I attended a children's illustration panel the other night. A couple people that were on the panel were illustration buddies of mine. And being the narcissist that I am, when questions were directed to my friends I felt the need to voice my answer, quietly in my head...
"So, Molly, what got you started in illustration?"
Molly Mikela: "Well, (small chuckle) I don't know how many of you are familiar with Golden Books but (reflective pause), for me it probably was seeing Eloise Wilkin's We Like Kindergarten. The cover of that book was so strange to me, because on one hand, you have this beautifully rendered little girl and on the other hand the girl is holding her crude yet innocent drawing. It was quite a conundrum! So....ha.... (smiling at the audience) the contrast between realism and naïveté was an appealing aspect of art to my six year old mind and remains a source of interest to me as a developing artist."
Speaker: "Tanja, can you tell us about your experience with promoting your book through your various book tours?"
Tanja Mikela: "uh... book? tour?...uh...."