David Gardner is an award-winning illustrator and visual development artist. Before going freelance, he was an artist for several animation studios, including Walt Disney Animation Studios. His work has appeared in magazines, including Cricket and Cobblestone, and he has illustrated numerous picture books. His latest, Junia: The Book Mule of Troublesome Creek, Ticktock Banneker’s Clock, Rettie and the Ragamuffin Parade: A Thanksgiving Story, plus the historical biographies The Harvey Milk Story, Sarah Gives, and Write On, Iring Berlin.
David is the founder of Flying Dog Studio and a longtime member of the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators. Mr. Gardner teaches illustration at Ringling College of Art and Design.
HERE IS DAVID DISCUSSING HIS PROCESS for Painting the cover for
Junia the Book Mule of Troublesome Creek for Sleeping Bear Press:
Start with research—what does a mule look like? I couldn’t find any mules in my area, so I had to rely on photos and Youtube.
Hairstyle for the Book Woman—1936 Kentucky, the Great Depression—old movies are a great resource, this is Sylvia Sidney from William Wyler’s Dead End, released in 1937. The hairstyle would fit 1936.
I think this is a horse, but loved the expression. Gave me a direction for Junia.
I started by sketching from photos, to learn the anatomy, before starting to cartoon at all. The art director and author wanted a realistic approach, with character and expression. “Whimsical realism,” a librarian recently described it to me.
For this book, the AD requested character designs, to be sure we were on the right track. These characters are dear to the author and to millions of readers, so they had to hit the right note.
Moving on to cover ideas. Everybody liked #3 the best. We wanted to push the idea that Junia was galloping off the cover, right into our laps.
Cover mock-up with the AD’s early type. Once this was ok’ed, I did more research and pondering to settle on the overall feel.
For Harvey Milk, I referred to Norman Rockwell’s compositions, for an Americana feel. For Junia, the manuscript seemed like a sweet, old-fashioned fairy tale to me, a bedtime story with animals. I thought of Beatrix Potter’s delicate, detailed watercolors, and John Tenniel’s Alice in Wonderland. Victorian-era pictures just seemed like a good approach.
I wasn’t interested in copying them, but they gave me landmarks to help me steer the ship.
Illustrating a children’s book is a marathon, not a sprint; easy to lose the thread.
I hired a model, one of the great models at Ringling College where I teach. Dria was a great sport, and really got into playing the role of the Book Woman.
I like to paint some interior spreads before getting to the cover, since I want that to be one of the strongest paintings. I laid out the whole book, worked out the color script, and decided to reinforce the story’s idea of “a day in the life of Junia” by moving from morning colors to evening colors by the end.
My studio, set up to paint the cover. You can see two finished interior pieces propped up behind.
Decided to paint the front and back covers separately for more control and for my smaller studio space. I’ll marry them in Photoshop later.
Stretched my paper and transferred the drawing using Saral. I’m working at 110% finished size, so I can tighten the image up a bit later.
Laying in the first washes. I’m using gouache on Canson illustration board, cold press. I want the ability to build up paint and work opaque, if needed, the way I used to paint animation backgrounds pre-Photoshop. The board gives a splotchy effect, more than the watercolor paper I usually use. I’ll go with it, smooth things out later digitally if I need to.
The finished painting, about a day’s work, all told. Then another couple of hours to draw the black pencil lines.
The back cover, completed.
The finished cover, after some major Photoshop tweaking. I adjusted the Book Woman’s pose, fixed some structural issues with Junia’s skull, and brightened some flowers. Sleeping Bear’s fantastic art director, Felicia Macheske, worked extra hard to fit in Junia’s ears with her title type, and to get Junia’s curl to pop in front of the letter A. The final touch: enlarging Junia’s big brown eyes for maximum appeal.
END
INTERVIEW WITH DAVID C. GARDNER:
When did you realize that you had a talent for art?
Early on, in first grade, we saw Disney’s Pinocchio at the theater, I drew Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket with my new Crayolas, and Mrs. Hester, my first-grade teacher made a fuss, pinned them to the classroom bulletin board, and when my mom came to pick me up, Mrs. Hester told her I had a talent for art. And I believed her.
What was the first thing you created where someone paid for your work?
