Lisa Anchin is an illustrator, author, and designer. She is the author-illustrator of the picture book The Little Green Girl, which won a Crystal Kite Award, and the illustrator of a number of other books for children, including Pedal Pusher, written by Mary Boone and published by Henry Holt & Co. When not in her studio stringing words together and doodling, she loves meeting other kidlit folks and has long volunteered as the Illustration Coordinator for the Metro New York Chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Visit Lisa's website to learn more about her and her work.
1. How did you first get into writing and illustrating for children?
I came to illustration via a long circuitous path, through museum work, nonprofit organizing, and academia. Even as a kid, I wrote stories, but when I was younger, I didn’t know that it could be a “real” job. Finally, when I was in a PhD program in my late 20s, I realized that I wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t give writing and illustrating a go. I left my PhD program, got an MFA, began freelancing full time, and never looked back. It wasn’t a straight shot for me, and though it took a number of years to break in, I never stopped trying, and I never stopped writing.
2. When and where do you create? Do you have a routine?
I have two small children, so I work when they’re at school. It’s an abbreviated work day, so I frequently work at night after they go to bed and sometimes on the weekends. When they were smaller, I used to say I worked “nights, naps, and weekends”. I try to do some creative work—whether writing or illustrating—consistently each day. Even if I’m not actively working, I try to draw and play in my sketchbook, whether it’s a weekday or weekend. Sometimes it doesn’t happen, and I do my best to give myself grace when life gets busy. I’m lucky to have a studio space in our apartment, and I do the bulk of my work there at my drawing table. I do like my space organized, but I’m coming to accept that I’m also a chaos goblin. Though I usually need to be at my desk when I’m working on the final art for a book, I like to get out when work is portable. If I’m writing or working on first sketches for a project, I’ll haunt the local cafes and city spaces, including public parks, the library, or Industry City in Brooklyn.
3. What advice do you have for those hoping to write and/or illustrate for children?
When I was still aspiring to publish, the best thing I ever did for my career was to forge friendships with other folks hoping to write and illustrate children’s books. At the first SCBWI conference I ever went to, I met two other local illustrators, and we started a critique group. Since that conference 13 years ago, we’re still together, and our little group (now slightly expanded) meets monthly to discuss our projects. At another conference I met a number of other writer-illustrators who have become dear friends and both virtual critique partners and studio mates. These friends are scattered across the country, so we meet periodically on FaceTime or zoom and will work together in our respective spaces. Sometimes we share our projects, others we just work and chat. The work we do as artists and writers happens in isolation, but it’s not sustainable to do all alone. If you want a long career, you need folks who will help shore you up when you’re feeling down and be a sounding board when you need input and advice. Find your people. Find creative peers, critique partners, and friends.
4. Focusing on your most recent picture book project, Pedal Pusher, how did you land on the color palette?
After reading this fabulous manuscript, I did quite a bit of research about Annie and her incredible journey. I found articles that described her clothing, and I was struck by the blue colors she wore. When she first set out from Boston, she was reported wearing a dark blue, wool jacket and long skirt. Later after she reached Chicago and exchanged her heavy, woolen suit for bloomers, she was described as wearing a “sky blue bloomer suit” and shooting down “Jefferson Street like a streak of blue and white”. I loved this description. Blue is representative of both sky and ocean, and for me, it has the feeling of expansiveness and freedom. In 1894, women were weighed down by domestic responsibilities and social mores, and I wanted Annie to be a symbol of freedom. Annie is the only character who wears both deep blue and sky blue in the book until the very final spread, when the blue of the contemporary mom’s t-shirt connects her to Annie‘s first riding costume.
As for the other colors in the book, I knew her journey would take her through both rural areas and cities, so green would feature heavily as well as browns—siennas, and umbers—for city scenes. Because yellow and red draw the eye more than other colors, I decided not to use any primary colors. All of the other colors I used were muted shades—ochre instead of bright yellow, and rose, sienna, and peach instead of red. This helps keep the reader’s attention on our heroine.
5. Do you have any favorite spreads within the book?
It’s not the most exciting spread in the book, but I personally love the pages filled with ephemera from Annie’s trip. I loved looking at old photographs and newspaper articles, and I really enjoyed recreating them for this illustration. I also thoroughly enjoyed painting the spread with vignettes of some of the places Annie travelled abroad. I researched the locations mentioned in her journey and looked up both historical photos and old picture postcards to get an idea of what these places would have looked like in 1894 and 1985. My PhD project was about picture postcards, so I am no stranger to visual research; I love looking back at these tangible objects. They’re historical objects that center a place, but they’re also very personal. You do find postcards that were unsent without writing on the verso, but by and large, most historic postcards have notes on the back. It’s a treat to have that little peek into a real person’s correspondence.
6. Everyone knows nonfiction authors do a lot of research, but you can talk a little about the research you did for your illustrations?
For every painting in the book, I looked at dozens of images. As I mentioned above, I really love visual research. First, I got to know Annie through photographs, articles, and a biography by her great nephew. Once I had a sense of Annie as a person, I began to look at specific elements of the period, like buildings contemporary to the time, fashion, advertisements, posters, etc.
Annie was a Jewish immigrant who lived in Boston’s West End, the equivalent of NYC’s Lower East Side, so the Tenement Museum served as an incredible resource for images of furniture contemporary to the late 19th century, tenement apartments, and details of immigrant life.
While reading about Annie, I discovered that suffragists saw cycling as a vehicle for women’s liberation, and the crowd that saw her off at the Massachusetts State House was filled with suffragettes. I did a deep dive into the suffrage movement, researching pictures of women marching with placards and the symbols of the movement. The head of the local chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (also a major supporter of the suffrage movement) spoke at the gathering and even pinned a white ribbon to Annie’s suit before she took off on her adventure.
And that is just the tip of my research iceberg. My reference folder is filled with fashion plates of mutton leg sleeves, bowlers, and bloomers; illustrated newspaper articles; dated picture postcards from the various countries Annie cycled through on her journey; art created during the 1890s including paintings, prints, and posters; images of Victorians on hunting parties in India; postcards and photos of trolleys, trains, and steamships, including La Touraine, the ship Annie sailed to France on; and so much more. I generally feel like the more I immerse myself in the time period, the more the art feels like a complete world.
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