What Are You?

It’s a question I’ve been asked my whole life. And now, it’s a book that I illustrated. Written by Christian Trimmer, What Are You? is an introduction to talking about being mixed-race. Though it is imperative that we talk about race with kids, the topic can often feel too heavy to find an entry point. However, I think our book offers a light opportunity to begin a conversation.

Here’s a little synopsis from Macmillan: From Christian Trimmer and award-winning illustrator Mike Curato comes What Are You?, a brilliant, new early-reader picture book brimming with warmth and playfulness that explores questions of race and identity.

When a puggle meets two new poodle friends, there is a question the poodles feel they must ask. 

What are you? 
What am I? 
Yes, what are you? 
I am a dog. 
No, what are you? 

So begins a conversation about family and identity, and about the things we’re good at… and why we’re good at them. Brimming with warmth and playfulness, What Are You? is an exemplary picture book for early readers. Equally funny and thoughtful, the book includes prompts to facilitate important first conversations about stereotypes and bias between child and adult.

I myself am mixed-race, and I think what I find most troubling about the question, “What are you?”, is that it’s one of the first things someone feels compelled to ask me, as opposed to “WHO are you?” Surely that would prompt a much more interesting, multifaceted answer, because I am many things. “I contain multitudes.” When asked the question, sometimes I’ll push back and inquire, “why do you ask?” That’s usually followed by “just curious!” But what exactly is driving that specific curiosity? Why not ask someone what their interests are? Or if they’re hungry? Or if they’ve read any good books lately? (I’ve got a recommendation!)

I hope that everyone sees themselves in these pages: the asked and askers. I like to create books that I wish I had when I was a kid, and I hope that mixed folks who read this feel validated and seen. But it would have been even better if kids in my class who weren’t mixed had this book, because it would have helped them understand how to talk to me, how to ask me to be friends, how to see me as a person not so different from themselves. As a creative, I fully support curiosity, and I also believe that there are some things that we must wait for someone to reveal to us in their own time and on their terms.

I’m so grateful that I was asked to illustrate this story, one that I felt compelled to tell for many years, but couldn’t find the right words. My thanks to Christian for finding the those words and putting them together so beautifully! Many thanks to the good people at Roaring Brook who helped make this happen: Jennifer Besser, Lisa Vega, Allene Casagnol, and the rest of the team at Macmillan Children’s. And a big thank you to my dear agent, Brenda Bowen.

I dedicated this book to my brother and sister, who are two people whom I rely on to know exactly how I feel about a shortlist of things, including “the question” in question. I’m sure if the three of us were asked “What are you?” at the same time, we would in unison reply, “WEIRD.”

And for anyone asking, I am the following mix:
a friend-baker-brother-traveler-son-singer-uncle-thinker-dreamer-reader

And to you, dear reader, I am your devoted storyteller. xo Mike

Order your copy today!

Where Is Bina Bear?

Please help me welcome my new friends, Bina and Tiny, to the world today! (You can order here! Or read to the end if you want a signed copy.) It’s been several years since I put out a picture book that I also authored, and my heart is full of love for my shy friend and her compassionate confidant. It’s become customary for me to post “the making of” in honor of book release, so here’s the story behind the story…

Once upon a time, I was having a bad summer. It was July 2019, and I had just arrived at one of my favorite places, the Highlights Foundation, to co-facilitate an illustration intensive. There was a lot going on in my life, and rather than face a room full of people, I really just wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there for a year. I remember calling my bestie, Samantha Berger, and saying, “I can’t do this.” She assured me that I definitely could and pumped me up before the intensive started.

I affixed my “EVERYTHING IS GREAT!” smile, and headed to the first session. The nice thing about being surrounded by fellow illustrators is that no one thinks you’re being rude when you doodle in a sketchbook while someone is speaking. That is when this bear fumbled her way onto my page.

As you can see, she is not really up for engagement. I was having fun putting her in scenarios in which she was trying to hide in plain sight, and doing a very bad job at it. I didn’t really think of it as a story idea at first. I just kept toying with the visual play of hiding oneself, because that was my reality in that moment.

Days after the retreat, I was looking at these doodles (there were more than just these ones) and thought, “Is this a thing??” Before long, I had a story about a bear at a party who does not like parties, and her small rabbit friend (Tiny to be exact). Bina, stressed out by the crowd, finds quiet pockets of the house to store herself in, while disguised as an inanimate object. She is a lamp, a table, a tree, a bookcase. She suddenly runs out of clever ideas (or did I?) and assumes the role of “groceries” when she is finally found out (though we secretly know that Tiny has been onto this whole charade from the beginning).

