I have now done 10 interviews with 10 amazing designers and illustrators! I still have more interviews to come, but in case you might have missed one, here’s a small overview of each interview, as well as links to the same.
(If you have a cover you would like to know more about, I’m always open to suggestions! You can leave a comment below, email me or send me a tweet, and I’ll try to contact the designer or illustrator who did it.)
Tom Bagshaw – Pantomime and Shadowplay by Laura Lam
“I had always wanted to do something creative and set out with an idea of becoming an illustrator or fine artist. What I’ve done has changed over the years, but I’ve always enjoyed what I’ve done.”
Nathallia Sullen – Splintered by A. G. Howard, and One by Leigh Ann Kopans
“Before working for clients I worked for myself, art is part of my life,
as a way of expressing myself when I cannot express with words.”
Alexandre Chaudet – The Iron Trials by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
“Since I was a kid, I always loved to draw. In fact, I always liked to tell stories, so I learned to draw them. Then to paint them. (…) I can’t say if was “driven by destiny” to become an illustrator, but let’s say it was close to fate!”
Jon Smith – The End Games by T. Michael Martin
“As a kid I was really serious about illustrating comic books. I think I was 13 or 14 when i started doing full 10″x15″ comic book pages and taking them to comic book conventions to get critiqued by my favorite artists. “
Patrick Insole – The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
“I originally trained as an illustrator and, for a long time after graduating, that continued to be my ambition – I certainly never set out to become a book designer.”
Chris Riddell – Coraline and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
“I became an illustrator because my twin passions were reading and drawing. The books I read provided the inspiration for my drawings. I decided when I was quite young that I wanted
to illustrate books.”
Sarah J. Coleman – The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Clarke, and Aristotle and Dante by Benjamin Sáenz
“I had quite a lot of leeway to come up with something. Again they knew what they had seen and liked about my work so I knew what my parameters were.”
Nina Tara – Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (art director), and Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens
“Well, I was 16 and I actually wanted to be a journalist. I loved the idea of being a bit of a Nancy Drew detective type journalist! Unfortunately I didn’t get my grade in English, so Art it was then!”
Duncan Smith – Howl’s Moving Castle (art) and others by Diana Wynne Jones
“Well, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a cowboy, then I found out about Space so, I had to be an astronaut! Then, James Bond, Tarzan, and then finally Batman! (The Adam West version not the guy in the rubber suit!) I always loved drawing, but never thought you could make a career out of it…”
Luke Lucas – Falls the Shadow, by Stefanie Faither
“About half way through my first year of art school together with a friend we started a glossy print magazine and the rest is kind of history.”
Here they are! If you have suggestions about interviews you’d like to see, throw them at me!