HELLO!

Welcome to Chapter 19 of The Happy Book. In this chapter, I'll be talking to author/illustrator Kylie Howarth about the author/illustrator journey. I'll be chatting to Kylie about her wonderful books and how she creates them-you'll actually hear a behind-the-scenes rundown of how she does it!

We'll also talk about thinking outside the square when it comes to book ideas, about illustration techniques, combining writing with pictures, the importance of visual narrative, character consistency, finding your voice and so much more.

Fire up your device, cram in those earbuds and enjoy this foray into the magical world of kids' book creation. If you have any questions or comments, you can say hello at [email protected].

I'm Tania McCartney and I'm an author, illustrator and editor of children's books. I've always wanted to live inside a book, and now I practically do. Welcome to the Happy Book.

GUEST - KYLIE HOWARTH

Kylie Howarth is an award-winning, internationally published children's author/illustrator from Western Australia. She is also part fish! Kylie has swum with whale sharks, manta rays and humpback whales in Ningaloo and piranha and pink dolphins in the Amazon. She has braved scuba diving with lionfish in Egypt, marine iguanas and hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos Islands, and has encountered great white sharks in South Africa! Kylie not only draws inspiration from her underwater travels but also her own two fish-kids who are ocean explorers, too. Kylie's picture book Chip won the 2018 WAYRBA Hoffman Award, was CBCA-shortlisted, YABBA Awards-shortlisted, and also won a KOALA Honour Award. She has just released its sequel Chip the Lifeguard, as well as Fish Kid and the Lizard Ninja, the first book in her new chapter book series.

SHOW NOTES

00:36 Introduction

01:36 Introducing Kylie Howarth

02:28 Our bevvies of choice-coffee-and lots of pings

04:04 A typical writing day for Kylie

05:59 Does Kylie you have a plan to either write or draw each day?

07:12 The balancing act becomes finessed over time

07:50 Kylie's first chapter book and the time it takes-Fish Kid

08:22 Rushing to get the next book done

09:18 Writing and illustrating a series-the time it takes

10:22 Kylie's childhood illustrating

11:06 Graphic design and writing

12:01 Entering the kids' book arena

12:53 Writing picture books for our own kids, Fish Jam

13:36 Writing in new genres as your children grow older

14:11 How Kylie moved into children's books-SCBWI

17:50 Books that think outside the square

18:39 The same old themes-my rant

19:14 Kylie's rant about parents being killed off in chapter books

20:45 What has brought Kylie the most joy as an author/illustrator

21:59 What has been the most challenging thing in this industry

22:38 How Kylie includes her kids in book production, Chip

24:30 Kylie's book creation processes

25:34 1, 2 Pirate Stew

26:03 Hard to tell the difference between hand-rendered and digital

26:22 Chip process + Procreate

26:44 Illustration tablets

28:16 When new ideas pop in

28:48 Kylie's illustration software

32:15 Visual narrative in picture books

33:54 Cutting picture book text as image appears

34:43 Adding delight with sub- narrative imagery

36:06 Adding detail for adults in picture books

36:55 How do we bring words and pictures together seamlessly

38:40 Character consistency in illustration

40:33 Showing emotion in character illustration

42:20 Importance o...