying the dyesThe dyes go by the brand name Dr. Ph. Mar­t­in’s. They’ve been around for­ev­er. They are essen­tial­ly water­col­or, known for their vivid, almost flu­o­res­cent qual­i­ty. I apply them just as I do water­col­ors, with a brush. They work very well for prairie and creek­side flow­ers and crit­ters.  I am very par­tial to the Doc Mar­tin char­treuse (frog green!). The dyes do tend to fade in the sun­light, so I keep my orig­i­nals in dark file draw­ers to pre­serve the color.

How do you preserve and store scratchboard artwork?

I have a large, older, flat file where a lot of work goes. I also archive in big plastic bins, separating the artwork by each individual book project.

Claudia McGehee painting with dyesAt what point in the making of the book do you create the endpapers?

A highlight for me is to behold a picture book’s end-sheets. Good ones will give an indication of the book’s overall message or spirit. Sometimes they tell a story as well. I savor making my own end-sheets, usually treating myself to making them at the very last of a book project. The Creekfinding end-sheets are something I’ve wanted to try for a while, using them to suggest a passage of time. The opening of the book is a sunrise on the creek, complete with red-winged black bird, and the back sheet is a sunset.

Claudia McGehee using crayonsYou visited Prairie Song Farm, which is where the creek in this book was restored. As an artist, how do you look at a new location that you will make the focus of a new book?

I simply try to observe and be in the moment when I visit a book setting’s location. I want the place to speak to me and I have to be quiet to hear it. My work relies on small details that make the setting unique. Hopefully, my impressions will pass on successfully to my illustrations later in the studio.

You have a degree in archaeology. What does the knowledge you studied bring to the work you do now?

In a practical sense, my archaeology background helped me hone my research skills, as important to an illustrator as they are to a writer. There is also a level of basic curiosity in the archaeologist, a love for the “what comes next?” that is similar in the process of making a nonfiction-based picture book.

Illus­tra­tions from Creek­find­ing: A True Sto­ry, copy­right Clau­dia McGehee

The humans, birds, fish, and insects in this book all look joyful. Was that a conscious decision on your part?

I may never work for National Geographic, but I believe that all animals are capable of “smiling” and showing happiness like humans do and I naturally want to show this. After all, I would be happy if I were a brook trout in Mike’s creek! I don’t want them to look too sweet or whimsical however, but I do hope my birds and fish et al express a sense of joy in living that all creatures feel.

CreekfindingThe art in this book is gorgeous, sumptuous, an invitation to revel in our natural landscapes. What do you feel while you’re working on a book like this? And once it’s printed and in your hands?

Thank you! I really am taken by our natural world’s beauty. It sustains me. My personal art mission is for my work to entice readers outdoors after a good read to experience nature themselves.

Actu­al­ly mak­ing book art is not as mag­i­cal a time as some imag­ine! It is hard phys­i­cal and men­tal work. Pub­lish­ing dead­lines are crit­i­cal to make, so at times I feel I am a marathon run­ner, pac­ing her­self through a long race. There are cer­tain­ly points of joy, like the com­ple­tion of thumb­nails or sketch­es. I will laugh out loud if I feel I have real­ly nailed a spread. But there are also frus­tra­tions when I just can’t get a page to come together.

The best part of mak­ing Creek­find­ing is that Jack­ie and I live quite close and are friends and we reg­u­lar­ly con­nect­ed to share the progress of the book. I looked at ear­ly ver­sions of her man­u­script and she looked at the art­work in progress.  It was nice to have this cama­raderie, and what we lat­er called “Team Brook Creek,” which includes Mike Oster­holm, the book’s sub­ject. It was tru­ly a unique project to be part of.

Thank you, Clau­dia for shar­ing with us an inside look at the incred­i­ble work you do.

Don’t miss the com­pan­ion inter­view with author Jacque­line Brig­gs Mar­tin or the Book­storm for Creek­find­ing: A True Sto­ry offer­ing com­pan­ion books and web­sites for fur­ther explo­ration or incor­po­ra­tion into les­son plans.

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David LaRochelle
6 years ago

Gor­geous illus­tra­tions, Clau­dia! And your con­trast­ing end­pa­pers are stunning!