10 Questions: Katie Scott

Detailed, curious, nostalgic.

 

Big Picture Press approached me with the idea for an animal book, to kick start a new series of museum themed titles. From there we really developed it together. Jenny [Broom, the author] categorised the animal kingdoms and I chose the individual creatures that represent each group. It felt right to do it this way considering it’s such a visually led book.

 

Big Picture Press chose the title and I loved it immediately because of the associations with Historiae Animalium - a 14th Century encyclopaedia of animal life (both known and speculated creatures). It includes Dürer’s rhino alongside unicorns and dragons, creating a wholly surreal and bizarre vision of zoology. I thought that fitted perfectly with the book, because although our animals are real, I love the nod back to days of early science where fact and imagination were combined and illustrations had a sense of curiosity. 

 

For this book I would start by looking up all the different animals within that section. I would then choose my favourite looking / the most diverse creatures. Using lots of different reference material i would sketch out the animal in an imagined position - usually distorting the body slightly, making it more twisty and weird than real life. Once the page had been completely planned out, with everything fitting together nicely, i would draw and colour the page in properly. 

 

There is an amazing mid-century picture book I own called The Human Body illustrated by Cornelius De Witt. It shows all the processes in the body using visual metaphors. The detail and imagination is incredible. I would love to do something similar one day.

 

I love Charlie Harper’s book of Biology. I learnt a lot from him about filling space and composition.

 

Of all time I would have to say Ernst Haeckel. His book Art Forms in Nature was the real instigator for my love of natural science imagery. 

 

I loved the "Frog and Toad" stories by Arnold Lobel. Although they also really scared me for some reason. 

 

I’ve been half recommending Kalevala recently, the Finnish folklore epic poem. It's basically impossible to get through, but also completely amazing. I really like creating stories, and this has one involving a duck laying an egg on the knee of a goddess.

 

10. It’s quite weird, but I love the sense of ownership you can get from your favourite books. Thousands or even millions of other people can own the same book as you, but this one is yours and you treasure it. That is also true for the way you curate your book collection. Even though each one isn’t unique, the collection as a whole probably is.