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Between the Lines |
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Interview with Author Darcy Pattison & Illustrator Joe Cepeda |
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The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman
Darcy Pattison
Illustrated by Joe Cepeda
Have you seen Oliver K. Woodman? You'd know if you had—he's made of wood. And he's on a spectacular cross-country journey. Folks of all sorts guide Oliver along the way and report back in letters and postcards to his friend Uncle Ray. After all, there's a lot of road—and adventure—between South Carolina and California. |
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Biography |
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| Darcy Pattison is the author of The River Dragon, illustrated by Jean and Mou-Sien Tseng, as well as the fantasy novel The Wayfinder. She teaches writing at the University of Central Arkansas. She lives in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
Joe Cepada has illustrated many books for children, including What a Truly Cool World by Julius Lester and Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron. He lives in Whittier, California. |
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Interview with Darcy Pattison—Author of The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman |
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Q: What inspired you to create Oliver K. Woodman and to send him on a cross-country journey?
A: I saw a newspaper article about a wooden man in Colorado who toured a couple of states. I thought that a traveling wooden man could make a great children's book, but nothing I did worked. I thought about it for seven years, until I read another book that was done in letters. When I realized this format would work, I sat down and wrote the book in one afternoon. I took out a map of the United States, started on the East Coast, and didn't stop until Oliver was in California.
Q: This book is a great geography tool that covers states and regions across the United States from South Carolina to California. It includes addresses, city names, zip codes, and different types of folks encountered along the way. What do you think children will learn from reading Oliver K. Woodman?
A: I hope children will get a sense of the diversity and the breadth of the United States. The double-page spreads with just landscapes give this book a larger feel, like you really are crossing the nation. Oliver meets a wide range of people in terms of ethnic groups, professions, and ages. He participates in private rituals such as afternoon tea, and public events like a Fourth of July parade. This is America in all her glory and grandeur: Our unity in diversity is our strength.
Q: It's interesting that in the middle of the book Oliver disappears for more than twenty days—and everyone is worried about him. Why did you throw this kink into the storyline? Was it to generate curiosity in children?
A: This is in the story because Oliver refuses to tell me where he was for those missing days. He keeps secrets even from me.
Q: What is your impression of the style and color schemes chosen by illustrator Joe Cepeda? Does Oliver match the character you envisioned when writing the story? Or did you provide Joe with guidelines for Oliver's portrayal in the book?
A: Picture books truly are a collaboration of words and text, and I'm comfortable letting go of the words and waiting to see what results. Joe's color palette is eye-popping, wonderful. Blue skies, green skies, pink skies, orange skies. I love the layers of paint that allow bits to show through from underneath. For example, Tameka's pink house with the streaks of green showing through is breathtaking.
Joe's vision of Oliver far exceeded mine-but that's always true when a professional artist takes charge of my words. His visual characterization of Oliver is stunning: Oliver has no mouth, yet you would swear that he's smiling at us. The addition of joints make Oliver more expressive than my idea of a plywood man.
Finally, Joe's landscapes evoke the wonder experienced when crossing our nation. It's not often a picture book artist has the opportunity to paint such landscapes, but Joe does a superb job of using the picture book format to evoke space and light as well as any classic landscape artist would. And he does it all with a dash of humor, while still moving the story ahead. He's an amazing talent.
Q: Uncle Ray and Tameka love each other, and Uncle Ray sends that love in the guise of Oliver K. Woodman to make up for not seeing her in person. After Oliver finally arrives in California, Tameka is thrilled to find out that a trip to see Uncle Ray is possible after all. Who's more excited? Tameka, Uncle Ray, or Oliver himself?
A: Oliver crosses the entire nation with the mission of connecting a family. In the end, it's the entire family—Oliver included—that wins. The last picture of the book, when everyone is looking at postcards of Oliver's trip, is a family united by love.
Q: What advice do you have for parents to help their kids get the most out of The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman?
