Josh: It’s just basically emotional eating. That and deadlines. What else is there to process? Kidding. The thing is, I have two children and two dogs — both sets of which need a lot of attention, food, water and cuddles to make sure they’re growing properly. So that means I mostly illustrate at night when the house is finally quiet. The creative process itself is a very strange and weird and wonderful friend of mine. I don’t know if my process looks the same each time, but there are elements that it always shares. Coffee being a staple. Creatively, I feel like I’m a bit of an unreliable faucet of sorts. One day it is on full blast and I can concept and create and draw and imagine effortlessly. And other days (usually when I REALLY need it to be working for me) it’s just stopped up. A trickle at best. So I’ve learned to trust it. To draw and create on the days that it flows—and to honor and respect the days that it just doesn’t.
As far as mediums go, I grew up mostly with traditional drawing mediums (pencils, crayons, markers, charcoal) and now my go-to is digital. I have an iPad pro and an apple pencil to do most of my drawing and doodling. I’ve found the key is to use a matte finish screen protector on the iPad so it feels more like paper. Not as slick. I always get a little tired of digital after a while and so I sometimes will do an overly elaborate and ambitious pen and ink project or a pencil drawing mostly just to prove to myself that I still got it.
Josh: I actually got hired on at Andrews McMeel Universal (Andrews McMeel Publishing is a division of them) as a graphic designer for the book publishing group there. They publish really wonderful books and are the talent-house for some of my all time favorite cartoonist (Gary Larson’s The Far Side and Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes to name a few). And it was while I was working for the publishing division that I met and made friends with book editors and designers and creators. At the time, Andrews McMeel Universal did not publish books for the younger age groups…but the people I had befriended in their book group were always encouraging of sharing and creating ideas and illustrations for various things and ultimately that led to a connection to a publisher that was interested in THIS IS A TACO as a book series.
Josh: Well after the creation of THIS IS A TACO and it’s success, Andrew (the author) and I wanted to do another book in the series. We both really like moose as animals. The word is fun to say and the animal is fun to draw. Win-Win. Originally the moose was a girl and her name was Daisy. She was very clumsy, thus the moniker “Whoopsie-Daisy.” Andrew and I both just loved the “whoopsie-daisy” nickname so much. Anyway, we get through a majority of writing the book. I’m doing character designs. Daisy looks adorable...and then one of us realizes that female moose don’t have antlers. Only the males have the big giant antlers. The set up of these books are it’s supposed to be factual narration about the animal—and so when we realized this, we did a pass with keeping the story as is, but taking the anatomically incorrect antlers off of daisy. She just looked like a big horse. Like a poorly drawn horse. And so, we reluctantly changed the gender and just made the male-moose have the nickname of “whoopsie.”
e: Oh wow! What do you think makes an illustration magical, what I call "Heart Art” - the sort that makes a reader want to come back to look again and again?Josh: I think there is so much magic to be found in being really intentional. Whether it is the attention to detail or thinking through lighting or considering how to bring a certain concept to life—if an artist is really intentional about how he is handling/treating/creating his or her illustration work I think it shows. Sometimes for me is discovering hidden aspects of a drawing. Other times it’s marveling at how much consideration an illustrator put into the book as a whole (such as what the endpapers are designed with, and how the spine is treated…). It’s the thing that touches on an emotional chord. Whether it’s the book itself, or what the artwork is depicting—if you feel something when encountering it, it’s well done. For me personally, anything that evokes a sense of wonder does it. Anything that makes me go “wow” means it’s working.
Josh: I’m actually really terrible at advertising myself. I’ve always felt like I was born a little older than I should be…and so I’m not really good at or interested in social media much. I do post some of my work online on behance. You can find it here:behance.net/joshshipleycreative. At this point this blog is doing 99% of my advertising…and I must say I’m very happy with the results. It’s doing a great job.
e: Ha! What is your favorite or most challenging part of being a creator?
Josh: I think sometimes the most challenging part of being a creator is actually finishing your creation. Seeing it through to the end. Often times I just want want to throw my hands up in the air and just yell "ahh, you get the idea!” and move on. But actually sticking through something and finishing is worth it. (Ignore all of those stacks of unfinished drawings behind me. They’re unimportant.)
e: Is there something in particular about THIS IS A WHOOPSIE you hope readers will take away with them, perhaps something that isn’t immediately obvious?
Josh: I think we set out to make THIS IS A TACO really funny...and we stumbled onto a fairly good emotional core for the book. The idea of taking back your identity—of not letting anyone tell you who you are or what you like. Going after you want. Writing your own story. It all felt good. With THIS IS A WHOOPSIE, we wanted to expand on the emotional complexity of this idea of a main character having a conflict with the book he/she is in. So whereas Taco was more defiant and steadfast in him just being an a-typical squirrel, we made Whoopsie more insecure about himself. Gave it more of an attempt for him to struggle with WANTING to be like the moose described in the book—but failing at it. Ultimately, it lands in an emotional space for readers where there is something about defining yourself by groups—and defining yourself as yourself. So just self-acceptance and validation of your own life’s narrative become the core take away for readers.
e: That's awesome. What are you working on next or what would be your dream project?
Josh: Well I’m currently illustrating the third book in this series THIS IS A FLYING RAT and I am really excited about that one. It feels like its hitting a good mark with both humor and a good emotional core. It should be published this fall (2020).
I have always thought about trying out a graphic novel. Like fully and completely. They are just so impressive to me. It is an ENORMOUS amount of work and illustration effort and I’m not fully able to comprehend the amount of time and effort it must take to create one. I have always been incredibly impressed with graphic novels and the amount of decision making that goes into them. What moment do you choose to illustrate? How do you plan for dialog? How much of these choices live with a writer vs an illustrator? It’s all fascinating to me.
e: I agree! Please share if you ever do one!
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