Let's Talk Illustrators #318: Anaïs Lambert

I feel so lucky to share here today my chat with Belgian author-illustrator Anaïs Lambert about her illustration and storyboard for Giant Steps. This was such a fun interview to conduct, I hope you enjoy taking a closer look at this quintessential spring book!

About the book:

Each small step into the backyard garden leads to a new and wondrous find that unlocks the imagination, magnifying the world--and even the adventurer!--until the child is taking giant steps through whole forests, tracking a bear, and even pausing to watch a parade of wild creatures dance across the sky. Then an even bigger giant appears to lead the young explorer home!

Check out the endpapers:

Let's talk Anaïs Lambert!

LTPB: Where did the idea for Giant Steps come from? What is your connection to the story?

AL: For Giant Steps, the idea came while drawing. The usual creative process often begins with a story, but here, the approach was reversed. The desire was strong to draw the "tiny" by getting down to earth. I drew on my childhood memories and feelings and tried to capture a few moments of contemplation mixed with reverie. I grew up in the countryside and spent a lot of time playing outdoors. My childhood memories are linked to those hours spent in nature, playing with my sisters, observing, exploring, and getting away from home on little "expeditions." The character emerged with the story, which gradually took shape, alongside the images.

The child in the story takes a bit from the child I once was. He is also inspired by the children I observed as a facilitator and by three little boys (my nephews) whom I watched grow up.

It's a story at a child's level. I wanted to tell it with few words. But a short story isn't any easier to write. You have to choose. While drawing, the words roll, the sentences spin in my head and resonate, repeating themselves endlessly, like a tune, until they seem fluid. I jot down notes, and all these little ideas and annotations nourish the illustrations. So much back and forth between text and images.

LTPB: What did you find most difficult in creating this book? What did you find most rewarding?

AL: The first draft of this book was rather dreamlike and ended with an open question. It was like a short poem. I revised and reworked the end of the story a lot to finally arrive at this little chase that sets the "giant steps" in motion.

endpaper sketches 

final endpapers

What I liked about creating this book was being able to establish and play with the discrepancy between the text/the child's imagination and the images/reality. Even after publication and when reading it to a young audience, I still discovered the evocative power of the illustrations.

LTPB: What did you use to create the illustrations in this book? Is this your preferred medium? How does your process change from book to book?

AL: For the illustrations in this book, I combined several techniques, with collage as the basis and common thread that gives coherence to all the images. I really like this technique, which gives a unique presence to the elements and allows for a few adjustments until the decisive moment of fixation. Collage allowed me to play with the transparencies of the papers, and to experience each time that little suspense during the final assembly of all the cutouts.

For the characters that "come to life," it's a special moment. Depending on the images and what there was to tell, I added stencils (shapes I cut out or real plants like ferns), dry pastels, colored pencils, and texture impressions (like for the snakeskin or the frog eggs). A simple "railroad" guided my work. Some illustrations are "first drafts," while others required more construction. Especially the characters that I reproduce on colored paper from the sketches.

LTPB: What are you working on now? Anything you can show us?

AL: I'm working on a new book with les éditions des Éléphants. It's about two sisters who grow up next to a tree and their relationship, which evolves as much as the tree grows. But for now, I'm mostly busy with my two very young children.

LTPB: If you got the chance to write your own picture book autobiography, who (dead or alive!) would you want to illustrate it, and why?

AL: This is a difficult and somewhat strange question for me. What an honor it must be! If I dared to imagine it… Then I would dream of seeing my story drawn by Beatrice Alemagna, whom I admire so much, for her way of placing herself so close to the child and her lively images, or Anne Herbauts, whose books and images touch me deeply with their power and poetry.

Un grand merci to Anaïs for taking time to answer some questions! Giant Steps publishes from Blue Dot Kids Press next week on April 8!

Special thanks to Anaïs, Blue Dot, and Deborah Sloan for use of these images!

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