FAQ

Emila Yusof is a self-taught illustrator. She has written and illustrated a number of very popular picture books in Malaysia, as well as a series of craft handbooks for children. Her whimsical characters are much loved and her talent has gained her loyal fans both locally and internationally, especially through her blog, Emilatopia. Emila has been a featured illustrator at a number of book festivals, including the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore in 2013, where she was Guest Illustrator.

Emila lives in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur with her husband, her mother, their 11-year-old son and her 9 cats.

Books written/illustrated:

Author/Illustrator: Emila Yusof
1. Puteri Gunung Ledang 2017
2. Hearts (Wordless Picture Book) 2017
3. Emila’s Travelogue: Collection of Blogs from Emilatopia
4. Princesses of Malaysia Colouring Book (2016)
5. Fleeting Moments: An Illustrated Haiku (2016)
6. My Mother’s Garden (2010)
7. My Mother’s Kitchen (2014)
8. My Father’s Farm (2015)
9. Tree House Colourart (2015)
10. Mother Earth Colourart (2015)
11. Nature Sings Colourart (2015)
12. Dreamworld Colourart (2015)
13. Malaysia Colourart (2015)
14. Siri Buku Kraf Bersama Kak Emila: Origami (2010)
15. Siri Buku Kraf Bersama Kak Emila: Kitar Semula (2010)
16. Siri Buku Kraf Bersama Kak Emila: Alam Semulajadi (2010)
17. Siri Buku Kraf Bersama Kak Emila: Kad Ucapan (2010)
18. Siri Buku Kraf Bersama Kak Emila: Kartun Haiwan (2010)
19. Siri Buku Kraf Bersama Kak Emila: Melukis Dinosaur (2010)
20. The Lil’ Guardian Flashcards (2011)
21. The Lil’ Guardian Alphabet (2013)
22. Alphabets For Boys (2014)
23. Alphabets For Girls (2014)
24. Taman Bunga Emak Saya (2014)
25. Dapur Emak Saya (2014)
26. Diya dan Biji Durian (2010)

Author: K.Raman | Illustrator: Emila Yusof
27. Legendary Princesses of Malaysia (2014)

Author: Nani Menon | Illustrator: Emila Yusof
28. Ke Mana Perginya? (2013)
29. Jangan Takut! (2013)
30. Di Mana Ibu Saya? (2013)
31. Apa yang Bergerak? (2013)
32. Baju Cantik (2013)
33. Cuba Buat Sendiri (2013)

Author: Nisah Haron | Illustrator: Emila Yusof
34. Kawan Baru Hanani (2011)

Author: Rahimidin Zahari | Illustrator: Emila Yusof
35. Biring Sikunani (2014)

Author: Tang Su Lan (China) | Illustrator: Emila Yusof
36. Over The Bridge (2015)

Author: Naemah Ismail  | Illustrator: Emila Yusof
37. Nina dan Rama-rama

Author: Mahaya Mohd. Yassin  | Illustrator: Emila Yusof
38. Pelangi Pagi

Translated Titles
39. Coloring Book Dream World, Indonesia Version (2016)
40. Mama Erde (Mother Earth) Colouring Book, Germany (2015)
41. Liebe Natur (Nature Sings) Colouring Book, Germany (2015)
42. Mama’s Garten, Germany (2015)
43. Malaysia Colourart (2015)
44. Nhà Cây (Colouring Book), Vietnam (2015)
45. Me Trái Dat (Colouring Book), Vietnam (2015)
46. The Gioi Trong Mo (Colouring Book), Vietnam (2015)
47. Malaysia (Colouring Book), Vietnam (2015)
48. Thiên Nhiên Hát Ca (Colouring Book), Veitnam (2015)
49. My Mothers Garden (Mandarin, animation) 2013

More Books
50. The Wonderful Adventure of Nils (China Publisher) 2016
51. Bambi (China Publisher) 2016

Books accolades:
1. Best Illustrator, Anugerah Sastera Kanak-Kanak 2015
2. My Father’s Farm – Ist winner of Kategori Buku Awal Kanak-Kanak Terbaik,
Anugerah Sastera Kanak-Kanak,FSK Malaysia.
3. Princesses of Malaysia – Ist winner of Kategori Buku Bergambar Kanak-Kanak Terbaik,
Anugerah Sastera Kanak-Kanak, FSK Malaysia.
4. My Mother’s Kitchen -3rd winner of Kategori Buku Awal Kanak-Kanak Terbaik,
Anugerah Sastera Kanak-Kanak,FSK Malaysia.
5. My Mother’s Kitchen -Parent’s Choice, Anugerah Sastera Kanak-Kanak,FSK Malaysia.
6. My Mother’s Garden, 2nd Winner, Samsung Kids Time Author’s Award, AFCC, Singapore, 2016.
7. My Mother’s Kitchen, 2nd Winner, Samsung Kids Time Author’s Award, AFCC, Singapore, 2016.
8. Legendary Princesses of Malaysia, 2nd Winner, Samsung Kids Time Author’s Award, AFCC, Singapore, 2016.