I sat on a blanket on the coast of Maine with some computer paper, a pen, and some colored pencils. Within a day, I had a book dummy. My agent, Brenda Bowen, saw it the next day and sent it to my editor, Laura Godwin, right away. Laura took it to acquisitions at Macmillan that week. It was the fastest book pitch I’ve ever made and sold. Some aspects of the story changed, most notably my decision to make Bina purple to stand out from the many other bears in the kidlit universe. But at its core, the story has remained the same.

style development sample

I did lots of rounds of style tests with different mediums, but I was really enjoying working in pen and ink with color washes.

first phase of a finished piece: pen & ink with watercolor

This style was a departure from my earlier, tighter Little Elliot work (speaking of, keep your eyes peeled in this book for a cameo or two). I’ve varied my styles for other picture books written by other authors. But Bina would be my first post-Elliot book I’ve authored, and it felt like a change was in order. I liked the quirkiness of the pen line and punchiness of the color to match the humor of the story. I wanted Bina’s fur to have a rich texture, so that was done separately with watercolor and colored pencil. There are other pieces here and there that use a scanned texture, like canvas for the lampshade and brown paper bag for…a brown paper bag.

These are fragments of Bina’s fur textures for different pages throughout the book. High quality watercolor paper is expensive, so I used every bit of the surface as possible!

Similar to Elliot though, Bina is a mix of traditional and digital media. These elements were scanned and assembled in Photoshop. Then I colored digitally in both Photoshop and Adobe Fresco.

my first book illustrated on iPad

the final ilustration

On the surface, Where Is Bina Bear? is a cute hide and seek book. One could read this book and quickly chalk it up to a funny story about a bear with social anxiety. But for me it’s even more about two people trying to be good friends as best they can with what they have to work with. Tiny sees past Bina’s anxiety with compassion and playfulness, and we come to learn that Bina only came to this party because of her love and loyalty to Tiny. In the end, the most important thing is being together, and the two find a creative way to do just that.

Any of my loyal readers know that the theme of friendship never gets old for me. This book is a love letter to those friends who understand and accept each other’s idiosyncrasies without question. Vulnerability, so often seen as a weakness, can be an opportunity to allow others, to allow love, to enter our hearts and make us feel whole.

For reviews and to download the activity kit, please visit my website. I hope you’ll join me this evening for a virtual book release event with High Five Books! Click here to register and order your personalized and signed copies! I’ll be reading, drawing, and answering your questions live via Facebook. Don’t be shy…

Where Is Bina Bear? Cover Reveal!

Tiny is having a party, but Bina Bear is nowhere to be found. Is that Bina hiding under a lampshade? It looks like Bina… but it must be a lamp. Is that Bina beneath the fruit bowl? It could be… but it’s probably just a table. Searching for Bina, Tiny realizes something is wrong—and sets out to make it right. I hope you like my new silly and sweet picture book about friendship, understanding, and embracing loved ones just as they are.

Preorder today from your favorite independent bookstore, or wherever books are sold!

FLAMER

I’m gay. It took me a very long and sometime perilous journey to be able to say that out loud and with pride. It’s taken me a long time to say I love myself. I like who I am. These are things I couldn’t say when I was 14.

I am trying to remember the first time someone called me a faggot. It’s happened so many times that I can’t pinpoint when it started. It still hurts. The best revenge I’ve come up with is to make a book about being a faggot, and how it’s nothing to be ashamed about. How being a faggot is a beautiful thing. How being gay and colored and fat isn’t ugly. I want all the little faggots out there to know they are loved and to wear their faggotry like a crown. We are kweens after all. We are not dirty. And we are not sinners for being gay. We sin when we believe the lies that are perpetuated against us. We sin when we apologize for being here. I sinned when I didn’t want to give myself a chance because I didn’t think I was worth anything. This story is my penance and my redemption.

Today my book, FLAMER, is in the world for you. It is gay. And I am proud of it.

If I were in a more sales & marketing sort of mood, I would give you a synopsis right now and talk about the process of making this book. But there are already plenty of great interviews that can fill you in. My elevator pitch and art nerd street cred feel inconsequential in comparison to what I want to share with you here.

Children are killing themselves. Because they think they are unlovable. Because they think this world is not for them. Because they are afraid that if they don’t kill themselves, someone else will. I was a child like that. But I chose to stay. And I would like to ask my sweet, beautiful, worthy fellow flamers to stay. Stay here with me. We can see what happens. It won’t all be good. But there is more good in the world than you know. Sometimes life pulls a reveal. What gay person doesn’t love a plot twist?

FLAMER is a lot of things. Flamer is me going in deep. Deep into the pain. Snapping old broken bones into place and learning to stand up on them. I feel strong now. I want to give that strength to others.

