Britta Teckentrup

Britta Teckentrup

About Author

Britta Teckentrup is an award winning illustrator, author and fine artist. She was born in Hamburg, growing up in a town called Wuppertal.

She moved to London in 1988 to study illustration and fine art at St Martin's College and the Royal College of Art. Britta is the author and illustrator of many well-loved books for children, including the bestselling The Memory Tree, The Odd One Out and Grumpy Cat, which was selected by the Booktrust's Bookstart scheme - 250,000 copies to be distributed to families throughout the UK.

She has also written Oskar Loves, another picture book for very young children, which is inspired by her own cat Oskar.

She has written and illustrated over 80 children's picture books which have been published in over 20 different countries.

Her fine art work has been frequently exhibited at her London gallery, James Freeman Art Gallery, and at art fairs all over the world.

After 17 years in the UK, Britta now lives and works in Berlin with her Scottish husband, son Vincent and their old cat, Oskar.

Interview

UNDER THE SAME SKY

LITTLE TIGER PRESS

JUNE 2017


Britta Teckentrup's UNDER THE SAME SKY is a beautifully-produced picture book with a simple but profound message, reminding us that we all share the same world.

Through images of lions, penguins and bears, and multiple landscapes and environments, its simple but powerful text reminds us that we all share the same sky and sing the same songs, share the same fears and carry the same dreams.

Gorgeous, well-placed peep-throughs help to reinforce that message and maintain the continuity as we turn the pages from one beautiful spread to the next.

We asked author and illustrator BRITTA TECKENTRUP to tell us more about her new picture book.


Q: Why did you choose to write a text about shared dreams, and why do you feel that is so important now?

A: The poem first started to form in my head quite a few years ago when the first Syrian refugees arrived in Europe by foot or by boat to flee the war in their country. Many wonderful people were helping the refugees but it also became clear that not everybody was so welcoming, which made me sad.

Over the last couple of years the feeling of 'them' versus 'us' seems to have grown all over the world...
Fear, ignorance and prejudice are the driving force behind excluding people and it is important to always remember that we are all human and share the same fears, love and emotions wherever we are. What unites us is far greater than what divides us!

'Under the Same Sky' is a book that celebrates everything that we have in common rather than the things that separate us.


Q: How long did it take to develop the text and do you think about how it will be illustrated as you write it?

A: The text developed quite fast - the title came to me first and the poem took me a couple of weeks.

This is one of the few occasions where the text came into my head first and I didn't think about the illustrations at that point.

It is usually the other way around, and it is my images that inspire me to write a text.

It was also quite unusual that the cover was the first image I illustrated.


Q: Why did you decide to use animals to illustrate the text and how did you choose which animals to show?

A: I love to illustrate animals and needed to show all the different parts of the world in this book.

The idea of juxta positioning animals that live in different parts of the world determined my choice of animal - birds in the sky / whales in the sea, a lion in the Sahara / a domestic cat on a roof etc.

By using animals I was able to keep it all very simple which reflects the tone of the poem.

There are some occasions where it is easier to convey a message by using animals rather than illustrating people...


Q: How do you go about creating the collage imagery and how do you achieve the layers of colour?

A: I work with a mix of hand-made and digital collage.
First I create lots of textured papers by printing and painting and cut out some relevant shapes.

I will then scan in the textures and shapes and continue to develop the artwork on the computer.

I don't paint or draw on the computer at all - I only cut out shapes.

I have different layers of textures when I work in Photoshop which can interact with each other and can achieve the layers of colour.


Q: It is a gorgeous peep-through book but why did you decide to do so, and how does that complicate its planning and design?

A: When I first designed the book it was a straight forward picture book without die-cuts.

The idea for the die-cuts started when I knew that I would sell the book to Little Tiger.

All of my books with Little Tiger have die-cuts and the team are absolutely amazing when it comes to developing these die-cuts. It was very important to us that we wouldn't use the die-cuts just for the sake of it and we had to find a device that would add something to the story.

We found a way of using the die-cut to unify the spreads which complements the poem perfectly.

Working with die cuts makes it much harder to create a book as I really have to think about the colours on each spread. I am not very good at planning ahead ... so for me it is all a case of trial and error and going back and forth until it all fits together.


Q: Were any of the spreads difficult to create?

A: Hmm ... I guess that the final spread was the hardest - even though it has no die-cut.

The final spread shows all of the animals that have appeared in the book sitting under a starry, moonlit sky. It was quite a challenge to combine whales, lions, cats, flamingos, bears, penguins, rabbits, wolves, deer, toucans, birds and weasels on one double-spread.

It is probably my favourite spread as well - maybe because of all the hard work that has gone into it. It is also an image of calm and unity. (I am also quite fond of the wolves on the cover, I have to admit.)


Q: The cover is eye-catching, but how do you decide which image to use on the cover?

I designed the cover at a very early stage and always knew that I would be the two wolves.

The cloud on the cover was initially the moon with the wolves 'howling' at the moon. But even though we have changed the moon to a cloud I still felt that the wolves were the perfect choice.


Q: Where do you do your work and what are you working on at the moment?

A: I work in a studio from my home in Berlin.

I am working on a few projects at the moment as I always like to work on more than one book at a time. It gives me the freedom to come back to a project with 'fresh eyes'.
My next book with Little Tiger is called 'Moon' and is the follow up to 'Tree' and 'Bee'.

Maybe that was the reason why we have changed the moon to a cloud?


Q: As well as your children's books, what other kind of art or illustration work do you do?