In high school, I directed a 45-minute version of King Kong with my buddies and we sold tickets for the big screening at our church. People paid five dollars a piece!
Did you grow up in the Chicago area?
Nope, I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, same time as Elvis was living across town at Graceland.
How did you decide in 1977 to attend Northwestern University for four years to get a BS degree in Radio, Television, and Digital Communication?
I didn’t pursue drawing or painting after junior high. Art wasn’t a required course past eighth grade. I was more into making movies by then, and my dad gave me my first 8mm Bell & Howell.
What were your career goals when you started studying Filmmaking, Film History, Screenwriting, and Theater Design?
To be a movie director, like Spielberg and Orson Welles.
Is this where you hone your skills with animation?
I learned a lot about filmmaking and how to tell a story visually. I loved comic books as a kid, and Peanuts, picture books, and Pogo, so I had internalized the idea of visual storytelling, but when I studied film, I learned how to construct a narrative sequence. That’s the basis of animation and any art I’ve ever done. I also took a painting class as an elective and found I loved it. That and literature. I still love to read and paint; it is solitary and restorative for me.
What type of job did you do after graduating?
I moved to LA, and my first jobs were as a Production Assistant and a gofer on a bunch of TV shows, mostly Solid Gold back when it was the number-one syndicated show. That lasted for about a year. I was restless, and being a PA can be a drag, and the great book about Disney animation came out then, in the early 80’s, The Illusion of Life. It reminded me how my first love was those old Disney classics. I applied to Walt Disney Studios with some of my cartoon doodles and paintings from that class at NU, and they told me to get some classical art training and try again. A form letter, I realize now. But it gave me the idea of going to art school.
What made me decide to go to the American Academy of Art in 1984 to study Illustration, Watercolor painting, Oil painting, Figure Drawing, Perspective, and Graphic Design?
I had moved back to Chicago after LA. I got accepted to the NU MFA program in Theater Design, costumes, and sets, but the program was delayed for a year. I worked at a gourmet deli in my neighborhood and painted popcorn cans for rent money. When a friend of a friend saw my raggedy, informal portfolio of paintings and cartoons, he suggested I could make a living as an artist. Turns out he was the top storyboard artist for George Lucas, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, and all that. In an act of kindness and generosity that still amazes me, he spoke to the president of his alma mater, the American Academy of Art, got me an interview, and within a month, I was a full-time art student.
How did you get the opportunity to work at Walt Disney Animation Studios as a Layout artist with them when you started with them in the 1990’s?
I worked at a small animation studio in Chicago, Calabash Animation. That’s where my animation education started. There were no formal animation classes back then, except for maybe Cal Arts. Sullivan Bluth in Ireland recruited two or three former Academy students for All Dogs Go to Heaven. I learned how to design layouts for animated films and met other artists who ended up back at Disney. After Disney had a hit with Little Mermaid, they were hiring more artists than ever. I had a stronger animation portfolio, and, again, with the kindness of other people, I landed my dream job at Disney.
Did you have to move for the job to California or Florida?
I moved to LA for the Disney job. They hadn’t yet opened the Florida studio, as I recall. That happened after Beauty and the Beast, maybe. They asked all of us who wanted to transfer to the Florida studio, and a few artists moved there. I loved California, and my childhood summer trip memories of Florida were hot, buggy and muggy.
How did you get the job of FacultyLead at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design in New Mexico in 2014?
The chair of the Illustration program emailed me out of the blue. I was living in Santa Fe by then, working freelance, painting animation backgrounds for Calabash Animation and illustrating children’s books.
Three years later, you moved to Sarasota, Florida Area, to join the rest of the faculty to teach Illustration full-time at the Ringling College of Art and Design. Do you teach other classes besides Illustrating?
It’s all illustration, but within that, I teach figure drawing, storyboarding, and perspective.
When did you decide to make a career illustrating children’s books?
I’ve always loved children’s illustration, Dr. Seuss, Beatrix Potter, Rackham, Dulac, and Sendak, and I explored some of that in art school. At Disney, they paid for us to take night classes in art. I took a children’s book class at Art Center and fell in love with the whole thing. When I left California in the late ’90s, I lived in Madison, Wisconsin for a couple of years, and that’s when I started pursuing children’s books in earnest, going to SCBWI conferences, sending out cards and tear sheets. I completed a few gigs for Cricket Magazine and was hooked.
