Meet the Phaidon Kids illustrator - Sam Brewster
“Anyone who's an illustrator has a kid in them still that's getting excited," says the artist behind our Bones and Flight books. "As I'm drawing, there's a kid next to me going, ‘That's cool!’”
As a kid Sam Brewster was always doodling, annoying his teacher by creating flip books in the corners of maths excercise books. Today, when he’s creating his highly detailed illustrations for books such as Book of Bones, The Book of Flight and Whose Dinosaur?, he imagines a similarly excited kid, standing by his side as he draws, hopefully exclaiming, "That’s so cool!"
The Scottish-born illustrator, art director and film maker, currently based in Northern Greece, is renowned for his ability to distill complex concepts into engaging visual narratives. He spent hours and hours in London museums, studying fossils for Phaidon’s Bones books. His varied style, once characterised by vibrant colour palettes and textured line work, is becoming softer, more painterly, as his practice matures.
As well as Phaidon, Sam boasts an impressive client list that includes: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Times, The Guardian, La Repubblica, Financial Times, BBC Science Focus, Condé Nast, M&C Saatchi, ITV, BBC, Creative Review, WIRED, Lonely Planet, Reader's Digest, Entertainment Weekly and many more.
Phaidon has published 6 incredibly successful books with Sam, each authored equally expertly by Gabrielle Balkan. As a duo, they’ve enjoyed unparalleled success in kid’s book publishing with the best sellers: Book of Bones: 10 Record-Breaking Animals , Book of Flight: 10 Record-Breaking Animals with Wings and Who's That Dinosaur? An Animal Guessing Game. Book of Bones was recognised as an International Literacy Association pick, and was even purchased by former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Brewster is currently working on his debut full length feature film.
To celebrate 20 years of Phaidon Kids, we’re talking to a number of the illustrators and authors behind our brilliant children’s books. Once you've read our interview with Sam, take a look in the Phaidon Kids store and check out more of his work at SamBrewster.com
What did you draw as a kid? I was always doodling, I was always making flipbooks in the corners of maths exercise books and stuff, which annoyed my teachers.
What were the books from your own childhood that you lost yourself in? There's a few that I really remember. The Hungry Caterpillar was one. I loved the look and the feel of it. I think it was made with a transparent or semi-opaque tissue paper.
There was another one that I loved because it had my name on it. It was called Sam’s Sandwich. It was basically a book that was a sandwich, which was amazing in its own right. I guess it was a bit like Book of Dinosaurs because it had ‘a thing’ and then ‘a reveal.’ The main character was making a sandwich for his sister. He would put in a piece of lettuce, and then on the next page, it would be a worm, and then he would put in a tomato, and then on the next page it would be a beetle or something. And then he gave this sandwich to his sister. So it had that playful naughty child thing to it, but also a similar mechanism to the Bones books where you have the thing in the reveal.
When I was a bit older, I loved those exploded diagram books that would show a tank with all the pieces apart – a kind of less sophisticated, but similar concept to the idea of seeing skeleton bones quite static and then they come alive in a kind of ‘Night in the Museum’ sort of way.
Did you go to art college, and what did you learn that you still use today? Yes, I did illustration at Lincoln University. I think any arts degree to some extent gives you space to find your own thing. That’s especially important being a freelance illustrator where everything you do is self-directed. It actually is kind of helpful to go on a course and be left to your own devices to sink or swim.
Who were the illustrators or artists who inspired you? I always and still do love editorial illustration because it can be beautiful, but it will have something in it that's a core idea or feeling. Even when I'm drawing a dinosaur, I really like to think about the moment in that narrative that's happening there. Why is it stood up? What's just happened? Editorial is really good at having that boiled down to a one moment narrative where the viewer goes, ‘Ah, that means that.’ I've always tried to make sure that's present in anything I ever do.
