Stewart/Riddell at Heffers
27 Apr 2006 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
karohemdRight after work, I went to the Heffers at the Grafton for a talk by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, the author and illustrator of the wonderful Edge Chronicles books. It was really good and quite funny, too. Interestingly, the guy who looked like an artist was the writer and the bloke who looked like a shabby author was the illustrator. ;o)
Their first collaboration was a series of children's picture books called Rabbit and Hedgehog. After the fourth one Chris said, "they're all very nice and the story is nice but shouldn't we try to create something darker?" - Paul: "The fifth book was called Roadkill [waits for the giggles to die down] ... but was rejected." That's a pretty good indication as to how the rest of the talk and Q&A session went.
They talked about the design process which is a true collaboration, i.e. Riddell isn't just drawing pictures after the story is done, it's a shared thing. Sometimes Riddell draws something which inspires Stewart to write a story around it (that's how the Edge Chronicles started, the main illustration in the front cover of the books - the edge jutting out - was first) or Stewart has an idea and Riddell puts it into a drawing. Both have input and Riddell's kids are the first to hear and critique them.
For those who read the books, the third part in the Quint trilogy (Curse of the Gloamglozer, Winter Knights) will be called Clash of the Sky Galleons and will be out in September and then, sometime next year, will be a tenth book tieing everything together and answering open questions. There's going to be a 91/2th book, too, which will contain Cloud Wolf and other short stories as reissues in one book.
They're reissuing all the books with new covers, too and we were the first to see them. :o)
While Stewart was talking, Riddell "doodled" a banderbear on a flipchart sheet, occasionally turning around to emphasise a point or explain his parts. Very very impressive. He started with the tiny ears, btw. He also had one of his "doodle journals" with him, basically a sketchbook with a full page illustration idea on each page. If he were to auction one of these, I'm sure they'd fetch a decent price...
After the Q&A, Stewart read and excerpt from the current book (Winter Knights) and then the haphazard queuing for the signing started. All good.
Their first collaboration was a series of children's picture books called Rabbit and Hedgehog. After the fourth one Chris said, "they're all very nice and the story is nice but shouldn't we try to create something darker?" - Paul: "The fifth book was called Roadkill [waits for the giggles to die down] ... but was rejected." That's a pretty good indication as to how the rest of the talk and Q&A session went.
They talked about the design process which is a true collaboration, i.e. Riddell isn't just drawing pictures after the story is done, it's a shared thing. Sometimes Riddell draws something which inspires Stewart to write a story around it (that's how the Edge Chronicles started, the main illustration in the front cover of the books - the edge jutting out - was first) or Stewart has an idea and Riddell puts it into a drawing. Both have input and Riddell's kids are the first to hear and critique them.
For those who read the books, the third part in the Quint trilogy (Curse of the Gloamglozer, Winter Knights) will be called Clash of the Sky Galleons and will be out in September and then, sometime next year, will be a tenth book tieing everything together and answering open questions. There's going to be a 91/2th book, too, which will contain Cloud Wolf and other short stories as reissues in one book.
They're reissuing all the books with new covers, too and we were the first to see them. :o)
While Stewart was talking, Riddell "doodled" a banderbear on a flipchart sheet, occasionally turning around to emphasise a point or explain his parts. Very very impressive. He started with the tiny ears, btw. He also had one of his "doodle journals" with him, basically a sketchbook with a full page illustration idea on each page. If he were to auction one of these, I'm sure they'd fetch a decent price...
After the Q&A, Stewart read and excerpt from the current book (Winter Knights) and then the haphazard queuing for the signing started. All good.
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