Category: Graphic Novel
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
ISBN-13:9781897299357
Pub. Date: May 2008
Date Read: February 2009
"For the next 30 years I chased after only good drawing. While I drew, my main feelings were doubt and worry, and when I finished my only feelings were relief and regret. I never drew for fun anymore and I'd forgotten about that strange floating feeling making lines on paper used to give me. I'd forgotten how stories used to bubble up out of the lines and surprise me. It was why I started drawing -- to meet those lines and stories."
Just like her vibrant drawings mix collage, words, and pen and ink illustrations, this book is a mixture of sorts. There is some autobiography, some art instruction and a heaping dose of creativity to fuel the reader's own creative pursuits.
Looking back on her memories and experience she relates how she grew up with parents that didn't foster an imaginative childhood but thanks to the tales by the Brothers Grimm a new world flourished for her.
There is a wonderful vulnerability in the telling of how she used to copy pictures from storybooks and how she entered contests to find out if she was artistic. Children are creative beings but how does one continue a creative life when so often teachers, mentors, and others make you feel like creativity only belongs to a special few? This is one of the basic themes of the book.
Throughout the book there are questions for the reader: When an unexpected memory comes calling who answers?, What happens when we put words together? and so on.
All of these questions are put together to help the reader re-discover their creative self. To dig deep for the creativity that is within. Whether you are a writer or illustrator or just someone looking for a bit of color in your life then this is a book that should be added to your library.