Job Q&A
by Eileen O'Reilly
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Nancy Carpenter has been a children's book illustrator for eight years. Her first illustrations appeared in The New York Times. Since then, she has illustrated over 12 picture books, including "Masai and I," "Sitti's Secrets" both Simon & Schuster, "Twinnies" Harcourt Brace, and "The Tree that Came to Stay" Crown.

Monster.com: How did you end up illustrating children's books?

Nancy Carpenter: I was doing editorial illustration and I got to know some art directors involved with children's publishing. I was asked to fill in for another illustrator who had trouble with a book cover. I handed in a drawing the publisher was happy with but they later ruined it by spilling something all over it. So, I redid the job for free. A few days later they offered me my first manuscript.

Mc: What was your first book?

NC: "At Taylor's Place" by Sharon Phillips Denslow. It's about a little girl who helps a neighbor in his wood shop making whirligigs and bird feeders.

Mc: Do you work with the author?

NC: No, most authors have particular visual ideas, but itıs often best to allow the illustrator free rein to think of their own visuals. Illustrators are, ideally, better trained to come up with more unique images. That would be the typical case, although once in a while an author knows best.

Mc: Have you had that experience?

NC: I probably have had authors secretly wish I had done something different, but outwardly they have all been positive.

Mc: What was your first job out of college?

NC: An internship with the Associated Press (the news wire service) as a "graphic reporter." I created charts and maps. One of the most hilarious diagrams I had to do was of Ronald Reagan's prostate. I think the AP ended up being too embarrassed to run it.

Mc: What do kids ask you when they meet you?

NC: Do you have a dog, because I always draw dogs -- and how much money I make. They also ask me what my cat's name is because I try to sneak my cat into every book.

Mc: How old were you when you started drawing?

NC: Before I could talk I was drawing representational things like princesses and ballerinas. By age five I was drawing Jesus Christ.

Mc: Jesus Christ?

NC: As a child we traveled all over Europe for 2 years -- my father had a teaching fellowship in Denmark and we got to do a lot of traveling -- so I was exposed to Renaissance Art at an early age.

Mc: Can you make a good living at illustration?

NC: It depends on how much of a tightwad you can be. (She laughs.)

Mc: No, really, is the world of children's book illustration competitive?

NC: It has become very competitive in the last five years -- coinciding with the recent baby boom, children's books started selling very well and the market boomed. Then the market became saturated. So now there isn't enough room for all the books being published. Booksellers have become a smaller and smaller market as monopolies have pushed smaller bookstores out of business.There is less shelf space for the books and these monopolies are only interested in sure bets, so there's less of an investment in new talent. It used to be that an editor would let you illustrate a book if they thought you had a future. Now you have to prove your books will sell.

Mc: Whew! On a lighter note, what are the best and worst parts of the work?

NC: The best is certainly working from home. What makes what I do fun is I can experiment with different styles with every new book I get. And each book lets me prove myself as an artist. The worst is health insurance -- it's terribly expensive to get insurance if you're self-employed. And space -- it's hard to find a space that's large enough to accommodate a work environment. All my paints, pens, brushes and reference books find their way into all the parts of my home. The best perk is that I get to do the thing I started doing when I was two and I hope to do until I croak.