Today we welcome children’s author and illustrator John Devolle into The Reading Realm to talk to us about his new picture book, DOGS, DOGS, DOGS…

Hello John! Can you start by telling The Reading Realm readers a little about yourself?

I am an illustrator and author. I have been working as an illustrator for over 15 years. I work on a wide variety of illustration projects from client work for brands, institutions and magazines and newspapers to more personal art projects. But for the last 6 years I have been writing and illustrating children’s picture books.

Dogs, Dogs, Dogs is your first book outside of your Big Science For Little Minds series, what draws you to a subject when thinking about new ideas for picture books?

Often the initial spark of the idea comes to me out of the blue (well it feels that way), when I’m walking the dog or not really thinking about anything in particular. I’m sure it’s coming from the back of my brain, processing all sorts of things I have seen and done over the years. I remember with Dogs Dogs Dogs it came from a rhyme I started chanting in my head as I was walking along, I had the rhythm of the song ‘Wordy Rappinghood’ by The Tom Tom Club going round and round in my head and I had been drawing lots and lots of dogs in my sketchbook for months with no real reason or idea in mind. But it kind of clicked in that moment! I then had to work on it for a long time to make it work, but I had the idea of what I was trying to do. I often get ideas when I’m supposed to be working on something else entirely. For instance, today I am supposed to be working on a picture book that I have a deadline for, but this morning, I had an entirely different idea for another book so I ended up spending far too long writing this new idea instead of working on illustrations to meet my deadline at the end of this month!

Will there be follow up books to Dogs, Dogs, Dogs?

Yes, that’s what I’m working on right now! I need to get on with it! Can you guess what it might be about? Perhaps another popular animal that is also a pet?

Do you have a dog and if so, can we see a photo?!

I do have a dog yes, a beagle called Joe. I have had him since he was a puppy and he is now 15. He is a lovely dog, but he is very stubborn and does not listen to me. Also, he smells bad cause he is very old and has bad teeth.

Do you ever illustrate for other authors?

Yes, I have illustrated a few books for other authors. I’d like to do more as well as writing and illustrating more of my own books.

Can you tell our readers about a day in the life of John Devolle?

I now live in Dublin. There is no typical day in the life as both my wife and I are self-employed ‘creatives’ which means we’re always juggling things around depending on what projects we have on the go and childcare. But…

Often a day will start off with me walking the dog (Joe) after the school drop off. I then jump on my bike for a short cycle into town where I rent a studio space at the Chocolate Factory which is a great space in north central Dublin full of various creative people doing all sorts of stuff. It’s great to be working amongst them.

Lately I have been trying to keep mornings free to work on the more creative aspects of my job. Earlier in the day is when my mind is freshest. So, I’ve been trying to work on ideas, rough sketches and concepts for things before checking emails and getting bogged down in logistical stuff.

Once I’ve done an hour or so of this then, I will do a bit of email checking.

It really depends what I have on that day, but at the moment I have a book deadline and also quite a large illustration job to work on at the same time, so I might flit between the two jobs over the course of the day. If I’m trying to write, and I’m not getting anywhere I might go for a walk, get away from my desk for a bit, sometimes a change of scenery just helps to see things from a different perspective, which can help when you have a bit of a mental block.

I’d work till about 5pm on days when I’m not doing the school pick-up. If I am doing the school pick-up I might work from home in the afternoon drawing on my iPad. I prefer to do most of my work at my studio, but I have to be flexible and take time where I can get it. 

THANK YOU John for joining us in The Reading Realm today!

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