Ben Clanton
Jasper John Dooley interviews Ben Clanton:
JJD: Ben, in your drawing of yourself you have short brown hair. Your nose is a backward c. Your eyes are dots. In your drawing of me I have short brown hair. My nose is a backward c. My eyes are dots. What’s going on?!
Ben: Good question, Jasper! I think it is because I find us to be a lot alike. We both like to collect things, find belly button lint funny + special, and like to make things. So, I see a lot of myself in you. That AND I like the way I drew you and felt like I looked a bit like you, so used my drawing of you as a starting point for my drawing of myself. I find self-portraits to be so so so hard to do.
JJD: I collect lint. What do you collect?
Ben:I love collecting things! I especially like to collect books and wind-up toys (mainly robots). When I was your age I collected basketball cards, rocks and coins.
JJD: How many people are growing on your Family Tree?
Ben: The family I live in the same house with (on the same branch) is small. Just my wife, my puppy, and me. But the entire tree is HUGE! My dad had eight kids and most of his kids have had a lot of kids. In fact, I’m an uncle to 28 people and a great uncle to 3 (soon to be 5). I also have lots of cousins. All together? No idea!
JJD: What do you do to feel like a Star?
Ben: Draw, paint and create worlds!
JJD: Do you have favourite pajamas?
Ben: I’ve got a pair of batman pajamas I like, but when I was a kid I had an awesome pair of chicago bulls pajamas. If only I still fit them. 🙂
JJD: Have you ever tried sleepwalking?
Ben: I’ve really got to give it a go sometime. I’ve talked in my sleep before but that is as close as I’ve gotten.
JJD: When you want a special snack, what do you eat?
Ben: Chocolate! Or macaroni and cheese. But never a combination of the two. 🙂
JJD: Is it so so so so much fun to draw all day long?
Ben: YES, or at least MOST of the time. I do get frustrated sometimes when my drawings aren’t turning out the way I want. But, overall, I couldn’t imagine a better job than drawing all day. EXCEPT perhaps for being a dragon-tamer who also draws. I’m working on that!
JJD: Thanks a lot, Ben! I’m so so so glad you drew me!
Find more about the amazing Ben Clanton at:
Josée Bisaillon
Leo Interviews Josée Bisaillon:
Leo: Josée, I like your pictures so much! They’re drawings and paintings and cut outs all at the same time. How did you make them?
Josée: Thanks Leo! I like to use different mediums when I create my illustrations. I use basically everything that comes to my hands! I can use recycled papers for my cut outs (like envelopes, wrapping papers, construction paper leftovers, even old drawings from my kids!) and also color pencils, pens, watercolor, acrylic paint, ink, ink pens, and it goes on !
Leo: I love my big family. How many people are in your family?
Josée: Well, we are 5 in my family (6, if you want to count or silly hairless cat, Monsieur Rémi). There’s of course me and my husband, our oldest daughter Charlotte (she’s 7), and then there’s our twins, Henri and Margot (they are 5).
We also like our big family reunion, with my brother and sister, my sisters-in-law, the grandparents, cousins and friends!
Leo: Did you have a nonna? What was she like?
Josée: Yes, I had a nonna, and I loved her very much. She was a wonderful person, and a wonderful cook! I remember her zucchini muffns….it was delicious! I’m lucky enough to have her recipe, so sometimes I make them, and my kids also love them!
Leo: In my family we speak English, but use a lot of Italian words, too. What languages does your family speak?
Josée: We only speak French (although my husband and I speak English as well, and I know a bit of Spanish), but I hope my kids will have the same love for languages as I do and will learn a couple of languages!
Leo: I love to play. When I play, I forget to eat. Then I don’t want to stop playing! Does this ever happen to you?
Josée: Yes it does! When I’m very concentrated on doing an illustration, sometimes I forget to eat!
Leo: When I remember to eat, pasta is my favourite food. What’s your favourite food?
Josée: I think my favorite meal would be sushi, but I also have a sweet tooth, and I really like chocolate!
Leo: My parents read me book stories, but my nonna loves to make up stories. When you were little what did you like best, made up stories or book stories?
Josée: When I was young, I preferred books stories so I could see the beautiful illustrations.
Leo: You drew such a scary wolf! Have you ever seen one? What animal are you scared of most?
Josée: I’ve only seen wolves in a zoo! I don’t particularly like snakes and I wouldn’t want to meet a big one when I’m alone!
Leo: Now that you’re finished drawing the pictures for my story, whose story are you drawing?
Josée: I’m drawing pictures for a story about a little girl named Sophie, who doesn’t like dolls and dreams about going on adventures in Africa.
It was nice answering your questions, Leo! Thanks!
Joe Weissmann
Nicky Ha Ha Grant interviews Joe Weissman:
Nicky: I typed Very Serious Children on a typewriter. How did you draw the pictures?
Joe: I used a quill pen and ink to do the drawings. First, I sketched the drawings with a pencil and then I inked the drawings.
Nicky: Do you draw every day?
Joe: I don’t draw everyday although I do think about drawing and art every day. I tend to draw off and on. I’ll draw for a period of time and then stop for a while.
Nicky: Do you have a dog?
Joe: I have 2 dogs and 2 cats and they are all old. Last month, our Golden Lab passed away and that was very sad. Occasionally, the dogs and the cats come to the studio and sleep on a couch while I work. Unfortunately, one of the dogs seems to like to chew paint tubes so I have to watch out.
Nicky: I’m so sorry about your dog! What province do you live in? Have you been to Saskatchewan?
Joe: I live in Ontario and, unfortunately, I have not been to Saskatchewan. I’d love to visit though.
Nicky: What is your favourite food group in the Canada Food Guide?
