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"A Family Tradition for 125 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, September 24, 1991 - 23 Local illustrator to hold exhibit at libr By Gillian Barfoot When Brenda Clark was oung, she always wanted to ow who made the pictures in the school books. Now she's the one who makes the pictures. A graduate of Sheridan College, she has il- lustrated several math, science and language books, but she is probably best known for her children's book illustrations. Ms. Clark, who lives just north of Nestleton, will be hold- ing an exhibition of her pub- lished children's book illustra- tions at the Scugog Memorial Public Library from Sept. 28 to Oct. 18. She has illustrated nine children's books, pub- lished by Kids Can Press, in- cluding the internationally popular Franklin series. The first book about the tur- tle named Franklin, which was published in 1986, was planned to be the only book, she remem- bers. Now there are already four books in the series. She knew nothing about tur- tles, so she studied how they walk, where they live, what habitat they live in, and then had to study other animals that would be in the illustra- tions as well. She describes Franklin as a combination between a box tur- tle and a Galapagos turtle who walks on his hind legs. "He had to look like both a turtle and a boy." Because her illustrations are found in popular children's books, she says her exhibition will be especially interesting for kids. "A lot of the kids have seen the books, but a lot of their parents haven't," - : Several school groups will be touring the exhibition, and she will 'show them how she goes about illustrating each book. "I really enjoy talking to stu- dents," she says. "It's a discov- ery for some, and it's also a way for me to display how it's done." "Maybe I can encourage some kids to start doing their own illustrations." The exhibition will include a display showing the progres- sion from rough sketch to fin- ished product. "I start with the bare-naked manuscript," she says, "and read it until it's practically memorized." Ms. Clark spends about nine months on each book, taking about three months to produce her first rough sketches. She also has to consider what type style, as well as what style of il- lustration she will use. She tries to make her illus- trations believable, as if "those things in the picture could egy happen." "All books are different styles," she says. .'I don't have one style, it depends on what the story is." She explains that in Little Fingerling, for which she won the IODE Toronto chapter award and was a finalist for the Mr. Christie award in 1989, she used ink and water- color. For Puddleman, she used watercolor and pencil crayon. She sends the rough sketch- es to the author of the story, who often makes suggestions about what to change. "The key to books is that there's change all through the book until it's set to print." Ms. Clark is pleased the ex- hibition will be in the library because she depends on the li- brary for her research. It's more like a public show than if it was mounted in a gal- lery, she says. "People feel un- comfortable in galleries." Although several of her illus- trations will be for sale, her primary goal is to promote the sale of the books. "I'm trying hard not to over- dose on commercialism," she says. "I want them (the books) - to last for generations." Some schools are now begin- ning to use children's books to teach reading, she says, in- stead of using readers which contain short writing specifi- cally written for them. "They're using real litera- ture, not contrived literature." Although some teachers look down on 'picture' books, "there's a phenomenal amount of proof that illustrations add to a child's level of thinking." Children look at the books more than once, she explains. Because children are looking at the details in her illustra- tions, "it makes 1t more tun to add the extra things that aren't in the words." "One of the greatest things about this is the illustration is left totally up to me to inter- pret," she says. "I get to express myself the way I want to, and nobody's telling me how to do it." She has recently started on a new project, and this time the whole book will be hers. She will be retelling popular chil- dren's tales as well as illustrat- ing them. "It's a whole book this time," she says. "That's more than I've done before and I'm pretty scared." She admits that she gets fond of the illustrations and the books, and says it's hard to sell the only originals. "I'm afraid to lose track of them in case I need them again." She explains that a publisher may need the origi- nal for posters or other promo- tional material. "I don't know if I'll sell any- more after this. I may make prints so more than one person can enjoy them," she says. "These books are all my chil- dren. You get pretty attached to them in the end." ry starting Saturday Brenda Clark, an award-winning children's book illustra- tor, will be exhibiting her published illustrations at the Scu- gog Memorial Public Library from Sept. 28 to Oct. 18. h: 1 When business is good, it pays to advertise... When business Is bad, you've got to advertise! EASY TO GET ATTACHED TO Ea AJAX TRAVEL CENTRE yg YT Oshawa 723-4800 i hy | iY EN o> A) " "oy yl v ni jt In conjunction with our new | [Combine this saving with re ui? i ot ral ns : Ri 0 yi ] Oshawa location, Early Booking Eat i AI i fi ii fh hi Hirani ase ih ih yf /ilY, / ", Ajax Travel Centre discounts offered by vo ioe aro i A ok 4) I iA hr ill Flue ' i many tour operators and ' HR . , Isolslinge Oy , jo will Once you own a John Deere compact utility tractor, you'll never SPECIAL 11% DISCOUNT | | Y% 9 i i : compare favourably with know how you got along without it. 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