Today I'm pleased to share my interview with Indigenous illustrator and Nisg̱a’a citizen Chantelle Trainor-Matties. We talk about her newest picture book A Salmon Story: Protecting the Future written by Willie Poll––including all her salmon research!––and what being a practitioner of formline art means to Chantelle. Enjoy!
About the book:
Salmon are central to their ecosystem and the lives of many Indigenous Nations, but the rapid rise of open net-pen fish farming has threatened these longstanding connections. Salmon have followed the same migration routes for thousands of years, but the fish farming industry has had a deadly impact on their annual journey. Open-net pen farms release harmful waste into the ocean that is lethal to the wild salmon forced to swim through it. Now, the salmon must battle against the human-made destruction of their habitat, and many Nations are advocating for change and creating calls of action to protect salmon for future generations.
As the young salmon journey from their gravel nests to the open ocean, readers learn about the life cycle of wild salmon, the effects of open-net pen fish farms, and the role of salmon as a keystone species.
As the young salmon journey from their gravel nests to the open ocean, readers learn about the life cycle of wild salmon, the effects of open-net pen fish farms, and the role of salmon as a keystone species.
Let's talk Chantelle Trainor-Matties!
LTPB: How did you become the illustrator of A Salmon Story: Protecting the Future? What were the first images that popped into your mind when you saw Willie Poll’s text?
Willie Poll (the author) liked my work and Owlkids Publishing reached out to me to see if I would be interested, I was so excited as it’s always been on my goal list to illustrate a children’s book. I’m really grateful for the trust they had in me as this was my first children’s book.
One of the first illustrations that started coming together for me was the salmon spirit floating out of the water on page 2. One of the iterations of the sketch featured a mother and a child as well as the salmon spirit, but we decided to put more focus on the salmon and have the humans as silhouettes throughout the book. It’s actually one of my favourite illustrations that came out of the book, I have a framed on a shelf.
Willie Poll (the author) liked my work and Owlkids Publishing reached out to me to see if I would be interested, I was so excited as it’s always been on my goal list to illustrate a children’s book. I’m really grateful for the trust they had in me as this was my first children’s book.
My Indigenous art style is contemporary Northwest Coast formline, which is connected to my Nisga’a roots––My Indigenous art is Contemporary Northwest Coast formline which is connected to my Nisga’a heritage. I really enjoy combining that style with cartoon illustrations which worked perfectly with this book. I’ve been drawing my whole life, and my style has developed ever since I was a child. My inspiration comes from all walks of life, from watching Disney movies, to Saturday morning cartoons, to learning my culture and practicing the language of formline art while developing a style of my own.
I spent a lot of time looking at pictures of Salmon, from photographic shots of them swimming in streams, to scientific illustrations to make sure that I was as accurate as possible even though the book was half in formline and cartoon illustrations.
Here are some examples of how I like to combine illustration and my formline work.
LTPB: What did you find most difficult in creating this book? What did you find most rewarding?
I think the most challenging part was that this was my first children’s book, so it was a huge learning curve. While I’m a full-time artist, I usually do stand-alone illustrations or paintings. It’s completely different when working on a children’s book as every page has to continue seamlessly from the previous. So, there is a lot of focus on consistency and accuracy as it is a non-fiction to top it off, from fin shapes to size perspectives. Seeing everything come together after spending so much time on it really was the most rewarding.
Here is an example of a sketch with two options as the final illustration, we ended up going with the half page in order to fit additional copy; our dedications.
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?
I worked almost completely on my iPad illustrating in Procreate which is where the majority of my projects begin. I work in a lot of mediums as an artist; it really depends on the project. Sometimes I’m scaling a wall with a paintbrush and latex paint for a mural, painting a canvas in acrylic, or taking my Procreate illustrations and turning them into vector images. But for this book I wanted to keep it softer and more whimsical, so I worked with a textured brush that reminded me of a crayon.
Here are some examples of how I like to combine illustration and my formline work.
I think the most challenging part was that this was my first children’s book, so it was a huge learning curve. While I’m a full-time artist, I usually do stand-alone illustrations or paintings. It’s completely different when working on a children’s book as every page has to continue seamlessly from the previous. So, there is a lot of focus on consistency and accuracy as it is a non-fiction to top it off, from fin shapes to size perspectives. Seeing everything come together after spending so much time on it really was the most rewarding.
Here is an example of a sketch with two options as the final illustration, we ended up going with the half page in order to fit additional copy; our dedications.
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?
I worked almost completely on my iPad illustrating in Procreate which is where the majority of my projects begin. I work in a lot of mediums as an artist; it really depends on the project. Sometimes I’m scaling a wall with a paintbrush and latex paint for a mural, painting a canvas in acrylic, or taking my Procreate illustrations and turning them into vector images. But for this book I wanted to keep it softer and more whimsical, so I worked with a textured brush that reminded me of a crayon.
Here is an example of one of my vector illustrations, they’re bold, crisp and infinitely scalable – the illustrations in the children’s book are raster illustrations, softer, with lots of detail and fun textures.
LTPB: What are you working on now? Anything you can show us?
I am in the very early stages of illustrating another children’s book called Rufus the Mayus through Medicine Wheel Publishing with words by Keisha Everson. It’s about a little Raccoon named Rufus!
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?
I would have to say the first person who came to mind was Eric Carl, I was introduced to his work in grade 3 (in the 1990’s) and we did a class project on how to make the cut-out illustrations like he did in “A Very Hungry Caterpillar”. I think the way he worked was so unique and loved that activity as a child, it’s actually an activity I can’t wait to one day do with my son who was just born on the 17th of February, 2026.
LTPB: What are you working on now? Anything you can show us?
I am in the very early stages of illustrating another children’s book called Rufus the Mayus through Medicine Wheel Publishing with words by Keisha Everson. It’s about a little Raccoon named Rufus!
I would have to say the first person who came to mind was Eric Carl, I was introduced to his work in grade 3 (in the 1990’s) and we did a class project on how to make the cut-out illustrations like he did in “A Very Hungry Caterpillar”. I think the way he worked was so unique and loved that activity as a child, it’s actually an activity I can’t wait to one day do with my son who was just born on the 17th of February, 2026.
An ocean-sized thanks to Chantelle for talking to me about her process for this book! A Salmon Story: Protecting the Future publishes TODAY from Owlkids!
Special thanks to Chantelle and Owlkids for use of these images!
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