FLAMER is fiction. But it’s also real. This is real life. This is what some people go through. Real life is violent and crass and funny and treacherous and shockingly hopeful. Flamer is me living. Flamer is me encouraging people to find a way to live. Your life doesn’t have to be lived on anyone else’s terms but your own.

You’re enough, kid. You are enough.

Love,
Mike

Join me tonight at 7:30PM EST for a launch event with Jarrett J Krosoczka (Hey, Kiddo). You will received a signed book and an art print via Brookline Booksmith. 

 

Art Notes: All the Way to Havana

I hand-lettered the title and added texture to the wall.

Hello dear readers. A few weeks ago, I posted about the release  of All the Way to Havana, written by Margarita Enlge. While I was waxing poetic about my experience researching the book, I neglected to talk about how I actually illustrated it. So, I’d like to clarify the process with this brief bonus post.

For my Little Elliot books, I work in pencil on paper and color digitally. It’s a tightly rendered style that showcases a nostalgic (if not a bit “polished”) Old New York. While this style works well for these books, I felt that the same treatment would not translate well to All the Way to Havana without a few adjustments.

drawing for the Malecón spread

Usually, I work to size. That means that the drawing I make is the same size as it is printed in the book. For Havana, I chose to work really large. A double page spread from this book measures about 36” wide on average. This allowed for more looseness in my pencil stroke and allowed me to capture more movement in the drawings. These drawings rely on a thick pencil stroke, so instead of using my usual fine pointed 2B graphite mechanical pencil, I mostly used a 4B ebony pencil (and sometimes switched to the finer point for some details).

detail of wall, sidewalk, and pavement textures

distressed wood and rust can be found on any street corner

Though it is unfortunate that Cuba suffers economically, which prevents everyday maintenance and development, the result is a rich patina that has formed over Cuba’s surfaces: worn wood, chipped paint, rusted metal, gravel and soil. There’s a zen beauty to it all. I felt it was imperative to represent these textures in the illustrations. However, I wanted to keep my line somewhat loose while keeping the textures tight. So, I decided to use textures from the photographs I took in Cuba, and overlay them onto my drawings in Photoshop. 

 

detail of The Gran Teatro de La Habana

Another choice I made, to push the mixed media style even further, was to introduce different art media in addition to the photographs. All the vegetation throughout the book is painted in acrylic. Dirt is photographic and/or paint mixed with pumice. Water is painted in watercolor. The book, like one of Cuba’s antique cars, is an amalgamation of different parts.

a watercolor sea, a pup & pumice, and a painted palm

photographic textures enhance the walls and roads

How to Kill Your Babies

I’ve got bad news for you. The beautiful baby that you gave birth to, loved, and nurtured, has grown into a monster. It must be stopped, and only YOU can stop it. I am of course speaking about the picture book that you’re working on, specifically the beautiful chrome car bumper you just drew, or the building facade that took you 5 hours to ink, or the cherry blossom tree that you spent 2 days painting (how can you mess up a tree, right?). Well, you’ve been missing the big picture. Literally. Take a nice step back and look at your entire composition. You see it now, don’t you? That bumper is actually not supposed to be shaped that way. The turret that you painstakingly drew each shingle on is out of perspective! And that cherry blossom tree is somehow crooked (but it’s a TREE!). I can see you mouthing that involuntary expletive. Go ahead, let it out, because this is going to suck. You are going to have to kill your baby.

Geez man, let it GO!

I know what you’re thinking, “SCREW YOU, MAN! This is the best bumper I’ve ever drawn!” I hear you, because I just drew the best bumper I’ve ever drawn, and it was not shaped the way it is in real life (let’s blame the tricky chrome reflections in my reference!). But guess what? That crazed automobile collector who is going to buy my book because they know every minute detail about ’54 Chevys IS going to see that the bumper is inaccurate, and she WILL email me to complain about it (and maybe even give it a menacing review). AND, that’s on ME. If I’m making a book about cars, and I blatantly disregard the details that are going to make car enthusiasts swoon, then I’m not doing my job, and I’ve lost my credibility.

the bumper in question–I also forgot the keyhole!!!

It’s not just about being technically accurate. You could be working in a completely abstract style that excuses you from lots of formal “art rules.” The fact remains: if there is something in your composition that is calling too much attention to itself in a way that has nothing to do with the plot, you’ve just pulled your reader out of the story! This is the LAST thing you want to happen. No bumper is that precious.

This can be applied to writing, illustrating, and all other creative endeavors.

Don’t cry yet. Do the job first, mourn later. It will be easier for both of you this way. You’ll erase the best bumper you’ve ever drawn, but you’ll save the rest of the drawing you’ve made. Plus, you just proved you can draw an amazing bumper, so why can’t you draw it again? Your drawing is going to be stronger because of this.

