INSPIRATIONS FROM THE BOOKSHELF Marissa Valdez
Every illustrator and writer has grown up with inspirations from a variety of sources.
This week illustrator Rekha Salin wanted to find out what gives illustrator/author
Marissa Valdez the most inspiration.
Tell us a bit about
yourself
My name is Marissa Valdez and I’m a
Latina children’s book author and illustrator. I’ve been working in the kidlit
industry for about four years now and I’ve been obsessed with books my whole
life!
I’ve worked with several major publishing houses including Hachette,
Penguin Random House, Macmillan, and Candlewick Books. So far, I have
illustrated seven published books and my first author/illustrator book, Hedgehogs
Don’t Wear Underwear, is set to be published on April 1st 2025.
Along with creating books I enjoy teaching and have collaborated with the
online learning platform Domestika to teach a best-selling course on how to
create a children’s book portfolio.
I’m originally from Texas in the US but moved to the UK in 2022. In my spare time I
love sewing, quilting, wandering around museums and walking my two fat cats on
little pink harnesses in my garden with my husband in Birmingham, UK.
Which genre do you
write/illustrate for?
I’ve illustrated six
picture books and two chapter books so far but I wouldn’t say that I’m stuck
to one age group or genre. I love illustrating any type of book and would love
to work on something that I haven’t done already.
More horror, scary, and
mystery books would be fun as I’m a bit of a paranormal nerd! Nonfiction would
be an interesting topic to illustrate as well. I love research and I’m positive
those books require whole heaps of research before illustrating.
I’m also writing my own
series of board books and a graphic novel now so I’m up for anything. I think
I would be bored if I had to work on only one kind of book forever!
What inspires you to pick
up or buy a book from the library/bookstore or buy online?
I know you’re never
supposed to judge a book by the cover but why not when the illustrator puts so
much time and effort into it?
Any books that have an
interesting cover usually get me. I can be reeled into buying a book if I see
that it looks particularly funny or has a unique perspective on a traditional
topic. Sometimes I pick books that I wouldn’t have otherwise picked up because
I enjoy trying new things.
I find it’s a lot like trying on clothes – until you
put them on you don’t know if they’re really going to look good on you or fit.
Same with a story! I’ve picked up books that I didn't think I would be
interested in but was totally surprised at how much I loved them! Same with
books that I thought I would love but didn’t click with in the end.
It’s
always a positive if you’re reading books though. The more books the better!
Are you inspired by books
from multiple genres written/illustrated by the same author/illustrator?
Yes definitely! I think a
good book is a good book no matter what genre or age range it’s for. LeUyen
Pham is a great example of an illustrator who can illustrate ANY story. She
illustrates funny books to emotional nonfiction to romantic graphic novels. It’s
inspiring.
As for an author that I
look up to Donna Barba Higuera is a writer that I pull a huge amount of
inspiration from. Her book The Last Cuentista is definitely on my top
10 best books of all time list. She writes sci-fi and slice of life and
Latin-centred folktale picture books and does them all so well. I’d love to
meet her and gleam a little bit of genius off of her one day.
Do you bring your
inspirations into your work?
Oh yeah, I’m an inspiration
sponge. I’m always amazed at how many good authors, illustrators, painters,
artists and just generally cool people there are in the world.
Pulling
inspiration from sources outside of books and illustration can be fun as well.
I’m currently obsessed with the world of quilting – there are so many beautiful
quilts out there and you can get amazing designs, even some that look like tile
work or super intricate mosaics. There’s a huge range of colours and fabric
patterns and styles with quilts. It’s so fascinating!
This is a quilt I made last winter and that’s one of my chunky
cats walking in front of it.
Currently, I’m working on a book where I’m incorporating lots of collage and handmade patterns into the illustrations. It’s pretty obvious that style of art has stemmed from my current fascination with quilting!
How much of the
inspiration do you bring into your works?
I always bring inspiration
into my work. Even if it’s just a little nod to the original piece or type of
art.
When I was working Who’s in Charge by Stephanie Allain and Jenny
Klion and published by Candlewick, I pulled a lot of inspiration from The
Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. I adore Ezra Jack Keats’ work
and there’s an intentional nod to one of his spreads in my illustrations in Who’s
in Charge.
