 |
Interview with David A. Adler and Terry Widener
David A. Adler and Terry Widener are the award-winning, author-illustrator team that created America's Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle, a Child Magazine Best Book of the Year; Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year; and The Babe & I, an ABA's Pick of the Lists. David A. Adler lives on Long Island, New York. Terry Widener lives in McKinney, Texas.
Synopsis
Joe Louis was born poor and black in a time of segregation and prejudice. That was a lot to overcome. But once Joe Louis discovered boxing, nothing could stop him.
At the beginning of his fight career in the 1930s, Joe Louis was a hero and symbol of hope to African Americans. Later, during World Ward II, he became a hero to all Americans, uniting black and white boxing fans in their hatred of Nazi Germany when he fought German fighter Max Schmeling. Joe Louis was a great heavyweight champion, but he was more than just a boxer, Joe Louis was America’s fighter.
Interview with David A. Adler
 Q: Joe Louis: America's Fighter conveys a universal message of hope, acceptance, and unity. What do you want readers to take away from this book?
A: It shouldn't take a war to unite a nation.
Q: How does Joe Louis's story affect you personally?
A: I love American history and sports, and there's so much history in the Joe Louis story—the rural poverty so common in the early years of the century, the Great Depression, troubled race relations, our country at war in the 1940s, and the emergence of sports figures as American heroes.
Q: Terry Widener has illustrated four of your books for Harcourt: Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man (1997), The Babe & I (1999), America's Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle (2000), and Joe Louis: America's Fighter. What do you appreciate most about his work?
A: Terry is a brilliant artist. I love his style, that each book has its own unique palette, that the perspective of his art is not static, and the shape of each painting reflects the scene. You feel the long reach of Joe Louis in the Terry's long rectangular illustration.
Q: What inspired the transition from teaching math and earning your Ph.D. in marketing to writing children's books?
A: I loved teaching math. I also love to write. Writing gives me the opportunity to explore my many interests and to continually create something new.
Q: In addition to writing nonfiction picture books, you have also written the fictional Andy Russell series for Harcourt. What are you working on now?
A: Terry and I are now working on a biography of Satchel Paige [Harcourt, January 2007].
Interview with Terry Widener
 Q: When you received the manuscript for Joe Louis, what was your first step in illustrating it?
A: The first thing I do is to read the manuscript a couple of times and then just think about it for about a week. For Joe Louis I did quite a lot of research at the library and on the Internet. I am looking for details in clothing, physical characteristics, his boxing style, and the overall atmosphere of the time period. Then I do a number of thumbnail sketches, but only after I have a precise mental image of the colors and composition that I want to achieve with the final art.
Q: What was the biggest challenge in creating this book?
A: Boxing is such a violent sport, especially in the era of Joe Louis, and to illustrate a childrens picture book was a challenge. I decided to show the action of a punch just before or just after it struck the boxer, without showing anything terribly violent. Other than that, there is always the challenge of producing illustrations that make a really nice book.
Q:How would you describe your artistic style?
A:To me my style is fairly realistic. Not photorealistic by any means, but I try to show accurate details and action. I guess some of my figures are stylized a bit; however they are quite realistic to me. I have looked at many photos of athletes in action, and their bodies can get in some unbelievable poses that make it clear what remarkable balance and skill they have attained. I have also been influenced by the painters of the 1930s. At the University of Tulsa, one of the art professors was Alexander Hogue. He was a prominent regionalist artist during the Dust Bowl era in the southwest, so I guess it was just natural that I would be influenced by his work. And my environment when I was growing up. Many members of my family grew up before and during the Depression, and during the 1950s they still had that lifestyle. So I was exposed to life pretty much like it was in the '30s.
Q: Since 1997 you and David A. Adler have created several award-winning picture books together. What do you think makes your collaboration successful?
A: Well, David is a wonderful writer, which makes it much easier for me. His writing style just seems to bring a number of images to my mind whenever I read a new manuscript. Then it is my problem to choose one of the images to accent the story. I have always tried to illustrate a picture that is not the obvious choice. By that I mean I look for subtle passages in David's writing that would make interesting paintings. Something a little unexpected, I guess, is what I am after. I think this is the quality that makes our books successful.
Q: You graduated from the University of Tulsa with a fine arts degree, and since that time you've worked as both a graphic designer and an illustrator. What sparked your interest in illustrating children's books?
A: I have always liked to use illustration in my graphic design as much as possible. Of course, in some design projects illustration is not appropriate. During my years in high school and college, the "push pin" style was the new, exciting style of design. It was totally different from what was being done. Very conceptual, stylized illustration was a huge part of the design. It made you think. Then, after college, I was working as a beginning designer, and I became aware of design from other countries, especially Italian art deco, which had influence on my work. To me it was just a natural progression to illustrating children's books. Each page is a design project with typography used in a manner that is right for the purpose, and the composition and colors of the illustration all working together, hopefully. A book is made up of a series of these design projects till it all flows together. This is always my "ideal" goal for every book that I illustrate.
|
|
|
|
|
