Ruth Paul is an award-winning author and illustrator of ten picture books, including Hedgehog’s Magic Tricks. She works from a small straw-bale studio in the middle of a pasture just outside Wellington, New Zealand. For more information, visit www.ruthpaul.co.nz
Latest published book …
Bad Dog Flash (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, USA release Oct 2014)
Inspired by …
My current dog, Teddy, and my previous dog, Flash. They were both a bit naughty, and I am not a very ‘disciplined’ dog-owner (much as I would like to be).
Art medium used …
Pencil and watercolor.
Artistic process …
Scribble. Sketch. Erase. (Repeat x 3). Stretch paper. Sketch again. Paint. Throw away. (Repeat x 2). Stretch paper, sketch, paint. (Repeat x as many pictures required). These stages are undertaken in 15 minute slots punctuated by coffee, laundry, phone calls, lint removal, daydreaming and general procrastination.
In my studio, which is a room attached to my garage. I like being in the studio by myself, knowing that no-one can hear me singing and that I won’t have to clean it up when I leave.
Most used art supply or tool …
The 4B or 5B pencil.
Illustrator idols …
Emma Chichester Clarke. Brian Wildsmith. I am currently in love with the beautiful cut-out birds made by Kate Slater.
All-time favorite children’s book you didn’t illustrate …
Little Rabbit and the Sea by fellow New Zealander Gavin Bishop. I read it frequently to my children when they were little, so it holds fond memories from that era of our lives. I also love Paul O. Zelinsky’s The Wheels on the Bus. The babies crying and the mothers ‘shhh-ing’ always make me laugh.
A literary character to create art with …
Pippi Longstocking! She raised herself, and lived with a horse and a monkey! Who knows, maybe I’ll need help lifting a horse off my artwork one day …
Currently working on …
Three books and more. I have just finished Go Home Flash (a sequel to Bad Dog Flash) and it’s quite cute, even if I do say so myself. I have two books in production with Scholastic (Australia/NZ): Bye Bye Grumpy Fly, which I am loving working on in a new punchy-digital illustration style, and another dinosaur book in the Stomp! family called What’s the Time, Dinosaur? I am also working on a fourth book in the Forest friends series for Walker Books (Australia/NZ – released by Candlewick in the USA)) called Duckling Dresses Up. Busy times!