A: I mainly work on children's books but always develop my own artwork as well. I couldn't do one without the other.

I have studied illustration and fine art printmaking and have always kept up with developing my fine art work as well. My best ideas for stories and picture books tend to develop out of the images I just create 'for myself'.

 


BEFORE I WAKE UP

PUBLISHED BY PRESTEL

APRIL 2016

The thoughtful and lyrical new picture book from Britta Teckentrup, BEFORE I WAKE UP (published by Prestel), follows a young girl through her night time dreams, where she is accompanied by a strong and protective lion - a dream version of her toy. Her dreams are by turns exciting and enchanting, but there are also dangerous moments during which the lion keeps her safe. The story is told through simple stanzas that keep the dream moving through the journey until morning approaches and the girl returns to her everyday world, leaving the lion to watch and wait for her.

We caught up with author and illustrator Britta Teckentrup during a recent trip to the UK and she answered the following questions about Before I Wake Up:


Q: Before I Wake Up has a more serious tone compared to some of your other picture books like Tree: Seasons Come, Seasons Go. Is this a new departure for you?

A: In Germany, where I live now, there is a market for more books with a more serious, arty tone and I have done these before with books like The Memory Tree (Orchard Books). So it's not new for me but I have developed that tone in this book. I think we have more freedom now than three or four years ago to develop ideas like this a bit more.

It may be that this is part of a backlash against everything being digitally driven. When you buy a book now, it has to be very special and this is also the case with books for older children; many more are now illustrated. You can also see this in the graphic novels market, which has always been there in Germany but is now huge.


Q: Do you see this as a picture book for adults, too?

A: I see it completely as a children's book although I have heard of adults buying the book for themselves. The scenario, though, is a child's dream world and by creating something that explored a child's dream, I hope to help children. I hope that they will find it soothing and the children I've shared it with have been mesmerised by the story.


Q: Has the story of the girl and her dream journey changed much as you developed the story?

A: I always start a story with some images and a sense of the 'mood' of the book because that is what comes first to me. The girl and the lion were always there, from the start. My characters develop as I try to find out the world they live in or the scenario around them. Usually I develop the character for a story first.

This book was actually wordless at the beginning and the idea of the dream came later. It began as a celebration of the imagination. When you close your eyes you can see all these things inside yourself; later that would become the dream world.

The lion was in the story but he wasn't a toy at the beginning. She was travelling with a lion and it was later that the lion became a cuddly toy that we see on the girl's bed. I wanted him there as a symbol of strength and power. He has a majestic feel and helps to make her brave. He needed to look strong and brave with a sweet and gentle expression, but also to look warm and cuddly - but not too warm and cuddly!

Children's bedtime toys are very important to them - I had one as a child and if you ever lose it, you end up sleeping in your parents' bed! When I read this story to young children, they always want to tell me what their cuddly toy is and that this is what they'd have in the story instead of the lion.


Q: Why have you introduced dangers, like the sea journey, to the girl's dream world?

A: Dream worlds are never entirely safe, there are dangers and scary moments in life and I wanted to show that but also for the girl to have a lovely dream, to have a happy mood, so having the lion there makes it feel safer for her.


Q: You are German by birth and English is your second language, so why do you choose to write your text in English?

A: I write in English because I lived in England for so long and my books started publishing in England. I find that it helps to keep the text spare and that encourages people to read between the lines. I find writing in English easier than speaking it and at one point, when I was still living in London, my English was better than my German.

Q: You also have some dream scenes where there is no text, why is that?

A: The moment the words disappear, you can lose yourself properly in that dream world and I wish I could have had more of those pages where you look and immerse yourself in the images. Everyone looks at things differently from how I see them so you can make your own interpretation of those pages.

These images on these pages are layered because when you have a dream, it's like a haze, you don't know what goes on in them, you only see the latest images when you wake up and nothing is clear. So I build the images in layers and there are silhouettes and you're not sure what they are.

I am now wondering what to do with the pages that weren't used in the book. They are abstract pictures so you can lose yourself in them. I might decide to exhibit them later on.


Q: How did you choose the colour palette you use of blues and yellows?

A: I wanted it to go from dark to light, so the bluey tone warms into yellows. It just matched the feelings I had about the picture book. I like how the pages move from red to yellow towards the end, when morning is coming.


Q: How did you go about creating the image, what techniques do you use, and do you have any favourite spreads?

A: It starts off with me making lots of textures and lines and drawings. I cut the shapes out to make collages and scan in elements and put it together on a screen. The lion is a mixture of textures and computer work. I cut out the whale and the jellyfish and scanned those in too, although the girl was created using the computer.

It worked very well using the computer to make the dream scenes, which needed to be layered, otherwise those images would have been harder to create although I could have printed them. Using a computer gives you more freedom to move things around and to

I like the page where the girl is swimming with the jellyfish because at first she had found the ocean daunting and then finds out it isn't. And I like the pages where she meets all the creatures in her dream world.


Q: What are you working on now?

A: My next book with Prestel is called Oskar, which is a simple, quite arty book about a cat who loves everything, it's very uplifting. I tend to work on three or four projects at any one time which is helpful because you can leave one of the projects and come back to it a few days later with a fresh mind.

I have a studio at home and I'll start working at about 8am when my son goes to school and after a couple of strong coffees!

Nature is a big influence for me in my work and although I love my studio, it is in the middle of Berlin and I would love to have a big studio on a hill with a huge window looking out to sea.

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