Can you remember your first drawings?
Yes: a typical beach with lots of coconut trees and seashells. There were mountains as a backdrop.

When did you know you wanted to be an artist and create picture books?
When I could not find the picture book that I wanted…

You are self taught – which artists and/or styles have inspired you along your path of discovery?
A lot. Beatrix Potter, Maurice Sendak, Edward Gorey, Kay Nielsen, Cicely Mary Barker, to name just a few.

How would you describe your own style and what are your preferred media?
I dunno… cute? My preferred media: watercolour and coloured pencils.

Where do you like to work?
I like to work in my little studio corner. I can’t seem to draw with concentration anywhere else.

Most of your picture books are self-authored but you have also illustrated Legendary Princesses of Malaysia, written by Raman, featuring stories about ten different historical and fictional characters. What did you enjoy about this project, and were there any particular challenges?
I was hoping to contribute my own re-telling of these stories but my publisher thought it would be best if they were retold by a good writer such as Raman. I illustrated it based on a simple brief from the publisher. The challenge was drawing the clothing. Not many people agreed on not covering up the bodies with more clothing but I based my illustrations on the stories’ historical contexts.

Please tell us about your popular first book, My Mother’s Garden and its sequel My Mother’s Kitchen. Where did your initial ideas come from for both stories? Do you have any plans to create any more books featuring the same imaginative little girl?
The initial idea came from within my home. The garden and the kitchen were both based on my mother’s. And yes, my next story in the same series is going to be My Father’s Farm. I am currently illustrating it. It’s based on my father’s and father-in-law’s farms combined. After much deliberation with my publisher, we have also decided to name the girl: she’s called Dina.

Are you a keen gardener/cook yourself? And what about your son – have your books inspired him in the garden and kitchen, do you think?
Haha. Not so, though my mother is. My son has actually been inspired to create a children’s book himself. He has drawn some comics – half way, but I think that’s a good start. I’ll be persuading him to finish them.

Lil’ Guardian Alphabet was also published last year, and, like My Mother’s Garden,it focuses on Malaysian flowers – but it perhaps contains more of an element of fantasy? Can you take us through the process of how the book came into being – were there any hiccups or surprises along the way?
Knowing that I like to draw fairies a lot, the publisher Oyez! suggested that I come up with my own fairies (without wings). Then we decided to name them flower guardians. When I did the first set to showcase at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in 2010, I was having problems with my eyes. My glasses didn’t help me much with drawing the little details. After getting new glasses, I was able to come up with a new set of flower guardians, and they looked much better!

You have also created a series of craft books for children. Is that an alter-ego Emila I spot teaching the children from within the books’ covers? What were the challenges involved in putting the series together?
Hahah! Yes, the publisher (PTS) came up with that alter-ego idea. The challenge was that I did everything myself, from writing to illustrating to photographing the crafts.

Interview from windowsmirrorsdoors.org:

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Interview with Home & Decor Magazine:

Could you tell us a little bit about your background?
I am a self-taught illustrator. I have written and illustrated a number of picture books in Malaysia, as well as a series of craft handbooks for children.

(Complete this sentence) When creating a particular piece of art, you draw inspiration from…? everything around me.

How do you channel your inspiration creatively to create your pieces?
I keep a sketchbook to pen down ideas.

What are the challenges you face as an artist? What is the most challenging work you’ve done so far?
Time. I am also a homemaker and struggling to both being homemaker and author/illustrator.

What is your philosophy as an artist?
The written word has been influencing people for a long time and it may be fair to say that we are more what we read than we are what we eat. I don’t have a philosophy as such. If I had one it would be that I put up the easel, add paint to the palette and apply it to canvas the only way I know how.

In your own words, could you describe your work?
My illustrations explode with colour and whimsical characters.

How do you challenge yourself to come out with these ideas?
It is not about challenge, really, it is about using the my imagination in the perspective of a child. Every adults have their inner child. The inner child is figuratively, metaphorically real., so I just need to bring it out. Watching kids doing their activity also helps the process.
What are your favourite materials to work with? Watercolour and color pencils. I combined these two.

Which process of your work satisfies you the most?
It must be from my book ‘My Mother’s Garden’ because every flowers in the book was referred to the flowers that my mother has in her garden. Drawing them is like therapeutic.

