Maria Fröhlich
Photo: Elliot Elliot
What distinguishes a truly good picture book, according to you?
"There are some experiences and feelings that are hard to describe in words but can be captured in a picture book—hidden between the lines, in a dynamic pen or pencil stroke, in a symbiotic interaction of text and picture. Suddenly I’ll recognize a feeling I can’t put words to, yet there it is in the book. In the same way, it’s hard to say what makes a picture book good. There’s no precise formula. But I know it when I read it, and it stays with me after I’ve closed the cover."
Do you have any advice for children and young people who dream of becoming illustrators?
"Practice drawing! Draw all the things you see, but also the ones you don’t. Draw the faraway worlds where only you have been and all the things that only exist in your own imagination. See if you can get pictures to climb down out of your head and onto on the paper, just as you envisioned them. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Notice when your drawing improves and say something nice to yourself when it doesn’t look like you wanted. Search out other people who like to draw and who carry worlds inside them, because most things in life are easier if you do them with friends."
