Every Rock Has a Story: An A to Z of Australian Geology by Kitty Van Cuylenburg, illustrated by Cher Hart
CSIRO Publishing
Interview with Cher Hart about illustrating Every Rock has a Story
Thank you for speaking to Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords about illustrating Every Rock has a Story, Cher. It’s a fascinating book and you and Kitty have done a great job. Young readers will be keen to delve into geology after poring over its pages.
My background and how it correlates with the book
I am ashamed to admit that, despite knowing that geology is important and wishing I knew more about it, I never really felt an affinity for rocks. In addition, I never really felt confident illustrating landscapes. So, I was a bit nervous when offered the opportunity to illustrate this book full of rocks, geological concepts and landscapes!
But, after working through it with the publisher, I accepted the challenge of illustrating outside of my comfort zone. I also thought it might be a good way of filling in some of the geology blanks in my education. To my great surprise and delight, I found that I absolutely loved illustrating rocks! I loved capturing their forms, textures and, well, their different personalities! Likewise, the landscapes in the book ended up coming out quite naturally and being a joy to create.
How I approached illustrating the book
Being the biophile that I am, my first thought was to incorporate as many living beings into the book as I could. Wherever a living organism was mentioned in the text, it got illustrated. But I also found ways of including other relevant living beings, such as the boggomoss snail, Australian fur seals and billy buttons. I hoped this would satisfy my own inclinations and reinforce the link for readers between geology and life.
I also wanted to help give readers an intuitive understanding of the concepts. Geology contains many complex ideas! My aim was to create a cohesive book and information that was easy to absorb. Fortunately, being both the illustrator and designer provided the perfect opportunity to create a seamless integration of text, layout and illustration elements. For example, the different colours I used throughout the book not only created visual interest, but also categorised the different types of geology features.
As with most book projects, I did not have any direct contact with the author (Kitty). I submitted my ideas, drafts and final illustrations to the publisher; they forwarded them on to Kitty for review; then passed comments and corrections back to me. This worked well as it allowed me to present things in my own way, as well as providing expert guidance when on the wrong track.
My media and process
I completed almost all of the book digitally, using Procreate and a digital pencil on my iPad. Working this way allows me to keep my freehand drawing approach while making it quicker and easier to make adjustments. I don’t have to wait for paint to dry! Knowing I can correct anything I am not happy with gives me a great deal of freedom to make mistakes. This helps me keep my illustrations fresh, loose, lively and full of character. While I may make several exploratory sketches as I’m getting to know my subject or creating a pose or composition, I create the end-illustrations in one step, without any under-drawings.
The other essential ingredient in my illustration process is time. Once I’ve come up with an idea or an illustration, I need to walk away, let it settle and come back to it at some unforced time later before I can tell whether it’s working or not.
My favourite pages
Although it’s difficult to pick a favourite page, I am very fond of the L Limestone spread. I found the (once-living) fossil foraminiferans particularly wonderful to illustrate. I put a lot of research effort into making sure I was accurately portraying fossil species that occurred in the area.
I am pleased with the way this spread intuitively highlights the concept of scale by showing these tiny, tiny creatures opposite the medium-sized humans within a very large cave. And I love the calming colours contrasting the adventurous activity of the cave divers, which I hope leaves readers with a sense of wonder and possibility.
I also very much enjoyed creating the endpapers. They felt like a personal indulgence but one that I hope also brings joy to others. My aim was for these ‘collections’ to inspire readers to go on a little treasure hunt within the book to find each item and to want to learn more about it.
paperbarkwords.blog 