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Interview with The Star:

You’ve been a children’s book author since 2010. What triggered your interest in this genre?
When I could not find the picture book that I wanted.

Is there a common theme in all your books?
I don’t actually know how to put it but my Dina Series it is all about a little girl who is curious about everything around her. This series taught children name of things around them.
My Lil’ Flower Guardian book and flashcards are about flowers.
Alphabets for Boys and Alphabet for Girls are about children aand things alphabetically.

What has been the inspiration behind the books you write/ illustrate?
The initial idea for the Dina Series came from within my home. The garden and the kitchen were both based on my mother’s. The soon to be published My Father’s Farm are based on my father’s and father-in-law’s (deceased) farms combined.

Having published several books, what would you say are some of the most valuable lessons you have learnt about publishing/ publishing industry?
Writing a book is half the job. The other half is promoting it. We must help publisher sells the book. There are thousands of children’s book writers/illustrator out there and the competition is big. I have been developing a fan base since 2007 where I posted personal illustration projects on my blog. When I got my books published, I just continued from there. I also shared my artworks on social media platfroms such as twitter, facebook, google +, LinkedIn, Flickr, Instagram and Pinterest. It helps me to get people to know about my books.

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Interview with Sarah Rees, Fireflyz Magazine:

What first compelled/inspired you to start drawing?
It is in me, I just like to draw since I was little.

What were your earliest ambitions?
Fashion designer.

Does your childhood influence your work?
Yes.

Is Dina a version of you?
Not really but she has my braided hair when I was a kid.

What is your favourite book so far?
Jonathan Livingston Seagull – Richard Bach.

How long does it take to illustrate and create these books?
Different book takes different amount of time to create depending on the details, not to mention the mood.

What do you enjoy most about your profession?
The process of colouring.

What is the hardest aspect of your work?
Tight deadline. I am working from home; I have to juggle between work and house chores.

What has been your proudest moment so far?
When one of my books has been licensed to be translated into German language. It is a new and small publisher but I believe that is a very good start. Apart from that, one of my books has been licensed for online book animation by a Taiwan publisher.

What do you do to relax from work?
Travel and capture lots of photos for my drawing reference.

What prompted you to start the blog? Why do you think blogging is important?
I started the blog just to share my artworks and to get comments/critics on what can I improve. In my case, blogging is an important platform to get more people to discover my artwork and books.

What future plans do you have in regards your work?
I plan to get them licensed in many languages.

I understand you like travelling – where would be your dream destination?
I dream to travel to places that I have not been.

Do you think it is important that your books celebrate and illustrate local culture and traditions? Why?
Yes, because we need to tell people what we have in our country.

Is there anything that you find difficult to draw?
Yes. Man.

Do you think drawing can be taught or is it a natural ability?
It can be taught long as one has the passion to learn to draw.

What inspires your colourful, whimsical style and characters?
Travel. The world is made-up of all sorts of colours, I love the richness and vibrancy of it (Oh, I love autumn!). And I think that is reflected in my work, the highly saturated and vibrant colours.

If you couldn’t be an illustrator, what would you do instead?
Artist/painter.

Have you any words of advice for budding illustrators and authors?
If they are very keen to write/illustrate children’s books, they should read more of that kind of books. Get the idea on how it is written/illustrated. Promote work on social platforms.

 

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1. Can you tell me about yourself and how your interest in children’s book illustration came about?
I am a self-taught illustrator. I have written and illustrated a number of picture books in Malaysia. My interest in children’s book came about when I could not find the book that I wanted.

2. What’s been your greatest artistic success? To have many picture books published locally.

3. What influence your illustration technique and style and how do you come up with the idea of creating Dina’s World series and Legendary Princesses of Malaysia? Mixed-media illustration. I use watercolour, acrylic and colour pencil. The initial idea for the Dina Series came from within my home. The garden and the kitchen were both based on my mother’s. The soon to be published My Father’s Farm are based on my father’s and father-in-law’s (deceased) farms combined. Legendary Princesses of Malaysia was suggested by the publisher.

4. What is your creative process like? When I have an idea for a story, I will write it down and then work on it until it is ready to be illustrated. First thing to do is to split the story into pages. Then I will sketch it on the storyboard. After that I will make a dummy book and refine the sketches. I will flip over the dummy and add here and there. After I think it is ready, I will start drawing it on drawing paper and then colour. The process will take about 2 to 5 months depending on pages.

5. How do you pick the character to illustrate in Dina’s World series and Legendary Princesses of Malaysia? I like to draw female characters and that is why I came up with Dina and princesses. Easier to draw than the boys!