Who knew erasers could look so threatening? Pick it up. Erase the bumper. Draw a better one.

Here’s a gentle reminder, friends: It’s probably not THE best drawing or painting EVER made in the HISTORY of Art, right? If you put it next to the Mona Lisa, would she turn to look at it and be all, “OH, DAYUMN!” I didn’t think so.

Take heart. Your baby will return, maybe not specifically as a car bumper, but as a really amazing overall piece that you can be proud of!

BEA 2014: A TOTElly Amazing Experience

Last week I attended my first Book Expo America, and it was the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in a long while. The main purpose was to meet booksellers, librarians, and reviewers to promote Little Elliot, BIG CITY at any chance I could get. Buckle up, this is a long ride…

BEA 2014, The Jacob Javitz Center, NYC

It all started Wednesday with a studio tour put together by the American Booksellers Association. Two groups of booksellers came to our humble abode to meet me and see how I work. I was flattered that they braved traffic and came all the way to Brooklyn! I showed them some original drawings, and they got a special sneak peek at the second book in my series, Little Elliot, BIG FAMILY (Fall 2015). It was a great way to get to know each other! I got to meet representatives from Secret Garden Books (Seattle, WA), Anderson’s Bookshops (Naperville, IL), Oblong Books and Music (Millerton & Rhinebeck, NY), Octavia Books (New Orleans, LA), Redbery Books (Cable, WI), and Bethany Beach Books (Bethany Beach, DE). Yay new friends!

left to right: Suzanne Perry, Secret Garden Books; me; Katie Anderson, Anderson’s Bookshops; Dick Hermans, Oblong Books and Music

Naturally, a Little Elliot party wouldn’t be complete without a beautiful arrangement of cupcakes.

The Writing Process – Author Blog Tour – Mike Curato

Hi! I’m Mike Curato, and I am so excited to be a part of this author blog tour!

Me & my work.

First off, thanks to Fred Koehler for passing the baton to me. I met Fred an an SCBWI Winter Conference several years ago. We enjoyed some yummy Chinese food together and we’ve been Facebook author-illustrator compadres ever since. If you haven’t already picked up a copy of his debut book, How to Cheer Up Dad, then you’re in luck because it will make a great Father’s Day gift!

What am I currently working on?

Well, I am busy promoting my upcoming debut title, Little Elliot Big City, and in the process of finishing up my second book in the series, Little Elliot, Big Family. The first book comes out on August 26th, and I can hardly wait! I just received my first hardcover copy, and it’s so magical having it in my hands. I keep knocking on the cover to make sure it’s real!

Little Elliot is a polka-dotted elephant living in NYC circa 1940. It’s hard being a little guy in such a big place, and I think that makes him really relatable for kids. A new friend comes along though, and life gets a lot happier, and maybe a little easier. Little Elliot will be printed in English, German, Hebrew, Mandarin, and Korean! Elliot has been a character that I’ve been developing for many years, and I’m so excited to be able to share him with the world.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Processed Magic: the Vague Art of Picture-Book Making

My friends and family must wonder what I do all day. Sometimes I worry that they’re sick and tired of my only update being “I’m working on the book. The deadline is end of April.” I’m sure some of them have mental images of me waking up in the morning to a big yawn, hopping into my bunny slippers, eating a muffin (aka breakfast cupcake), brushing my teeth, then sitting at my drafting table and whistling while I work all the live long day. How cute! I wish my life could be like this. I know that I am blessed to have a career doing what I love and working from home, but I wouldn’t say it’s been that easy.

Little Elliot, Big City Sneak Peek!

I am so very very very excited. My friends at Henry Holt have given me the thumbs up to share some spreads from Little Elliot, Big City, which is due to hit the shelves Fall 2014! Since we have over a YEAR to wait for that, I am going to give you a periodic sneak peek every few months!

Here is today’s featured spread!!! (click to enlarge)

He was shorter than most people and had to be extra careful not to be stepped on.

This was certainly one of the most complicated spreads in the book. It took a very long time, and a lot of research! It all started with this little thumbnail:

The book has a 1930s/40s feel, so I needed to do some research to see what the New York subway used to look like then. I visited the archives of The New York Transit Museum in downtown Brooklyn for more information. They had photographs showing what the subway has looked like throughout its 109 year old existence. It was Christmas morning for the history nerd in me, although it was actually an afternoon…in February…in a basement. STILL! Excitement all around.

I had to handle the photographs with archival gloves. I was a full-fledged researcher!

I searched through the physical photos, while my lovely “assistant,” Julia, scoured MTA’s online image records.

So, after gathering all of my subway research and combining it with my period fashion research, I was able to make this composition:

Add shading, scan, color, and stir: e voila! One spread made to order!

Stay tuned for more sneak peeks to come.