Sylvia Long #2
Sylvia Long #2
Illustrator: Mother Goose; An Egg is Quiet
"The greatest joy I get out of illustrating books for children is knowing the potential my art has to make a difference in a child's life."---Sylvia Long
The publication of her first children's book, Ten Little Rabbits, launched Sylvia Long's children's book career and quickly won her a loyal and enthusiastic following.
"After I finished my first children's book, I realized that's what I should have been doing all along. Books reach so many people and actually influence them. It feels really good. I want to make sure my drawings are accurate and that animals are portrayed in the correct setting."
The process Ms. Long goes through before producing a final piece of art is quite extensive.
"The first step I take is breaking down the text and dividing it among the many pages. I create small sketches at this stage to determine whether the text breaks work effectively or not. Then I begin my research."
She spends as much--or in some cases more--time researching the material then actually drawing it. After her research has been compiled, Ms. Long begins the actual artwork.
Ms. Long prefers drawing animals to people. Before turning her attention to art she wanted to be a veterinarian--to live and work with animals. Fortunately, however, her life as an artist has allowed her plenty of time to spend outdoors with nature and wildlife.
Creating the title character in Alejandro's Gift gave her just the confidence and comfort she needed to know that she could successfully create human characters that capture the personality of the individual.
Ms. Long enjoys illustrating books with Native American themes. As a child, she enjoyed her grandfather's stories about his youth spent working with Native Americans on a reservation. These stories, including a sampling of Shoshone vocabulary that her grandfather taught her, helped develop her interest in Native American culture, and she feels that she has had a connection to it ever since childhood.
Years later, when Ms. Long and her husband began a family, they moved to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Dr. Long worked for the Indian Health Service and Ms. Long spent hours learning about the traditions of the Arapaho and the Shoshone people. This experience inspired her to create the illustrations for Ten Little Rabbits and later played an active role in her work creating the art for Fire Race.
Ms. Long graduated from Maryland Institute of Art and has exhibited her paintings extensively for the past twenty years. She lives in Arizona with her dog, Amigo, and near her two sons, Matthew and John.
When she was younger, she spent hours creating cards for her parents and doodling in her notebooks. She feels art is an important aspect of education and that children should be encouraged to express themselves visually, without criticism. Too often, she feels, art and music are viewed as "playtime" and children are not encouraged to take it seriously.
"Being an illustrator is a wonderful, fulfilling career, and children should be aware that it is an option in life. I think it's a shame that art is not a bigger part of our culture. We all can learn a lot through art."
Her Mother Goose and An Egg is Quiet are on Scholastic's List of the 100 Best Children's Books.
Sylvia Long's Children's Books