Why are children’s books important? I love print. It’s different to see something on paper than on a screen. It feels less disposable in some way. I like to have a long-term project where I can just spend a few months in one world. With editorial, which has been my bread and butter for 15 years, I do one image and it's done and then I’m on to the next thing within a few days. With books, it’s nice to see the shape of a project and see it change gradually over the process. I quite like that process, seeing it change over several illustrations.
Is there a child in your life who you imagine as the reader? I don't have kids, but I've got lots of friends who have kids. I think anyone who's an illustrator has a kid in them still that's getting excited. As I'm drawing, there's a kid next to me going, ‘That's cool,’ so I kind of make sure that he or she is entertained.
Do kids see differently from adults? It’s hard not to sound like Yoda, but there are things that we learn to concentrate on as adults that we don't know as kids. There are things that are intuitive, such as looking towards the middle of an image first. That just happens. When you're a kid, and you're looking at things very intently, you're seeing everything as brand new, so you take in all the details equally rather than thinking: This is what I should be concentrating on, and I can ignore the rest. As adults, we bring our preconceptions with us in a way that children don’t.
Do you think kids experience colour differently from adults? There are certain colours that just work opposite each other really well. Blue and red is the core of that, cold and warm. I try to make sure that I always do that on every palette, give it a cold and warm. I've never used a colour wheel, or worked with any kind of technical colour theory, I've just gone with my gut feeling about it. I think that's helpful because kids are drawn to things that have the full spectrum. It’s one of those instinctive things that's since been intellectualized, but it's something that already exists in all of us. I do this kind of thing intuitively.
Are there things that kids notice in an illustration that adults often don't? It's difficult for me to say about my own work because I've seen it all, because I did it all, but I would say the details. When I was drawing the dinosaurs and the bones, I just wanted to do something that I would want to have seen – the little details that when you look at them you go, ‘Oh yeah, that is what that it looks like.’ I do notice sometimes that I have that adult perspective where I’m just like, ‘Oh yeah, that's a giraffe.’ And then a kid will point at something like the toenail, because they see the toenail as equally important as the fact that it's a giraffe.
What were your reference points for the Bones books? Did you take many artistic liberties or were they anatomically correct? With the first, Book of Bones, I was in London at the time, and I went to the British Library and looked at lots of fossils there. I like it to be realistic if it is about something real. So the skeletons are pretty accurate, therefore the anatomy of the animals is, too. But it had to be simple enough to work within a kid’s book. The museum said they were glad I was taking it seriously and requested a copy of the book when it came out.
Gabrielle Balkan was the author of the books. How did your relationship work? I got the text first and it was really, really good. Really a very high standard. I really enjoyed working on it and I actually learned a lot! I particularly liked that each page was named with the full and proper name – it wasn't just python, it was ‘Reticulated Python’ – really very specific.
Is there something that you like to hide in every illustration if you can? Or is there a little trick you like to play?
There's not an Easter egg, or a technique, or something that I rely on to make an image work. Sometimes it might come down to, ‘Oh, it's just not got enough texture to it,’ and then after that it works. With the textures in Book of Bones and Book of Flight, it was an idea early on, and it was something that I made artwork for, so that Phaidon could print a UV texture to it. I thought it was a great idea; tactile stuff is always good. One of the things I do is when I'm working on a spread and I think it's pretty much done, I put it on screen on my monitor and I go out for a cup of coffee or go chat with some people or nip to the loo or something and kind of forget about it and walk back into the room. And then it catches my eye, and I go, ah, that looks good or that bit’s not working.
How has your style evolved over the years or does your style evolve by the commission? I'm much more painterly and softer, and a bit looser in my work than I used to be. It’s tricky because sometimes a client will say, I like this piece of work you did eight years ago, can you do something in that style? I've always had a balance between knowing what I need to do in order to get commissions and have a professional career. You can't just do what exactly what you want to do. You've got to find a balance between what sells, what you can do, and what is your style. That's gone hand in hand with me doing more drawing and painting, more fine art stuff on the side as well. And bringing a bit of that into my illustration.
