John Shelley is the illustrator of two of my picture books: Crinkle, Crackle, Crack … It’s Spring and Halloween Forest. He’s been gracious enough to join me here to answer some questions about illustrating books, his artistic beginnings, and how he approaches his work.Question:For you, trees can be anthropomorphic, or have human characteristics, while remaining trees structurally. Do you remember when you began to draw trees? How did you learn to draw them well?John’s Answer:I was lucky enough to grow up near to Sutton Park north of Birmingham (Birmingham UK, that is!), an ancient and heavily wooded natural park where I spent a great deal of my youth both with and without sketchbook. I began seriously observing and drawing trees when I was around 13, initially with a ballpoint pen in old unused school notebooks, then in pencil and pen & ink, eventually in full color with ink and watercolor. My mother was Welsh and we often spent long holidays in the wilds of North Wales, which also greatly sparked my imagination. I think this is where I became instilled with the mystery of woodland. When I began to discover children’s illustrators I was particularly drawn to artists who drew organic forms well.Question:Your tree parts often suggest bones and bony fingers and spooky faces in Halloween Forest. Then, in Crinkle, Crackle, Crack, they are trees, while still playing an important role in the framing of spring. Why are trees an intrinsic part of these two books?John’s Answer: Clearly the stories had to be set in a naturalistic environment; the texts inspired the settings. Marion is marvelous at conjuring images with a few expressive words. It’s a real gift for an illustrator when a writer can immediately spark images in your mind, and Marion does that so well. On first reading the manuscripts I was immediate propelled on a journey into the woods.Whatever I draw I try to involve elements of the landscape in the narrative of stories I illustrate, whether it be the natural world or urban. So in the case of woods, rather than simply being backdrops in a landscape, trees become almost like sub-characters within the story, sentinels populating the narrative. Trees can make a landscape mysterious, inviting, imposing, lush, or bucolic purely through the way they are rendered.Question:When you plan to draw something that’s scary, do you lay a page out differently than you would for a happy scene? What comes to you instinctually and what do you plan?John’s Answer:Atmosphere is a key thing in any illustration, whether it be bright and cheerful or dark and spooky, so if I want to make an image scary I tend to first consider lighting, like a film or theatre director designs a stage set. I grew up loving old black and white gothic movies, where shadow and lighting are really key to the drama. My first sketches for any book are very simple, in black and white, where I think how juxtaposition, shadows and spotlights might work. I also consider how composition and the iconography of the landscape can be used to convey atmosphere; perhaps I might use scale and draw the characters small so the landscape appears to overwhelm them, or use the landscape to frame the figures so the reader feels like they’re peeking in on an intimate scene. Some of this is instinctive, some of it studied technique.Question:When you’re sketching out a book and choosing the color palette, do you select a range of colors at once or do you add in what you need as you go along?John’s Answer:  It can vary, but I try—initially at least—to limit my palette to a few colors, then add more where needed. As a general rule the fewer the colors the more dynamic the image; however, it’s not always easy to maintain a very limited palette. Often I have a clear idea of the colors as I start painting, but by the end things have changed—the images tell me what to do and sometimes they evolve their own way. With every picture I learn as I paint, nothing is set in stone; however, watercolor can be an unforgiving medium. It’s important to have a plan so you know where you’re going, even though you may find yourself ending up in a slightly different place.