What it's like to be a book illustrator
When Sarah Fountain was an art student she dreamed of one day creating her own children’s picture book.
Now the 34-year-old’s wish has come true as she introduces a new generation of youngsters to folk tale favourite Reynard the Fox.
Mother of two Sarah who works as a graphic designer and illustrator is getting ready to publish her story which has been 12 years in the making.
Her love of picture books was inspired by Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea and Beatrix Potter’s world of colourful characters such as the likes of Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle.
“I’ve always wanted to make books. I loved The Tiger Who Came to Tea – the tiger was a dream of a colour and I loved all of the Beatrix Potter stories. I really wanted to make books that looked as good as those do,” says Sarah, who lives in Oswestry.
Her book started life as a series of ink mono-printed illustrations which she created while studying illustration at Camberwell College of Arts, which is part of the University of the Arts London.
She chose to focus on a fox after becoming intrigued by the ones she was seeing hanging around the city’s streets.
“I was fascinated by urban foxes. You don’t see them very often in Shropshire unless they are dead by the side of the road but in London they are a common sight and I was captivated by them.
“Urban foxes are so brazen and wonderful,” says Sarah, who is mother to three-year-old Sidney and one-year-old Harriet.
The prints also paid homage to her home county of Shropshire by featuring well-known sights such as The Wrekin, the Hawkstone Follies and daffodils at Chirk.
The pages also feature Black Country sayings such as ‘ow bist?’, meaning how are you?. “I was really missing Shropshire when I was at college so these prints were also my way of saying I love Shropshire,” explains Sarah, who is originally from Wem.
They tell the story of Reynard the Fox, a character in European folklore and fables, and his relationship with other animals
“He’s quite a naughty fox and he plays tricks on the other animals. There are three tales with three different animals, a rooster, wolf and cat. They complain to the king, the lion, but he likes Reynard so he forgives him,” says Sarah.
While it was always a plan to turn the prints into a book, she put the project on the back-burner while concentrating on her career, returning to it from time to time.
After achieving her BA (hons) Illustration degree from Camberwell College of Arts in 2006, she worked in children’s publishing.
“During my time at Camberwell I really learnt how to love colour, how it works and how it can be manipulated. Alongside a love of print-making I started exploring how I could illustrate picture books and write stories with colour, shape and texture at their core,” she says.
She began as an editorial assistant with a small children’s magazine publisher in Shrewsbury before becoming a junior designer on the Kids Team of a media content publisher in London, later working her way up to a senior designer.
A design job at an educational publisher in Oxford followed before she decided to go freelance and move back to Shropshire from Oxfordshire.
During her career so far she has worked on everything from children’s magazines with brands including Dora The Explorer, Peppa Pig and Dreamworks Madagascar, to children’s annuals for brands like Barbie and The Hunger Games.
Other design projects have involved more serious content such as a set of magazine style pamphlets for Bupa, aimed at children who know someone close to them with cancer.
Going freelance allowed her to find ‘pockets of time’ to pick up her bold and eye-catching prints again and start transforming them into her picture book.
“I’m really stubborn so I was always telling myself that one day I would make the picture book.
“It’s split into four chapters and goes through the seasons and it’s all about the colours of these seasons,” explains Sarah.
She then approached several traditional publishers but found while they were complimentary, they weren’t keen to take it on.
“It’s always had really lovely feedback but they’ve said it’s too unusual. It’s a very niche book so I decided the best option was to publish it myself.
“I believe it’s a nice story with some very colourful pictures that children and grown-ups will enjoy reading,” says Sarah.
She is a member of the child-friendly networking group Oswestry BizMums which provides support for mothers in business.
“It’s been the best thing ever, it’s really given me the confidence to push forward with my book,” Sarah tells us.
Reynard the Fox will be available from October 31 and Sarah has already started work on the illustrations for her next book – The Little Mole. The story, believed to have been written by a poet named Charlotte Druitt Cole, is one she remembers well from her childhood and has a special place in her heart.
“The story of The Little Mole is one my nan would always tell us and I’ve always wanted to illustrate it.
“I’ve worried about how I would do it but I found the characters are so embedded in my mind that I know exactly what they look like without having to doing any research,” explains Sarah.
She said it was ‘exciting’ to be able to hold a copy of Reynard the Fox and see her dream come true.
“I’m really pleased with the proof I’ve had from the printer, the colours look great. I’ve been working on Reynard the Fox is really nice to be finally publishing my book.”
‘Book Launch: Craft and Story time’ at Button and Bear in Shrewsbury, on the 30th October at 3pm. Visit www.designermum.net
