“… for as long as the world still spins and still hums, wherever you are, and no matter what comes — the best part of Christmas will always be… you beneath my Christmas tree.”
— The Spirit of Christmas, 2009
The best children’s book is one that always prompts a kid’s heart to soar – and one that sometimes makes an adult a bit teary eyed. Portland, Oregon author/illustrator Nancy Tillman has been regularly accomplishing these feats since her smash debut, On The Night You Were Born. Tillman’s magically potent mix of beautiful prose and fantastic paint has catapulted her, in a six-year, seven-book span, into a high orbit among the biggest stars in children’s publishing.
This holiday season, Kohl’s department stores have chosen to sell specially printed, complete versions of four of Tillman’s acclaimed books – alongside plush animals that correspond to each tome. The net proceeds from the $5 books and figures (yes, each only five dollars) goes to the renowned Kohl’s Cares children’s charitable program.
With a warm Georgia accent barely diluted by her 18 years in the Rose City, the decidedly hip mother of two twenty-something children recently spoke to East Portland Blog about her passions, and about Christmas. You could hear her eyes twinkle over the phone.
EPB: Which came first — the poet, or the artist?
Tillman: The poet. Absolutely. I consider myself a writer, and all my books are about a message… and the illustrations hopefully support those messages. I try to paint the world as we know it with a little wonder added in, for kids. But, it’s always the words that come first. And they’re the hardest, too.
EPB: I haven’t read all of your books, but judging by the titles – Wherever You Are, My Love Will Find You, for example — I’m guessing that a parent’s love for a child and a child’s sense of self-worth are sort of recurring themes?
Tillman: That’s exactly what they are. The last page in all of my books say “You are loved.” What I’m trying to do is give words to parents to say what they already feel for their children. Not just the parents, but the grandparents, a caregiver – whomever is taking care of the child.
EPB: When did you seize upon this idea, this concept?
Tillman: You know, it really wasn’t a marketing idea as much as when my children were growing up… it was certainly a message I wanted them to have from me. I just think that the parent-child bonding is so important; these books are meant to be read first-person to a child — with a child sitting in a lap, or in the bed next to a parent. I just feel that children can’t be told that they’re loved enough! Sometimes, though, we use the same words over and over, and they become flat… they don’t hold the meaning. So I try to find new ways to say what parents feel.
The last book that I wrote, The Crown On Your Head, evolved from some of my little girl’s friends who were being bullied. I tend to speak in metaphors… I remember telling them, “You all have crowns on your heads, and no one has a right to take them off. And no one can.” Almost all of my books have evolved from my relationship with my children, and with my children’s friends.
EPB: I’m hardly an art critic, but if I were pressed to describe your style, the closest comparison I could come up with is the idea of Richard Scarry meeting Raymond Briggs in a dream.
Tillman: Oh! What I do is work in Photoshop and Painter… I do everything digitally. I will have 100-200 layers; my illustrations are really composites, kind of like quilts. Sometimes I’ll have some photographic elements in there, sometimes some words, often some paint on top of things. It’s really a mish-mash.
EPB: Wait a minute, you create everything on a computer?
Tillman: I do. I have what is called a Wacom tablet. You actually paint right on it, and what you paint shows up on the computer. There are so many programs now… in Painter, for instance, I can pick up watercolor and make it drip down the page – or work in chalk or oil. Since I’m left-handed, in real life I tend to smear things. If I do it on the computer, I don’t. It also helps me to control color.
EPB: How did you wind up in Portland?
Tillman: My husband and I started off in Georgia; we moved around the South – he’s from Dallas. He was a surgical sales rep for 18 years. We just fell in love with Portland, we brought our children up here, and we’ll never leave. We just love it.
EPB: Portland’s a very diverse artist community, indeed.
Tillman: It’s a diverse artist community, but you know, it was a great place to raise the kids. The ocean one way, Mt. Hood the other… so much beauty everywhere. Plus, it has the best beer.
EPB: When it came to creating your Christmas book, was there any pressure to succeed – given all the great holiday books that have come before it?
Tillman: You know, there really wasn’t. I really and truly just put on my own spin on things. It really went back to my childhood, and all the images that were so special to me as a child – all the things that we collectively “Ooh and ahh” over, the caroling and the snow and the snowball fights. I didn’t look at any other Christmas books (for inspiration)… my books are never easy to create or write, but I always kind of know what I’m navigating towards.
EPB: This arrangement with Kohl’s Cares is fantastic. Were the plush animals created for the charity program?
Tillman: (The animals) are a Kohl’s exclusive. As far as I know, they always create the dolls to go along with the books they choose every year. I’m so glad they chose mine; it’s such a good program, all the money goes to support children’s health and education initiatives.
What it is interesting is that Kohl’s had me do a different cover for Wherever You Are… the regular cover in stores has a dancing black bear. They said that children loved dolphin plush animals, and wanted to include one. So I re-designed a cover to match.
EPB: Your kids must be very tickled by your work.
Tillman: Oh, they are; they and my husband are my biggest cheerleaders. But I’ll tell you, as a parent… when they come home for Christmas, the main thing they want is to know all the decorations are where they’re supposed to be, and that their favorite meals are ready. They’re proud of me, but they’re more proud of me as a mom (laughs).
EPB: You’ve got a tough, multi-faceted role, especially at the holidays – superstar author/illustrator, and mom.
Tillman: Mom’s always my favorite role. I don’t think of myself as a superstar (laughs). I sit in here most of the time, with my pug, writing and illustrating. I go to schools and talk to kids, and that’s fun, but Mom is always the number one job for me. And it’s a “forever job.”
EPB: Hold on… you have a pug?
Tillman: I have a pug. He’s sitting next to me right now.
EPB: What’s his name?
Tillman: Figgy, short for “Figaro.”
EPB: Ahh… from Pinocchio.
Tillman: (Chuckling) He’s my creative consultant.
EPB: So Figgy has the first, and defining, opinion.
Tillman: He does, and he loooves me so much — but you know, if I were drowning and there a piece of bacon nearby, you know what would happen first (laughs).