Joe: I’m a fruit guy! I never seem to have enough fruit. My favorites are oranges, bananas and all kind of berries. Not to mention figs, pomegranates, melons, etc.
Nicky: Have you ever tried rollmops?
Joe: I’ve never had rollmops but I have had and love pickled herring. I guess I’ll have to try some.
Nicky: Don’t, Joe! They’re horrible. Tell me about the first time you went to the circus.
Joe: The first time I went to the circus was when I lived in Montreal and I was about 12 or 13. I found it fantastic and could get over all the goings on in all 3 rings. It was magical.
Nicky: Have you ever run away from home?
Joe: I never ran away from home and it never even occurred to me. I grew up in Israel and had a great adventurous child hood. Between swimming in the Mediterranean, searching for artifacts in the ground, climbing trees and raiding the local orchards for fruits, I was way too busy to think about running away.
Nicky: Thanks so much, Joe. You’re so interesting!
Helen Flook
Bruno Interviews Helen Flook
Bruno: What’s your favourite colour to eat?
Helen: Has to be rainbows – that about covers everything I think!
Bruno: I speak English and Car. What languages do you speak?
Helen: I speak pretty good English, very bad Welsh, terrible French, and very good Cat.
Bruno: Let me try Cat. Prrrrrrr. I think you live in Wales. Wales is pretty close to where the most important person in the world, the Queen, lives. Have you been to her house? What’s she like? Does she eat bangers and mash off a plate with her own picture on it?
Helen: Afraid I don’t live very close to the Queen, but I do live not far from one of her grandsons and his new wife. Guess who? Maybe they like rainbow food too?
Bruno: Are there dragons living on your street?
Helen: I believe there are dragons on every street corner in Wales, but you have to be very quick to spot them as they are very good at camouflage.
Bruno: What do you do when you get the hiccups?
Helen: When I get hiccups, which is almost never, I drink a glass of water upside down. I soon forget to hiccup when all the water goes up my nose.
Bruno: Helen, be careful! You could drown! Have you ever done anything really bad, besides drinking a glass of water upside down?
Helen: I am a goody two shoes all the time! (Ha! Ha!)
Bruno: I’m in level 3 in swimming and grade 2 in school. I did the math. I’m in level 5 in life! What level are you in?
Helen: Right now I feel as if I am up to about a level 100.
Bruno: Did you go to school to learn to draw such great pictures?
Helen: I certainly did go to an Art School, but ANYONE can draw, you don’t really need to go anywhere special to learn – just pick up a pencil and start doodling.
Bruno: Okay! I’m going to do that right now!
Qin Leng
The boy interviews Qin Leng:
Boy: Qin, your pictures are so funny and friendly! Do you draw a lot?
Qin: I breathe like I draw, I draw like I breathe. I did my very first drawing when I was 3 and haven’t stopped since.
Boy: The story doesn’t say what kind of dog Norman is. How did you know what he looks like?
Qin: When I am given an opportunity to draw something from my imagination, I tend to go with my own experience, or go with what I like. I always loved shabby looking dogs, with scruffy thick hair like a brush. The only hint I had was the fact that Norman didn’t have a tail, which I thought was adorable. And the rest was a mismatch of the colour of fur from my boyfriend’s dog, and the body type of a dog I would like to adopt myself, if I saw it at the pound.
Boy: I like all the little things that you drew in my house — the plants and books and the different pairs of shoes. Where did you get all this stuff?
Qin: My apartment is a tiny one bedroom, and even though I love decorating, I have no room to let my creativity go loose. So drawing your house was the perfect occasion to let it out. I love long benches in the hallways, collecting shoes and plants, teak coffee tables, and dark blue walls. I also think that when you walk into someone’s home, you can learn so much by looking at the objects they leave around. So I always find it important to put some interesting objects in my characters’ homes.
Boy: How long did it take you to draw the pictures?
Qin: I draw very very small. Norman on paper, is the size of an eraser! That works to my advantage, because it makes it a lot faster for me to finish one page of illustration. Even with multiple testing and corrections, it takes me about half a day to complete one page of illustration.
Boy: There are four in my family — me, Mom and Dad, and Norman. How many people are in your family?
Qin: I come from China, where we have the one child policy. So my mom and dad had me, but to their surprise, I also came with a twin sister! So we are also four in my family, just like you.
Boy: Can you speak another language?
Qin: I do! I actually love languages and if I weren’t so busy drawing, I would probably be learning languages. But for now, I speak Mandarin, Shanghainese (another dialect in China), and French. I picked up French when I moved to Bordeaux (France) and lived there for 4 years, before moving to Canada.
Boy: Was there a time when you didn’t feel very smart?
Qin: My twin sister is an engineer, and is doing her PhD. To top it off, she has created a device that can potentially fabricate artificial skin! So with her next to me, there are lots of times when I don’t feel very smart!
Boy: Do you have a pet?
Qin: I would love to, but I am far too busy to have one right now. I really love dogs and cats though, but over the years, I have become allergic to dogs! I have yet to find out whether I am allergic to cats or not.
Boy: If you could draw something imaginary and make it come alive, what would you draw?
Qin: That’s a really tough one, because there are so many things I would draw. They pop up in my head every minute.
Let me think of what’s in my head right now… I see a little girl riding a giant, flying gold fish… so that’s what I would draw.
Boy: Ha ha ha! Are you going to draw more books about dogs?
Qin: I have illustrated a couple books about dogs so far, so I can only imagine I will be doing more in the future! Just need to wait for an author to come up with a fun dog again!
Boy: Thanks, Qin! Now I’m going to fly away on my giant gold fish…
Learn more about Qin Leng:
See how Qin Leng created Norman: