Small Walt

 

One of the best moments as a children’s book author is seeing the illustrations created by an artist who has taken your words and made them into something much bigger. When that happened for my story Small Walt, I was surprised and delighted to see Walt and his world come to life on the page (by illustrator Marc Rosenthal). Finally, my story seemed “real.”

Then came other fun surprises: a trio of three-dimensional versions of Walt and his crew, thanks to a talented builder, Scott Gerry. Small Walt has grown into three books—and Scott has now built three characters from scratch in his Minneapolis garage. I wanted to write about Scott because whenever I bring my wheeled characters into bookstores or schools, people always ask “Where did you get those?”

I think of Scott as someone who can make just about anything. He’s a talented home builder, and he makes furniture too. As a lifelong musician, Scott does more than make music—he even makes his own guitars. When the idea of building a real-life Walt came about, we thought, “Why not Scott?” He’d never made a toy or vehicle before, but he was determined to give it a try.  

I had a few special requests: no sharp glass, no sharp edges, sturdy enough for kids to touch and play with. Scott put a lot of work into shaping Walt into something that young children could both admire and handle while they listened to me read. Walt even has working lights. He also has an especially kid-friendly finish. That reddish-orange tint is made from … Kool-Aid! Scott wanted to capture the color just right. In his words: “I like Kool-Aid, especially black-cherry flavor. I noticed it stained my fingers when making it, so I thought why not try it on staining wood? That was over 20 years ago, and I’ve been using it on projects ever since. Some Kool-Aid flavors work better than others; they’re all inexpensive and nontoxic.”

I’ve now spent hours watching how young children interact with 3-D Walt. They all want to push him back and forth, ride him like a bike, or just talk to him. One child asked me while peering through Walt’s windshield: “Is driver Gus inside there? Let’s ask him to come out.”

When the second Walt book (Small Walt and Mo the Tow) was published, Scott was game to try building a new character. In the story, Mo the Tow is bigger than Walt and has more mechanical features. Scott had to figure out how to make a tow truck without sharp parts because we knew kids would want to play with Mo. I asked Scott to make a towing hook that couldn’t hurt little fingers and wouldn’t actually detach, knowing how hands-on kids can be. Scott did all that and more, adding a flashing light on Mo’s top. Scott explains it all this way: “I try to capture the character when building. I like to add metal or something real that would be on a vehicle like Mo. For instance, using cable, a hook, or lights. I think these mechanical details bring the character to life, but the most important part to me is the eyes.”

I was so excited to bring Mo and Walt to my 2018 book launch at the Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul. The kids loved pointing out the differences in the two trucks’ sizes, coloring, and faces. When I asked the audience if anyone knew what a tow truck did and how it worked, a young boy stood up and said, expertly, “A tow truck uses a really strong hook and chains that attach to the axle underneath the car that broke down. And then the tow truck driver hauls the car to a mechanic to get it fixed.” That kid had sure earned the applause he got! It’s almost like I’d planted him in the crowd and told him what to say, but I hadn’t. That little boy confirmed something for me: kids are fascinated by vehicles. They love their speed, noise, and magic.

This past year (2020), Scott had a bigger vehicle-building challenge than before. He was making “Bea the SUV,” a community-service vehicle from the most recent Walt story, Small Walt Spots Dot. Bea is bright blue and has official-looking logos on her doors. She also has flashing blue lights. And she sports one other important feature: a back area that opens to carry precious cargo—in this case, Dot, a stray dog lost on a cold winter’s day. I wondered if Scott could make Bea’s back-hatch open and shut. (Can he build it? Yes he can!) Bea is beautiful! Just take a look.

While building Bea, Scott sent me photos from his garage shop. Among his goals were to make Bea lighter and stronger than her vehicle buddies. He also had to do a lot of painting, something he taught himself on the job. All he had in the way of a guide were the illustrations in the story.

In the end, Scott sent me this note: “Bea and I have been down a long road, but she is finally ready to hang out with Walt and Mo.” And, I might add, Bea is also ready to carry the dog Dot wherever she might want to go. After the pandemic, that is, when it’s safe to get back on the road.

As a picture book author, I get a little bit of an insider’s view of how children’s books are put together—but just a peek. Authors and illustrators work separately, with the publisher, editor, and designer as the go-between. So, for all these years of working with Marc, I’ve never actually had the pleasure of meeting him in person. I thought it would be fun to interview him about his work as an artist. I wanted that insider’s view so I could share it with you.

Elizabeth: I’ve always wondered what your studio looked like. Can you describe it?

Marc: My studio is on the third floor of our house in the Berkshires, in what was once the attic. When we moved in, we insulated it, adding big windows and a skylight. The space is very light (sometimes too light!). There are bookshelves running along the south side under the windows. It is full of art books, design books, and children’s books. I have a drawing table in the center of the room and a computer off to the side. I love to work, so I spend most of my time up there. In past years, most of my work was for magazines and newspapers. That work has dropped off a bit, so when I’m not working on a book or an assignment, I am usually painting. I’ve rediscovered oil painting (my original love) and now feel like a novice again.

Elizabeth: We’ve worked together on three books—Small Walt, Small Walt and Mo the Tow, and Small Walt Spots Dot. I’m always amazed when a picture book artist can take a writer’s brief words and then build an entire visual story from them. How do you do that? How do the words inspire you? 

Marc: I think the job of the picture book artist is to expand on the writer’s words. In picture books, the words tend to be sparse, carefully chosen, like poetry. The illustrator’s job is to visually flesh out the words and to provide enough visual interest to encourage multiple readings. And maybe to add an extra level of meaning to the characters and story. I look for the feeling and the setting that the author provides. I try to create a visual space that I would want to live in. In Small Walt, I pictured a small town.

Elizabeth: When I was first writing Small Walt, I didn’t picture a small town; more like a city with big plows and snow flying everywhere. To help the writing process I’d put a photo of a yellow plow on a piece of paper and add “googly eyes” to make it seem like a character. Here’s what’s so amazing about the picture-book making process: you took the words of my story and created a whole illustrated world, complete with a small town, an adorable red-orange Walt, and a cast of human and vehicle characters. When I first saw your color art of Walt, I was like, “Oh! So that’s what he looks like.” I was completely charmed. Can you talk a bit about how you visualize your characters, and what your sketching process is like? 

Marc: I often model characters after people I know. Gus (Walt’s driver) was based on an old friend: a talented woodworker, an agreeable guy, laid back and maybe a bit unconventional. Sue, the driver of Mo the Tow, is another friend. Sometimes I will Google images of people. The community officer in Small Walt Spots Dot was a combination of some actual policewomen and Frances McDormand from the movie Fargo. To create the various vehicles in the books, I looked at snowplows and trucks online and found a small sidewalk snowplow in our town (for Walt) and followed it around and took pictures. I do a lot of pencil sketches before I can refine it toward a finish.

Elizabeth: Many people have remarked that the illustrations in the Small Walt books have a kinship to the work of Virginia Lee Burton and yet have a modern quality all their own. Were you influenced by Burton’s work? What are some of your other illustrator influences?

Marc: Virginia Lee Burton—you nailed it! I have always been attracted to the styles of the 1930s and 1940s. Maybe it’s because I grew up watching Marx Brothers movies and love the picture books I grew up with and the worlds they created. I actually love the look of limited color lithographic reproduction, but I usually can’t get away with it these days. My other big artistic influences are Jean de Brunhoff (Babar), Ludwig Bemelmans (Madeline), and Robert McCloskey. (I literally borrowed an image from his classic book Make Way for Ducklings for my book Phooey!)

Elizabeth: Can you talk about the color palette you chose for the books? And the medium you use for these works? How did these choices come about?

Marc: The Walt books have a little different palette than I am used to using. Often, I will go for the look of old Sunday comics on yellowed newsprint. For the Walt books, I needed a bluish wintery cast. Though I began my career using watercolor, recently I have moved to digital color. Publishers want artwork delivered digitally, so it made sense to create it digitally. To achieve that wintery feeling, I gave each image an underlay of pale blue that bleeds through all the colors. In the work, I always start with an actual drawing in pencil or ink. This is scanned, and then color is added.

Elizabeth: When you’re illustrating a picture book, do you work on the pages in chronological order? Or maybe find the story’s dramatic climax and focus on that first?

Marc: When I first see the story, it is usually just a few pages of text. First, I try to think of it in terms of pages or spreads. I also consider pacing—where are the page turns, when should there be lots of little images on a page, and when do we need a big double-page spread. I go back and forth with the editor (in this case, Sylvie Frank of Paula Wiseman Books) about this. There’s also lots of fussing to make it fit into a 32-page picture book. I do the work in chronological order because I want to feel the flow of the story. The important moments are revealed this way. While working with the talented designer of all the Small Walt books (Lizzy Bromley), the art direction and feedback was spot on and resulted in better books each time.

Elizabeth: I noticed that the name Doris occasionally appeared in the art of our story Small Walt Spots Dot…do you want to share who Doris is?

Marc: I’m glad you noticed Doris! Doris is the name of my new grandniece. It was also my mother’s name. Over the years, I have managed to sneak the names of my son, Will, and his cousins, Malcolm and Maggie, into almost all of my books. Once, I even put the name of my son’s best friend, Colin, into a book. It started to get out of hand, so for now “Doris” will be it.

Elizabeth: Thank you sharing your creative process with me. I am especially excited about the newest book, Small Walt Spots Dot, because you got to add a furry friend for Walt (Dot). My furry “writing assistant,” Hugo, was the inspiration for some of Dot’s antics.

For more information about the Small Walt books, please visit Simon & Schuster.

Or, order from your local independent bookseller.