Activity 2: 'so you want to have a different viewpoint each time, especially if you're doing the same characters in the same landscape.'

• Look at a range of books that repeat the same characters and features, for example The Sea Thing by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Benson, or more classic examples such as Winnie the Pooh. Think about all the ways the illustrator relieves the tedium.
• You could set up a very simple scenario on your desk, for example using a toy figure and any object. Sketch out 3 or 4 frames of this 'toy story', using differing perspectives to ensure variety and interest from page to page.

Patrick Benson's View

Patrick Benson: Quite often the thumbnail sketches I do, which are my very first ideas - my reaction to the text - are exactly the same as what I end up with at the end of the day, but obviously in rough version .Other ones completely change.You find that perhaps you're repeating yourself. I think one of the dangers of illustrating books is that you do images that are the same as the ones before, which is obviously disappointing for the child reading the book.

When I did my page plans for The Owl Babies, I thought of it very much as a film. So you can imagine it starts off with a close-up and then as you progress through the story you're pulling back, pulling back, pulling back. You're able to see that by the time the owls are very small and the wood surrounding them is very big, that this coincides with them at their most vulnerable point.

You then will use an overhead view because I think it's interesting to imagine yourself flying through the trees. What does it look like when you look down upon something? Again, I think that's interesting for children to think about what it might be like to fly and what would it look like. You, as an illustrator can do that.

You can equally do the reverse of that. You can say what would it be like if you were very small and you're sitting inside a matchbox. What does it feel like? What does it look like? Or if you're doing stuff for very young children, for instance if they're three years old their eye level is below seat or tabletop height. So therefore as an illustrator, why not show them the world they know, which is actually seen from underneath things. It's a whole other way of looking at a story, although it's obviously got to fit in with the text. It's also because you don't want to get bored doing the pictures, so you want to have a different viewpoint each time, especially if you're doing the same characters in the same landscape.

JE: Are you always true to the text?

Patrick Benson: Yes. You've got to be absolutely true.

JE: Is there a temptation sometimes not to be?

Patrick Benson: No, there's no temptation. The way that you understand that is if you have children, or if you read with children, and you read books which are poorly illustrated or badly edited, with inconsistencies between text and picture. Or there are things in the pictures that detract from the text, like red herrings. With very young children, you want them to understand the text and you don't necessarily want them to be distracted. You can invent anything as long as it goes with the text. If the text says the man wore blue trousers and had a red shirt, you've got to do that.

Activities
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