Who’s in Charge image on the left and Snow Day image on the
right
How do you keep your work
fresh, original and unique and avoid looking like your inspiration?
To be totally honest I don’t
think I avoid my work looking like my inspirations. I’m the type of person that
enjoys constantly experimenting and I think that brings with it a constantly
changing style. It’s a bit of a gift and a curse!
I’m actually teaching a
class this autumn with the Houston SCBWI about what it’s like being an artist
whose style changes from book to book.
I really enjoy when my illustrations are
curated to the text of each individual book. For me it doesn’t feel right to
draw the exact same way for each manuscript because each story is so different
from the next. Each character has their own unique personality!
It’s not the easiest way to
illustrate though it takes a lot of research and a LOT of time to experiment
with new materials and style. I’m totally jealous of artists who stick to their
own well-developed styles like Jon Klassen and Beatrice Alemagna.
Maybe one day I’ll find that perfect style! But for now I’ll keep being a
sponge.
Does your bookshelf have
all the books that you love or inspired you?
Oh no! I don’t think I
could ever have enough bookshelves for that, ha! But yes I make sure to get
new books on a regular basis to keep me company and to fill my inspiration
bucket. There are hundreds of amazing, super well written and illustrated books
that come out EVERY year. How could I keep away?
I also still have several inspirational books from my childhood that I try to
remember to look at regularly. I only brought a few books, (well, a couple of
suitcases worth…), with me when I moved overseas and Aesop’s Fables by Charles
Santore was one of them. It’s always close to my drawing desk.
This book
was my favourite as a child because the illustrations were detailed, gorgeous and full of life. I used to pour over a fold-out at the end of the book that
had every animal in the book drawn in it. I think it inspired my art a
lot later because I love including loads of little details in my work now so
whoever is reading the book can see new details in the illustrations with each
read.
And I’d love to one day
create a little free library in front of my home to house the never-ending
stream of books I buy. It means I can rotate out more books in my collection.
Which are the main few
books that have inspired your work and yet not on your bookshelf?
There are a lot. Like I
wrote earlier, there’s only so much space! I own a couple of Christian
Robinson books but would really love to own his whole collection. Same with
Felicita Sala, Beatrice Alemagna, Laurie Keller, Ed
Vere and many many more!
To name a few books that I can’t believe that I don’t have on my shelf are Don’t
Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems, Stuck by Oliver
Jeffers and Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin and Daniel
Salmieri. I think about these books a lot while I’m writing my own stories.
They’re SO funny! Funny books hold a special place in my heart.
Are there any books that
have inspired you in a way that you really wish you worked on a text like that
or you wish you thought of the unique way of storytelling?
I’ve recently read Mike
Brownlow’s Ten Little board book series and have been obsessed! The
concept is so smart – you start off with ten little 'somethings' and the reader
is counting down until zero. Each spread entices you to turn the page to get to
the next number down the line.
The writing is simple but really fun and is
perfect for toddlers and smaller children.
I’m finding out that writing for
that age range is surprisingly difficult! 50 to 100 words doesn’t seem hard on
the outside but you, as the writer, need to get every word just right! I’m
totally impressed with Mike’s writing and hope to add every Ten
Little book to my board book library someday. There are quite a few of
them!
*Header image: Ell Rose and Tita Berredo
*
Rekha Salin has three books published as an illustrator. Two picture books, one in 2020 and the other in 2022, and also a recipe book, (for adults), in 2022 published by ABV Publishing. She is currently working with Gnome Road Publishing and this will be available in 2024.
*
Tita Berredo is the Illustrator Coordinator of SCBWI British Isles and the Art Director of Words & Pictures.
Contact her at: illuscoordinator@britishscbwi.org
*
Ell Rose is the Illustration Features Editor of Words & Pictures.
Find their work at www.fourfooteleven.com.
Contact them at illustrators@britishscbwi.org
No comments:
We love comments and really appreciate the time it takes to leave one.
Interesting and pithy reactions to a post are brilliant but we also LOVE it when people just say they've read and enjoyed.
We've made it easy to comment by losing the 'are you human?' test, which means we get a lot of spam. Fortunately, Blogger recognises these, so most, if not all, anonymous comments are deleted without reading.