This month I'm tickled pea flower tea purple to be chatting it up with the super star author-illustrator, Colleen Kong-Savage! I had the pleasure of hitting it off with Colleen at the Highlights Foundation illustration summer camp last year, and her artwork is gorgeous, shape-driven collage. Can you say fabulous?! Colleen is a New York-based author-illustrator, graphic designer, muralist and art teacher. Her debut children's book title as an author-illustrator, Piano Wants to Play, releases in March 2024 with Page Street Kids. You can visit more of her fabulous artwork here.
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| And we want to listen! How about some ragtime jazz?! |
Q: I simply adore your gorgeous, detailed artwork and its’ unique layering of paper collage, patterns and textures. Dish with us a bit about your creative process—inspiration to sketches to fully realized color artwork.
A: Thank you, Jane 🥰. Rough sketches are always on paper with pencil or pen. It’s easiest to think with that medium. But final sketches are in Procreate on my iPad.
I make several copies of the final line drawing. These copies act as templates. Some I use to cut the shapes from colored/decorative paper. Then I lay shapes I cut against another copy to know where those shapes go in relation to each other. I tack pieces together lightly. If I glue them down solidly, the image flattens out, which I don’t want. The dimensionality of the layered papers is what I love about collage.
Procreate is also good for figuring out color schemes ahead of time. Trial and error in collage IRL is a drag.
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| Love the contrast between the big, wide sky and the bustling crowd! |
Q: Your graphic style and talent for working with shapes and composition are highlighted in your mural work around NYC. Tell us a bit about your MOST favorite mural you’ve worked on, and how did it influence your children’s book work?
A: My current favorite mural is in South Bronx Community Charter High School. It was my first design as a teaching mural artist. At 14 x 44 ft., it’s the most enormous thing I ever got to work on (for a long time, I had given up working large because who has space for big art in NYC?). I love knowing this mural is “living” with the school community because I often see it in the background of the school’s IG posts of events.
I’m not sure how murals have affected my kid lit, but I know kid lit affects my murals. Illustrator Pat Cummings generously invited me to sit in on her class when art director Mallory Grigg visited to offer her wisdom to students. Mallory pointed out how a flat horizon line is like death to a composition. Flat horizons are boring and static. My mural design is all rolling waves because of that class. There’s so much energy in the Bronx, I needed to reflect that.
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| This has ALL the happy vibes! |
Q: You have lots of experience working with kids through both your experiences teaching art in NYC high schools and doing school & library visits as an author-illustrator. What do you think makes an author-illustrator visit successful from the kids’ point of view?
A: Make space for questions, going both ways. Just like in a conversation where it’s hard to be the listener all the time, it can be hard to stay focused when you have an adult simply talking at you. But if you ask kids questions, you are directly inviting an audience to engage. And if they ask you questions, you know they’re interested. That exchange of ideas and opinions is where connection is made.
Q: Tell us a bit about your typical workday as a freelance creative—routines, rituals & practical practices. Set the scene for us, too—what does your creative workspace look & feel like?
A: I bounce around a lot, between different schools for mural projects. Not gonna lie—earning a living as a teaching artist is a huge detractor from my kid lit work.
Recently, I got to meet Dan Yaccarino, who asked me what I was working on. He all but scolded me when I answered: hmmm, now that I’m just waiting for proofs for Piano Wants to Play maybe it is time to start another manuscript. “You should always have something in the works,” he said.
So now I’m trying to build routine: devote just 30 mins a day to either writing or sketching for a story. This is my baby pushup to becoming a stronger creative. As a creative, you have to make a lot of spaghetti to throw at the wall. Kid lit is a marathon of spaghetti.
As for workspace, I’m lucky I live in a big bright apt that I can both live and work in. But work makes home a bit messy, too. Apologies to anyone who lives with me.
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| "I'll meow the chorus!" mews Kitty, tapping her paws! |
Q: Looking ahead, your newest picture book, Piano Wants to Play, releases in March 2024—very exciting! Give us the full scoop on this beautiful project that is your debut as both author & illustrator, and what plans do you have for sharing it with the world?
A: One of my thoughts when creating it was, I wonder what would motivate a child to practice. In my book, Piano is a sympathetic character because I want readers to want to spend time with the instrument. Someone in my critique workshop said they started apologizing to their own piano for neglecting it after reading my manuscript, which tickled me. But then one publisher rejected the manuscript precisely because they worried the story would guilt trip young readers. I’m glad Page Street Kids didn’t have an issue with that!
Another thought I had in creating this book is, what does it mean to be heard? Humans are expressive beings. We have voices we can use whenever we have something to say. But what if we aren’t able to use our voice? Our existence is incomplete when we cannot say what needs to be said.
I’m not sure about plans for sharing it with the world yet 😅. Marketing is not my forte. I did join a small band of kid lit authors and illustrators called PB Parade. Our books cover a diverse range of subjects and styles, but they’re all coming 2024. We’ve joined forces to make a conscious effort to crow about each other’s accomplishments on social media.
(Psst! You can pre-order your very own copy here now:)
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| Watch out! Those notes are really flying! |
Q: Describe your most perfect Sunday.
A: The perfect Sunday needs to be longer than 24 hours because my days off feel shorter and shorter the older I get. I love walks and sitting by the river with my partner, philosophizing and observing human nature. And eating. I love eating.
While I love making art, so much of my job is art that sometimes creativity just feels like work. It’s a real treat when I feel myself being pulled by a project that exists purely to amuse me—a linocut print, a gingerbread house, collage of an idea knocking about my head. It’s important to stay in touch with that desire to create.
Thanks so much for catching up with us here at Bird Meets Worm, Colleen! You rock! Congrats on Piano Wants to Play!