Chris Van Dusen: LibraryThing Author Interview

Where did you get the inspiration for King Hugo?

The idea for King Hugo's Huge Ego came from a couple of different places. As you may know, I'm a HUGE Dr. Seuss fan and a few of his first books could be considered fairy tales in that they featured a king and were set in a kingdom. I thought, I'd like to try something like that too. The other thing that lead to Hugo came from my book The Circus Ship. That was the first book in which I added a villain and I had so much fun with that character (aptly named Mr. Paine!) that I decided to challenge myself. Could I write a book where the main character is a villain? I'm not sure King Hugo is technically a villian, but he starts off being not such a nice guy!

At what age did you know you were an artist? Then, how did you become a children’s book illustrator? What other careers, jobs, or distractions have you had along the way?

I've been drawing pictures for as long as I can remember, but I never really considered myself to be an artist. "Artist" sounded too important to me. I just liked to draw! But when I went to art school, that's when I knew I was serious. I became a children's book illustrator after being an editorial illustrator for years. But I got tired of illustrating other people's stories and decided to try to write one of my own. That led to my first book, Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee (2000) and I've been writing and illustrating children's books ever since.

Your illustrations are a combination of realistic detail (in the scenery and animals) and imaginative cartoon (people are exaggerated and humorously drawn). Do you have any insight into why your style developed this way?

I like to describe my work as "painterly cartoons". I loved things like comic strips and the Bugs Bunny cartoons when I was growing up and I used to create characters when I was younger. My work now is very similar to those early cartoons only much more refined.

In what medium do you do your illustrations?

All of my illustrations are painted with a water-based paint called gouache. It's like an opaque watercolor.

Your children’s books thus far have been in verse. Is this how you prefer to write and why? Have you considered writing something longer for older children?

My first book was written in verse because I thought it added a whimsical mood to the story. I continue to write rhyming books because they are so much fun to create. But I work really hard to make sure my lines scan well. There's nothing worse than a bad rhyming book! I might try a non-rhyming book at some point, but I don't have any plans to write a longer chapter book. I still consider myself more of an illustrator than a writer and so I think I'll stick to picture books for now.

Animals are everywhere in your stories, even when the plot is about people. What was your relationship to animals growing up? Have they always been an artistic inspiration?

I love putting animals in my books, especially dogs! I love dogs. But I didn't grow up with dogs. A few members of my family were allergic to cats and dogs, so instead we had non-fur pets like fish and turtles and lizards. But kids in general love animals. I think that's a big appeal in my book The Circus Ship. That's FULL of animals!

Tell us a bit about where you live and how or why it inspires your work.

I live in a small town on the coast of Maine. It's extremely beautiful here. The landscape is amazing! And the Maine landscape has made it into several of my books. Mr. Magee lives in Maine. In fact his town is based on where I live. And of course The Circus Ship takes place off the coast of Maine as well. If you visited, you'd understand. It's breathtaking!

Do you have children and do they help you with your ideas?

I have two sons, ages 18 & 20. They used to help me a lot when I began writing children's books. Of course they were much younger then. They helped me come up with some of the features of Jack's dream car in If I Built a Car. Now they are understandably less interested in my work, but I still make them read my books when a new one comes out.

Who are your favorite children’s authors and illustrators? Favorite books for adults?

I have so many favorite children's authors and illustrators that I couldn't possibly list them all. But a few names that come to mind are Dr. Suess, Robert McCloskey, William Joyce, Kate DiCamillo, Carter Goodrich, Mark Buehner, Mark Teague, Lane Smith, Paul Zelinsky, Shaun Tan and David Wiesner. But like I said, I could go on and on!

Can you tell us what you are working on now?

My next book is all done and is currently being printed. It's called Randy Riley's Really Big Hit and it will be published by Candlewick Press and released in February 2012. I don't want to give anything away but I can tell you that Candlewick wants it to be out for the start of baseball season. Hint hint!

—interview by Lisa Carey