TDR
HALLOWEEN SPECIAL:
INTERVIEW WITH ILLUSTRATOR
PATRICIA
STORMS
 Patricia
Storms is a freelance illustrator and cartoonist who loves to draw funny
pictures for books and magazines. Some of her illustrated books are: Good
Granny/Bad Granny, A Sticky Mess
and Fifty Little Penguins. She lives in
Toronto with her husband Guy and two very fat cats in a 90-year-old
house that is full to the brim with books. Her most recent book is a
Halloween version of the "Twelve Days of
Christmas," where ten children, two dogs and a cat enter a haunted
funhouse. On their journey through the rooms, they encounter bats and
witches and goblins. But one by one, they start to disappear. The book
is called 13 Ghosts of Halloween.
(October 2007)
RELATED LINKS:
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 BEGINNING
AS ARTIST
I guess I got started as an artist as soon as I picked up my first
pencil. Or maybe it was a crayon. I don’t remember that far back. But
I do know that I was getting good comments about my drawing ability even
on my kindergarten report cards (which I still have!).
FAMILY
My family certainly had a big influence
on me. My mom used to paint with oils, and we had some of her paintings
hanging in our house for many years. Both my parents loved cartoons, and
there were a lot of cartoon books around the house. Both my parents were
very encouraging about my drawing. But they were not so positive about
me actually becoming an artist as a profession, because I guess they
were afraid that I would be poor my whole life. So I actually worked in
libraries for 10 years, and then worked as a graphic designer for
another 4 years or so, before I finally decided to be a full-time
illustrator and a cartoonist.
 WORKING AS
AN ILLUSTRATOR
I wasn’t exactly getting rich in those other careers, so I figured,
why not do what I really want to do? It was a very gradual process for
me, becoming an illustrator and cartoonist. I worked in full-time jobs
(either in libraries or graphic design) and sold my art on the side for
many, many years before I finally took the leap to become a full-time
illustrator. I’ve been drawing full-time for about five years now. My
reasons for wanting to be an illustrator and a cartoonist are really
pretty simple, I think: it just feels so good to draw funny pictures!
CURRENT PROJECTS
Right now I’m working on a series of
fun illustrations for a kid’s magazine, as well as some cute cartoons
that will actually be going into a serious book about communication in
the business world. I’m also working on writing my own picture book
stories, with the hopes of one day getting them published (and hopefully
illustrated by me!)
ADVICE
I would tell anyone who is hoping to get into the business of
illustrating to study lots of different subjects in school, not just
art. It’s certainly very important to be able to draw, but even more
important than that is to have lots of great ideas. The more you learn
about the world around you, the better artist you will be.
INSPIRATION
It’s often the ordinary day-to-day stuff that inspires me. I seem to
have an ability to see humour in everything around me. For example,
right now I’m looking out the upstairs window of my house. Across the
street some men are doing some construction work on one of the roads.
The construction men are taking a break right now. Two of them are
sitting on the loading part of the bulldozer, drinking coffee. They are
both very dirty, and they are laughing and talking to some other men
standing next to them. There is a big hole in the road right in front of
them. For some reason, I find this image funny.
 FAVOURITE
HALLOWEEN COSTUMER EVER?
My favourite Halloween costume ever? This answer is very difficult. My
mom wasn’t the kind of mom who made Halloween costumes, and she wouldn’t
buy any, either. So every year I went out as a hobo. Not very inspiring.
I really would have liked to dress up like a big rabbit.
I don’t usually get dressed up in a costume when I give out candy on
Halloween. But maybe I should get into the Halloween spirit, since I’ve
illustrated a Halloween book. Perhaps this is the year I get my rabbit
costume!
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