Interview with Carlton Scott

Q: What technique did the author use for his illustrations: Pencils? Oil Pastels? Textured Paper? Layered Images?

A: In the early 1990’s, when I did my first book, Grin’s Message I used crayons and colored pencils. I tried to make the characters very cartoon like and full of expression. After losing my sight in my left eye from glaucoma in 1996, I was very frustrated with my lack of depth perception and could not draw the Rocky Mountains like I had hoped for my second book Little Big Wolf.

Since I had many beautiful photos from my hikes while living in Denver, Colorado I messed around with the idea of combining my drawings and scanned images. After realizing this unique effect would work, I chose to publish the book and see how people would react. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from kids and adults and I think the blending of my photography and pencil drawings works well. I then decided that when I attempted my third book, I would do the same…

With my Glamour Girl book, I used colored pencils and photos I had taken during my travels as a nurse. The sky and clouds are enlarged to 17” x 11” as the backdrop for my colored images and are all scanned together in photo-shop on the computer and my art placed into the photo. When I do any drawings I always sketch them out in pencil first to make sure I like it and then color them in after with Prismacolor pencils. Sometimes part of a drawing will look really nice and then I’ll mess up another section. Instead of trashing the whole image like I would do in the past, I cut out part of the picture that works and layer it with another drawing from another piece of paper, like a collage. When I teach kids in elementary school how to write, illustrate, and publish their work, I always tell them to draw out their entire story first in pencil so they can erase any errors before they bring their characters to life with color...

Scott has dedicated his life to working with children, both as a nurse and mental health worker. He has written and illustrated three picture books for children. As part of his commitment to supporting children’s health, he donates 50 percent of all profits from his books to children’s hospitals across the country. He created his newest book, Glamour Girl from the Stars, to foster self acceptance in young girls.

For more information about this virtual book tour, please visit http://bookpromotionservices.com/2010/05/13/blog-tour-carlton-scotts-glamour-girl-from-the-stars/ You can learn more about this author and purchase his books at http://www.carltonsbooks.com/index.html.