Want to get to know some of the incredible creative minds behind the Your Next Read junior fiction novels? Read on!
Today, we say hello to Cheryl Orsini, who draws pictures for her supper!
She’s illustrated over 70 picture books including The ABC Book of series, The Travelling Bookshop series, The Greatest Mistakes That Went Right, Lucy’s Book, The Fairy Dancers, Pom Pom, Where Are You? and Caravan Fran.
Her work also appears on TV in Gardening Australia Junior, in magazines, murals and was featured in the Sydney Writers’ Festival program, Children’s Festival of Moving Stories and splashed all over Russ the Story Bus.
Cheryl also runs workshops at schools, and is a regular participant at The Sydney Writers Festival, running fast-paced, funny and highly interactive workshops. Her new project is the Yellow Tin Shed, a creative space at the bottom of her garden in Sydney for all ages. She hopes one day to draw everything!
And now Cheryl is bringing her illustrating talents to ‘Bea, Bart and The Birds’, written by Katrina Nannestad, one of four launch titles in the Your Next Read Silver series for readers aged 5-8.
Below is an edited extract from an interview with Cheryl in episode #4 of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast Summer Series.
YKNR: You are the popular and award-winning illustrator of more than 50 picture and junior fiction books – how did you get started?
Cheryl: “Well, it was a little bit of an accident. I’m an accidental illustrator. I never meant to be an illustrator. I’m meant to be a proper person with a proper job. I meant to be an art director, a graphic designer. And then my very first job was working for a children’s publishing company as a graphic designer.
“It was a small team and one day an illustrator dropped out of a job. We were very close to deadline and the publisher came running into the design room and [asked if any of us could] illustrate – and the head designer pointed to me. I was so lucky to have that opportunity because I went on to illustrate four books for them. I’m very grateful for that accidental start.”
How would you describe your illustrating style?
Cheryl: “I’m a watercolour artist. That’s the way that I paint these days. I started off [using] coloured pencil, would you believe? I think my first book was [illustrated in] coloured pencil – and then a good friend put a paintbrush in my hand and said, ‘you cannot possibly illustrate picture books in coloured pencil, you must, must, must paint. So I’m a committed watercolour artist now, but I’ve always had a bit of a retro bent to references in my work and my colour palette.”
Do you think your overall illustrating style has changed over all of those books?
Cheryl: “For sure. I can barely look at my first books. But I think the essence – I try and inject some humour into my illustrations, and I think that still is the same, but my technique is better. For sure. I really wasn’t very accomplished [when I started], in my technique, and I’m not an accomplished draftsperson compared to [others]. I’m not a trained illustrator – I’m just making this up as I go along, even now.”
When you are creating an illustration for a book, how do you know when it’s finished?
Cheryl: “There is a point where the illustration exists outside of you and it’s just got nothing to do with me anymore. It’s on its own. I’m not a front-facing person. I don’t do a lot of school visits and people don’t really know who I am. But people know my illustrations. That’s what I want them to be.”
What makes you decide that a book project is right for you?
Cheryl: “Sometimes it is simply about timing – that it will fit into a space in my year. Sometimes a book just entirely speaks to me and I must, must, must do it: ‘The Fishmonger And The Pastry Chef’ [picture book] was one of those.”
In 2015, you wrote and illustrated the picture book ‘Caravan Fran’, and then in 2023, the Baby’s First series began, which is quite a gap. Is it time that stops you writing more often?
Cheryl: “For sure. I’m very lucky to make a living from [illustrating] entirely. So, because I do make this as a living, I need to work a lot and and I need to produce a lot of illustrated books. So, because I can do that easier than I can writing, I do a lot of that and that stops me from doing the writing.
“I think I’m also a little bit shy of putting my writing forward, to be honest. It’s not the thing that I’m most confident about and I’ve worked with some incredible writers. People think writing a picture book is easy – it’s so not easy. So respect to writers for what they can do to distill a beautiful idea into a beginning, middle and end in 24 pages, under 500 words. It’s a beautiful thing.”
When you are given a manuscript, where do you begin when you are creating a character? Visually, where do you start?
Cheryl: “I never start with the characters. One of my favourite things is to sit down with the text and start scribbling drawings and let the scenery start to inform … basically creating a language in the book. The characters will start popping out [of that process], but they’re not my main focus. I love diving into that new world.”
Listen to the full interview here.
About ‘Bea, Bart and the Birds’ by Katrina Nannestad, illustrated by Cheryl Orsini
Do you like ANIMALS, FAMILY and SURPRISING STORIES?
Then this book is YOUR NEXT READ!
It all starts with Boo, the owl. Bea and Bart take her home and love her. Soon, they have a feathered family! But Bea and Bart are not the only ones interested in these unusual birds …
Buy here from your favourite online retailer
Want to know more about Cheryl’s work in ‘Bea, Bart and the Birds’ (including her thoughts when she first read the story)? Watch the video!