It looks like your first picture book was The Harvey Milk Story by Kari Krakow with publisher BOBBIE COMBS on May 1, 2002. How did you get the job to illustrate this book?
I saw an ad in the SCBWI bulletin for an illustrator. I knew Harvey Milk was a gay icon, and as a gay illustrator, I knew I wanted the job. I mentioned that in my cover letter, and the publisher said that was important to them in deciding, and they liked the specific style of one of my sample illustrations.
In 2022, Lee & Low published this book in paperback. How did that happen?
The first edition went out of print, and that small publisher closed shop a few years later. So the author and I got the rights back. Years passed and the political climate changed and there was a market for Harvey Milk’s story, I guess. Lee and Low contacted Kari and me and asked if we would be interested in reissuing the book in a revamped, updated version, and we were both excited to see that happen. 
Do you have an agent? If so, who represents you and how did the two of you connect?
I’ve never had an agent. I tried one for a short time early on, which was necessary to get into educational publishing. I heard an illustrator speak at an SCBWI conference, he’d just won the Caldecott, and he said he didn’t have an agent and had gotten all his jobs on his own anyway, so he didn’t need one. I decided to go that route since I’d already gotten a couple of trade books on my own–with the generous advice of a friend’s agent and paying a freelance attorney to review contracts.
In 2012, you illustrated the picture book Sarah Gives Thanks: How Thanksgiving Became a National Holiday by Mike Allegra, published by Albert Whitman & Co. Did the company Flying Dog Studio you started in 2000 help you get that contract?
I formed Flying Dog Studio, but I’m the sole artist, so that came from sending out postcards. I would do mass mailings a couple of times a year back then. After a long dry spell, the art director at Whitman emailed and said he received my postcard a couple of years earlier, featuring art from Harvey Milk, and had pinned it to his wall, waiting for the right manuscript to come along to pair with my style of art. I learned then that you never know how your marketing efforts will pay off. Patience!
Ticktock Banneker’s Clock by Shana Keller Picture Book, September 1, 2016, with Sleeping Bear Press. How long did you have to illustrate that book?
I took about nine months. Sleeping Bear was gracious in giving me the time I needed. I had to work the illustrating in with my full-time teaching schedule for most of that time, except for the summer. I spent all summer just finessing the drawings and getting approvals from the art director and editor.
Rettie and the Ragamuffin Parade: A Thanksgiving Story (Tales of Young Americans) by Trinka Hakes Noble Picture Book, September 15, 2017, Sleeping Bear Press. Were you finished with this book before starting your new job at Ringling College of Art?
Yes, I had finished it that winter, I believe, and it was in production. By the time it was released in the fall, I had just started my new job at Ringling. So I had two things to celebrate!
Write On, Irving Berlin! by Leslie Kimmelman PB, May 15, 2018, was the third book in a row with Sleeping Bear Press. Was this a three-book deal?
No, it just happened that way, one at a time.
I just featured Junia, The Book Mule of Troublesome Creek! By Kim Michele Richardson on Writing and Illustrating and was blown away by your amazing illustrations. How long did it take you to create such wonderful art?
Thanks! It took about nine months. I don’t plan the timing like that, but it seems to take me about nine months if I’m teaching full-time. And that’s a lot of long days, weekends, and no time off during the summer. But the publishing deadlines do help with focus.
Do you have any desire to write and illustrate a picture book? However, I have no idea how you would fit in writing with all the other things you do.
I’ve toyed with the idea, and I love writing adult fiction. I’ve completed a couple of novels over the years. I’ve tried writing a children’s book, and I have a deep appreciation for how hard it can be. I do have one idea, a biography of a real-life artist that I’ve wanted to write and illustrate, and I may have found a way into the story. We’ll see.
Can you explain what a background artist does? Is that something animation companies use?
A background layout artist designs and draws the background and setting for the scene where the character will act. In 2D animation, that’s a drawing. In computer animation, that will be a 3D set created with software. The background painter will paint the background and then design the colors, lighting, and style. They have to work closely with the animators, the director, and the rest of the team to make sure everything meshes on screen.