A: When I go to schools, this is the inevitable question: Is Oliver real? I answer, "Of course!" Within the pages of a book, all characters live. We want children to have healthy imaginations, because imagination expands their concept of the world. As a person with deeply held religious beliefs, I think this is very important. If the only reality is what we can see with our eyes and touch with our hands, then there is no possibility of God, who must be accepted on faith.
To help kids get the most from reading Oliver's story, play the game that all literature plays. Let them believe that Oliver is real. I grew up reading Johnny Gruelle's stories of the adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy, who escaped from the nursery at night to have fantastic adventures. Like the Velveteen Rabbit, Oliver is real to me.
Listen to the voice of each letter and have fun making your reading sound like that character. Take time to look at the visual feast that Joe Cepeda has provided: Look at the license plates and the postcard stamps; look at the blank map in the front and the marked map at the end. Talk about trips your family has taken to different states. Spend time letting this family story become your family's story.
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Interview with Joe Cepeda—Illustrator of The Journey of Oliver K. Woodmanr |
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Q: The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman is an unusual story about a wooden man sent across the country by the kindly Geppetto-like Uncle Ray to see his niece, Tameka. Oliver doesn't talk, doesn't eat, doesn't breathe—and yet he has quite a personality. What did you think when you were called upon to illustrate this particular character and story? Did you find it intriguing? Challenging?
A: I immediately found it intriguing. There were some very basic elements that made it a very attractive to illustrate. Firstly, the main character is a wooden man (I knew right away that the fact that he wasn't able to talk and such, potentially, gave him more visual impact because the viewer would need to look at him to see what he was doing. There is much more mystery to him because he is not an animated figure, it was a choice I made. I didn't put a mouth on him for that reason - I wanted him to be expressionless. What I was really looking for was for Oliver to look as if he was positioned by the people who found him, not by himself. The story really is about his journey and the people he affects.
Q: What was your inspiration for the look of Oliver K. Woodman—including the hat and knapsack?
A: I designed Oliver as if I was going to build him. I do a little wood working myself. If I ever got around to it, I like to think I could build an Oliver. I added the the hat and bag because they seemed like they would be useful to someone travelling across the US, hitching a ride.
Q: Your drawings were done in oils over an acrylic under-painting on board. How exactly do you accomplish this? And is the acrylic undercoat responsible for the textured look and feel of your illustrations?
A: I begin by preparing an illustration board by applying an acrylic gesso, then a light umber mid-tone, then transferring my drawing, then I paint all the shapes and images in arbitrary color, in acrylic. Next, when I begin to use oil paint, I will purposely allow some of that acrylic to show through. As an example, on the jacket, there is an ochre color in the sky and around the clouds that I let come through. The blue lines that delineate Oliver are actually the blue acrylic under-painting that's allowed to show through in the form of line. The texture just develops with the several layers of paint and my brush handling.
Q: Your book illustrations are often done in bold, rich color schemes—in this case with an almost impressionistic color palette—like Monet, only sharp and focused. What appeals to you about these bright, vibrant colors?
A: I paint color in a very responsive way. I try and plan as little as possible. When I do the under-paintings in arbitrary color I see some very unusual combinations, blue trees, purple faces, orange mountains, etc. As I start to apply the oils there unexpected colors all over the place. I respond to that by trying make the "logical" color I might be applying be in harmony with whatever is random. Most of the time it's bright and vibrant!
Q: Who is the seventeen-year-old boy you mention in your dedication of Oliver K. Woodman and what is the story behind the dedication?
A: You caught me, that's me. Since this book had that great spirit of travel so much a part of it, it reminded me of what it felt like when I went away to college, leaving home for the first time. I had traveled little and had never even been on a plane. But there I was, "leaving on a jet plane" (that song was actually playing on the radio as my parents drove me to the airport) headed across the country to go to college and begin my adult life.
Q: When you finally get to see the finished version of a book, how do you view your illustrations?
A: I usually pay more attention to the design of the whole book. I don't look at the art too technically, I look at the illustrations as if they're in a photo album because it's usually about a year since I've sent the originals off and I'm well into other projects when I see the images again. It's like seeing old friends.
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