Today I“m sharing a fantastic interview with illustrator Alina Jaclyn Piven. Jaclyn (you can find her on LinkedIn under the name Alina Piven) and I “met” on Behance when I was looking for illustrations for children”s books while creating a post about children’s illustrators.

I stumbled upon her Behance account by accident, but I’m so glad I did! Her profile is full of her beautiful, amazing illustrations.

Jaclyn was born in Ukraine. She has already worked on a large number of children’s books, collaborating with different authors. Each of her works is full of fairy tales and magic. And it is a great honour for me to interview her.

How did you get started as an illustrator for children’s books? What inspired you to pursue this career path?

“The thing is that I always have loved the children and work in a field where I could do something good for them and inspire them was always my ultimate goal.
When I opened the world of digital art I almost at once state to create illustrations for different stories and fairy tales. And although I knew that drawing for children“s books isn”t an easy way, but anyway I was found of it so much that nothing else could inspire me in the same way.”

Can you describe your artistic style? How did you develop your unique style over time?

“I would describe my artistic style as cartoon. To draw big eyes, smiling faces, different shapes all these are about my drawings.
To be honest, I wasn“t sure about my artistic style and although it was always unique, I always compared myself to artists who draw in a realism. I thought that it”s the art, the level. But with some time, especially after high school, I realized that my artistic style is my signature as of an artist, and I“m proud of it. I practice in drawing all the type, it”s my passion, my hobby and my job. So my style develops by these things.”

Children’s books often have colorful and engaging illustrations. How do you select the color palette for a book, and what role does color play in conveying emotions and themes?

“I always choose the colour palette that will show the mood and idea of an illustration. I was always found of vivid illustrations and my choice is always for warm and bright shades. And colour play crucial role in bringing emotions and themes. You can understand the mood of a character, the nature and all other things by colour itself. I really love how such a thing as colour add important details into the illustrations.”

How do you strike a balance between your personal artistic expression and meeting the requirements of a specific children’s book project?

“Almost all the time I was lucky enough to work with people who‘s artistic tastes were similar to mine and who were very found of my particular drawing style, so they trusted me the whole projects, and it went well without even a mere changes. But definitely something the children’s book project can require extra attention to specific details. I always like to share my ideas, sketches and colour palette choices with the client, so in the end we come with the best option.”

Can you walk us through the typical process of creating illustrations for a children’s book, from initial concept to final artwork?

“With a pleasure.
When I start to work with a project first things first I imagine and recreate the idea of illustration in my head. Then I start doing sketches. I prefer draw on paper and actually traditional drawing is inspiring itself, so first illustration“s ideas are presenting in my sketchbook. When I satisfied with the sketch I scan it into my drawing app and do line art of the work. With next layers I add background, fill characters and subjects with colours, and, of course, add details.
With practice, I already know the amount of time that I”m going to spend on illustration.”

What is your favourite children’s book?

“When I was a child I never liked reading, the bright and fascinating illustrations were the most important for me. And, unfortunately, there wasn“t much of books with lovely illustrations that could make me smile, so I enjoyed only few of them and can”t recall their names now.
But after observing and learning more about children“s books, I became very keen on Dr. Seuss works. And although I never took any of his techniques for writing or drawing of children”s books, I get inspired by the message that he shared in words and by the consistency of one artistic style in his illustrations.”

What advice would you give someone wanting to start writing and illustrating children’s books?

“The main advice will be to start. Even if you don“t have any experience or if you were an artist in another field, you anyway have to try yourself. Writing and drawing for children”s books is a magnificent thing. You create something that will affect the young readers, it’ll inspire them and will form their minds. As we know early years are the most important as this is the period when a child gets all main characteristics, when everything can stay in their mind forever.”

To see more of Jaclyn’s work or to get in touch for a collaboration, you can visit her Behance page: https://www.behance.net/alinapivenjaclyn