Meet the Illustrator: Andy Rash

In today’s Meet the Illustrator feature we chat with author-illustrator Andy Rash, whose new children’s book, Archie the Daredevil Penguin, arrived this month. Andy shares the ways he encourages his kids to follow their interests (artistic or otherwise), his favorite materials to work with, and how it’s sometimes good to not have an “undo” button when making art.

What first made you excited about art?

I have always been interested in art. As soon as I could hold a crayon, I was drawing. My parents would bring me pads of white paper and I would sit and draw for hours. Then when I was out of paper, I would make a mask or something out of the cardboard on the back and then play with the red gummy strip that held the pad together. I also dabbled in clay and LEGO. For me, there was nothing more fun than making stuff.

What illustrated book from childhood has stayed with you over the years?

Drummer Hoff by Barbara and Ed Emberley. It is absolutely beautiful and funny and simple. You can also read deeper meanings into it if you like.

Where do you find inspiration for your illustrations?

I have a lot of friends who are also illustrators and designers. I just look at their stuff!

What does your workspace look like?

It is a mess. Underneath the mess is a black corner desk with a computer and a lightbox. Piles of doodles are everywhere, as well as a pile of my kids’ broken toys waiting to be glued.

What materials do you most like to use?

I love drawing with 3B pencils and painting with gouache. Sometimes I use India ink. Sometimes I use nothing but a computer.

What design resources would you recommend to young artists?

I would recommend pencils, ink, and paint. I teach art sometimes to college students and I am struck by how computer-dependent many of them are. They are using tools to simulate paint and printmaking without ever having done the real thing. Paint is messy and smelly and there is no undo button. I don’t dislike computers, but I do think that they can rob an artist of the joy of making a tangible object.

How do you get your kids excited about art?

I like to show my illustrations to my kids to see if they get the ideas I am trying to convey, but that is at least as much for me as it is for them. As far as getting my kids interested in art in general, I don’t really try. I will be happy if they are interested in art, but happier if they find their own interests that mean to them what art means to me. Right now, it seems my son is interested in engineering and my daughter is interested in entomology. I try to feed those interests by giving my son a jar of loose resistors and diodes, and giving my daughter a jar.

What have your kids taught you about books and reading?

Kids will follow a story anywhere as long as they understand it. Clarity is very important. Ambiguity is great for subtext, but it doesn’t work for text. I think the best compliment a book receives is when a kid pretends to be a character. Recently, my son pretended to be Christopher Robin. His sister was Baby Roo, his mom was Rabbit, and I was Eeyore.

What’s the best name for a color that you’ve ever heard?

“Puce.” It sounds like a complaint.

Andy Rash was born on a mountain top in Tennessee, educated in the swamps of Georgia and the canyons of New York, and now lives with his family Milwaukee. He has illustrated for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Entertainment Weekly, and The New Yorker. He also writes and illustrates children’s books.