TitleTales

Interview: Ashley Spires

Ashley Spires was born and raised in British Columbia, Canada where she resides still with her cats Gracie and Charlotte. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and a Graduate Diploma in Illustration from Sheridan College. In addition to her illustration, she founded Chicken Tika Creations (which she named after her dog, not the food) and is selling her hand-felted items across Canada. Ashley works as a multi media artist, creating everything from Web sites to handmade books to finger puppets. The publishing credits of Ashley Spires include Penguin and the Cupcake, Our Song: The Story of O Canada: The Canadian National Anthem, My Mom Loves Me More Than Sushi and the Binky the Space Cat graphic novel series of books. Binky’s latest adventure, Binky to the Rescue, debuted earlier this month.

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BWI: Binky refuses to fit neatly into any of the labels we tend to use for collection areas. Would you categorize Binky as a graphic novel, picture book, or beginning reader?

AS: I think it’s a graphic novel, isn’t it? How about a comic book, it sounds younger and less serious.

Q: You illustrated the picture books for younger reader such as C’mere Boy! from Kids Can Press and Ella’s Umbrellas from Simply Read. Do you prefer to illustrate graphic novels or picture books?

AS: I enjoy both for different reasons. The graphic novel allows me to work within a storyboard so I get to indulge in my cinematic side. But then when I illustrate picture books, in particular when I work with another author, I get to enter different worlds and access new visuals through someone else’s story.

BWI: What is your creative process? Do you work on the script first, write and illustrate at the same time, or something else?

AS: I write the script first, but two thirds of a Binky manuscript is illustration notes. The story runs through my head like I’m watching a movie, so I just pick out what scenes to draw. After I’ve written the script I sketch out the panel layouts and draw very rough pages with the text and the action laid in. I send that off to my wonderful designer and editor who suggest changes. My designer then lays all the text into the pages as it will appear in the book because, the funny thing about comic books is, if you don’t draw the panel large enough, there is nowhere to squish in the words! Then I trace the word boxes onto the final paper, draw the whole book again, but really pretty this time, ink it and paint it. All in all the final art for a Binky book takes about 4 months. All my loved ones just say good bye to me now when I start a Binky book!

BWI: Binky has so much personality, whether fighting to free his humans from flies or rescue Ted from the wasps. How do you, as an author/illustrator, capture the personality of your character?

AS: Like I said, I see the story and the characters in my head like a movie so I just pick out expressions to draw. That and I act out movements and expressions in front of a mirror. It’s really great that I work alone at home because I look like a total nutter pulling faces in the mirror. Even the cats look at me disapprovingly.

BWI: If you didn’t grow up with 8 cats, do you think you would still have imagined the character Binky? How much do your own cats influence your stories?

AS: No way could I have made Binky without the influence of all my furry family members. Binky is based on my sister’s cat but so many of his characteristics come from other cats that I’ve known and loved. My cat Gracie, who is a constant help when it comes to sitting on partly finished illustrations and drinking paint water, is a major inspiration for these books since she is my resident bug dispatcher. Look for her arrival in Binky’s world in the third book.

BWI: What is Chicken Tika Creations, and how have these felt puppets influenced your characters and illustrations? Do you have any plans to create our favorite space cat in puppet form?

AS: I started felting finger puppets back when I was in art school and my little business kind of took off for a while there. It was a bit exhausting though, making each puppet by hand- sometimes a hundred or more in just a few weeks, so I’ve stepped back from mass production to focus more on my illustration. The puppets led to Penguin and The Cupcake, a book I did with Simply Read Books and more books may follow. I have thought about making my own little Binky puppet just for me, but I haven’t found the time to make it yet!

BWI: Do you recall your favorite picture book as a child? Do you remember why it was your favorite?

AS: The Paperbag Princess was a big favorite. I loved the illustrations and the fact that the girl kicks some butt and ditches the guy at the end. And the humor, I loved anything funny, and still do, which is why I strive to add humor to all my work. I don’t know if this counts as a picture book, but I received Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes for my birthday one year and it changed my life forever. Quentin Blake’s illustrations are so free and the humor is so grown up, but I got it. We don’t give kids enough credit when it comes to humor. Sure they like fart jokes, but they get the sophisticated humor too.

BWI: We read on the "A Year of Reading" blog that Franki (the author) would love to see Binky and Scaredy Squirrel become friends. We totally agree! (We also want Chester to tag along.) Are there any authors or illustrators with whom you would love the chance to collaborate?

AS: Of course working with Melanie Watt would be fantastic. I know I’d learn a lot from her. But she is such a powerhouse combo of writer and illustrator I think I’d just slow her down! There are a few illustrators out there that I’d love to just watch work. David Roberts and Oliver Jeffers are so brilliant, I’d love to just be around their talent and see if some of it would rub off on me.

BWI: Do you have any plans for future graphic novels, and what is in store next for Binky?Will we be seeing more of the wasps in future Binky books? Will Binky develop a new fantasy/obsession?

AS: So far Binky is the only graphic novel in my line of fire. I am developing a Sasquatch character named Larf that may or may not get a comic book treatment. As for Binky’s future, he is going to battle wasps in the third book as well. I feel that the Binky-verse is pretty established so I think he will remain firmly planted in his space cat ideology. It just wouldn’t do his earnest little character any justice to have him suddenly decide that he is giving up the space cat life for a career in the culinary arts. In order to keep things fresh he will be getting some new friends, starting with Gracie, his superior and, in the fourth book, Gordon, a new cadet Binky is tasked with training.

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