Do you have an art studio in your house or do you do most of your work at the college?
I do all of my artwork at home in my studio. I like the separation—at school, it’s too easy to get distracted, and part of the joy of illustrating for me is the time to focus and dream, to get lost in the process.
What is your favorite tool or medium to use when creating your illustrations?
I love to experiment, but I keep coming back to watercolor, gouache, and pencil. I love working in Photoshop, and I paint animation backgrounds exclusively in that now.
What do you think helped develop your style?
Starting in animation gave me the chance to explore a great variety of styles. For the style I’ve used in picture books, I had only about six weeks to paint thirty or so illustrations for The Harvey Milk Story, my first book, so I needed a fast style. Simple watercolor washes with a black pencil holding line allowed me to complete one picture a day.
Do you think your style has changed since starting your career?
I’ve gotten more elaborate with each book, and I hope looser, too, but the process is still pretty much the same. Trina Schart Hyman’s lovely body of work has been a huge inspiration to me in that sense. The amount of detail and levels of storytelling she was able to achieve. She had such a rich vision that she brought to every project.
Do you use Photoshop with any of your work?
Since Sarah Gives Thanks, I’ve used a little Photoshop to make corrections and revisions, and I’ve done that even more with Junia. I’ve integrated digital and traditional more than ever to illustrate Junia.
Do you have and/or use a graphic tablet?
Yes, I’ve got my trusty Wacom Intuos, the same model I’ve used for years, updated when I need to. I’ve tried Cintiqs and iPads, but I’m so used to my Wacom now, I stick with what I know.
What do you think has been your biggest success so far?
As far as illustration work, I’m very proud of Junia, the latest. It was a privilege and a joy to work with Kim Michele Richardson’s story. Her bestselling novel, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is one of my favorite books of all time. When she told me she loved how I’d brought ol’ Junia to life for kids, I knew I had done what I set out to do.
Any exciting projects on the horizon?
Sending my debut novel out into the world. Querying agents and publishers is plenty exciting, and it’s certainly a project. I’m taking a little breather from picture books right now.
What are you working on now?
Poster art for the annual Off the Page literary event here this fall in Florida. I’m doing this one completely in Photoshop, and I don’t design many posters, so it’s a fun challenge. A chance to stretch.
Are there any painting tips (materials, paper, etc.) you can share that work well for you? Technique tips?
I love my Wacom Intuos, and Arches cold press WC paper and Illustration board are my go-to’s. I love Winsor and Newton’s gouache, and Dr. Ph Martin’s HYDRUS watercolors are lovely and vibrant; I painted all of Ticktock and Irving Berlin with those. Sable brushes are the best, but pricey, so I use some hybrids. I experiment until I find brushes that feel right, then I stick with them. For watercolor, I like using as few washes as possible, a simple light pass, for example, for skin tone, then a second pass for shadow, a little blending, and leave it. To work in even more, I’ll scan it and use Photoshop layers with low opacity, still working in layers, to maintain the the paper’s texture. If I spend too long doing my washes, then I’ve probably overworked the painting. Then it’s best to just start over.
Any words of wisdom you can share with the illustrators who are trying to develop their careers?
You can see from my career that I’ve had a Blanche Dubois sort of path: Depending on the kindness of strangers (and friends, of course.) I’ve helped out others in return when I can. I don’t think anybody finds success, however they define it, all on their own. Define success for yourself. What’s a good career, anyway? It’s a personal thing. Follow your nose, and stay open to new directions. Keep your lineage in mind, and don’t be afraid to call on your artist ancestors for help. I do that with every job I do, and they never fail me. Don’t let yourself be defined by any one job; I go crazy, judging the book I just handed in, so being able to let it go, learn what you can and apply it to the next job, focus on growth, getting better and better, do the work, and let all the outside chatter go. We can only control so much of this career stuff, after all.
David, thank you for taking the time to answer the interview questions and sharing you process with us. It was a wonderful way for everyone to get to know you. I’m sure your illustrations will make everyone smile. Please let me know when your next book comes out and I will share it with everyone.
You can visit David using the following Links:
WEBSITE: https://flyingdogstudio.com
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcgardner/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/
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Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
Writing and Illustrating 