Interview and Giveaway with Susi Schaefer

I’m excited to welcome to the blog this week, author/illustrator, Susi Schaefer!

Susi is offering one lucky winner a Picture Book Dummy critique. To enter, check out the Rafflecopter giveaway following the interview below.

About Susi:

Susi Schaefer trained as a glass painter in the medieval town of Rattenberg, Austria, before moving to Southern California to study graphic design. She’s the illustrator of Zoo Zen by Kristen Fischer, and Cat Ladies is her author-illustrator debut. Susi volunteers for a cat rescue group and lives in North Tustin, California, with her family. One day she hopes to use the words “Newfangled,” “Gobbledygoogk” and “Rigmarole” in her work, but she hasn’t yet had the chance to do so.

Connect with Susi:

Website
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube 

I read that you were a glass painter before moving to California to studying graphic design. Would you talk a bit more about that journey and how it led you to children’s books.

I grew up as a creative child in a small village in the Austrian Alps. My father was a classically trained blacksmith, and I always admired how he could forge, twist, and hammer iron into such beautiful designs. That alpine region also has a longstanding tradition of stained, engraved, cut, and blown glass, all dating back to the time when Bohemia was part of the empire. So, at sixteen, I started my apprenticeship as a glass painter in nearby Rattenberg, a cobblestoned, medieval town.

It was perfect for a creative kid like me, and I was excited to earn money by making art.

In my early twenties, I moved to Southern California and ended up studying graphic design at UCI. I worked in that field for years.  When my kids came along, I took a break and ended up discovering a different art form: picture books!

I was reminded of how much fun it is to get lost in a story, and I wanted to be a part of creating books. My first attempt was a board book dummy, and I only showed it to a handful of people. The next dummy, I shared with a larger group, and for the third, I enlisted the expert eye of an author in my neighborhood. Once I started to research the industry, I came across the SCBWI, and through them, I found my awesome illustrator group.

Soon, I started to attend conferences, took online art classes, and produced several more dummies. Around the time of winning an illustration award at a local SCBWI event, I finally felt that my work was strong enough to share with agents. After a few months, I connected with my agent, and we started to refine the dummy I had queried his agency with.

Even though that story didn’t find a home, I was soon fortunate to illustrate another book—Zoo Zen: A Yoga Story for Kids (written by the talented Kristen Fischer). After that, I created more dummies, and Cat Ladies came to be.

Please tell us about your debut book, Cat Ladies.

Cat Ladies explores the loving bond between cats and their humans.

Princess, the cat in the book, has four ladies. Some cats say that’s too many, but there’s no such thing! She has everything under control until a mysterious stray appears in her favorite napping spot, surrounded by her ladies! No matter what Princess tries, she can’t get things back to the way she likes them. She realizes that she has to change her expectations and, in the end, her life becomes better than it was before.

 

Who might this story appeal to?

Naturally, it is for cat lovers of all ages. It’s similar to a sibling story, and, in addition, I feel that it has an important, intergenerational theme.

What inspired and/or motivated you to write it?

I’ve always loved stories where tropes are turned on their heads, so I had a lot of fun doing that with Cat Ladies. When an elderly family member of mine, Maridl, who is a character in the book, had to move into a care home, I was imagining what it would be like if she could have taken her cat with her.

What are some of the challenges of being both the author and illustrator of your book?

On one hand, it’s easier to illustrate a manuscript written by another author. I find a great book idea is one of the hardest things to come up with, so that is already taken care of if I illustrate another person’s story. Plus, the voice and storytelling are in place.

However, the creative control of being the author/illustrator is wonderful, and in my case, I often go back and forth between writing and sketching during the storytelling process.

Who were the team members you worked with on it and what was the process like collaborating with them?

It started with all the great notes from my agent. Also, I had a wonderful team over at Abrams, my publishing house! My editor and I were very much on the same page (pun intended) when it came to the feel of the story and her edits led to a stronger and more concise book. My art director encouraged me to use brighter colors and advised me to help make the illustrations more successful. The design of the book turned out beautiful; I am very proud of the end result.

How has the story and/or your process itself changed as a result of the publication process?

It has not changed, aside from some minor, logistic tweaks.

What were some of the greatest challenges you faced during the creative process for this particular story?

Since the story is told from a cat’s point of view, I had to constantly remind myself how a cat would perceive the world around her and how she might react to change.

What’s the process like working with an art director?

Working with an art director put me at ease because of the experience she brought to the project. Indeed, she was able to find better solutions for some challenging art situations.

What was the overall timeline like for this story, from your inception of the idea to publication?

I started the manuscript at the end of 2017, and the publication date was on April 7th, 2020.

Is there anything you’re currently working on and would like to share with us?

I have another picture book out on submission, but I can’t share any details yet :

Thanks for your time, Susi!

My pleasure, and thank you for having me.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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