6. What do you see the strength of your illustration, conceptionally or visually? Conceptionally, I like my picture book illustrations to be simple and not complicated to be understood by children below 6 years old. Visually, my illustrations are very vivid and I have specific colours that I like to use. By now, combined with the cute chubby braided hair girl and the colours, people can tell that it is my work.

7. What was the most challenging part about working with your illustration medium? And the best part? For most books, I have been using the medium for quite sometimes and after few years, I kind of mastered it and not that challenging. The most challenging one is ‘Heart ‘picture book that I use collage. The process is more; from collecting materials, to gluing them and to add more colours to make it more interesting. The best part everytime is playing with colours.

8. Has your style changed over the years? Yes. My illustrations grow with me. I try to improve over time.

9. What do you believe is a key element in creating a good illustration especially in a picture book? A key element of picture books is the need to move the narrative forward – the reader should always be encouraged to turn the page. This can be done by building tension and expectation in the illustrations ensuring plenty of movement from left to right, and drawing the reader’s attention to the page corners.

10. How do you promote your picture book and how do you penetrate Malaysian and International market? I mostly promote it on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. On internationally level, the agency that representing me as well as the publisher are promoting the books by attending book fairs in Frankfurt and Bologna.

11. As a career woman in illustration industry, are there challenges that you faced at individual and industry level? Individually, I got many requests to illustrate picture books and frankly I can do so little with my two hands. I had to pass most of the jobs to give myself a room to illustrate my own books. At industry level, picture books are not a favourite and I am still convincing parents to buy picture books for their children.

12. How do these challenges influence your direction of work? I am now focused on illustrating my own picture books only, and along the way, I help illustrator friends get illustrating job by recommending or match them with authors looking for illustrators to illustrate their books.

13. How do you think the development of Children Book Industry in Malaysia doing? The market is still small. An awareness program has to be done to promote local picture books; to really let people know the existence of local picture books, how to read it to children (beyond words/using pictures), and what are the advantages of children’s picture books.

14. Any factors that you think that could influence the development to make it better? Yes, an awareness campaign to let people/parents know how important is picture book. Children’s picture books are important to the children in a number of ways. Illustrations in picture books entice children to read and interact with text. They motivate young readers to find/name hidden objects/characters or to predict what is going to happen next. Young children love to play hide-and-seek and look for hidden objects in pictures.

15. What do you think are the roles children book illustrators have in society? To keep making picture book illustrations, I guess! The illustrations of a picture book help children understand what they are reading and allow young readers to analyze the story. When children are having difficulty, the illustrations can help them figure out the meaning of what they are reading. The illustrations are also a powerful way to help learners comprehend the story.

 

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Interview with Malaysia Kini.

Can you tell us more about your bestselling Legendary Princesses of Malaysia series?
– How did the collaboration with the author come about?
The idea came from the publisher, Oyez!Books. They provided me with the basic stories of all the princesses for me to illustrate and at the same time let the author retell the stories in his own way.

– What was your inspiration for the artworks? Were there enough cultural references available to base your drawings on?
I did some research on the costumes but however, it was not really 100% correct. I just played with more traditional patterns to make it more Malaysian.

– Young girls are often very much inspired by Disney princesses. But there has also been a trend where Disney has moved away from featuring a princess as a lead character, ie Moana. Your thoughts? Should more be done to highlight other strong woman characters in Malaysia through artworks?
I don’t really watch much of Disney movies, I haven’t watched Moana either. I like to watch more of the award-winning short films available online. I did watch two Disney movies that I think were executed in a style that I like: Brave and Mulan. I like that the characters instil the ideas that women can be empowered and fight their own battles and create their own happy ending without the help of a man.

– Which one is your personal favourite Disney princess (if any)? Merida.
Another character which had repeatedly been featured in your artwork is the girl named “Dina”. What was your inspiration? How did her character come about?
It was actually inspired by a little girl inside of me (my inner child), the girl I refuse to let go as I grow old. When I was small, I would always braid my hair. It stayed that way until I was in form 3 because I didn’t have much time to braid my hair every day to school.

– After publishing My Mother’s Garden, My Mother’s Kitchen and My Father’s Farm, do you have any other projects highlighting your childhood?
Yes. I plan to have more in the series and the next one for the series is ‘Dina Goes to Art Class’.

– Can you tell us more about your childhood and how it has inspired your career? Where did you grow up etc? Any childhood experience/bedtime stories that stood out?
I grew up in Melaka, Raub and most of the time in KL.
My childhood was a fun one; while staying in an army camp in Melaka (by the sea), I discovered how to feed an eagle, watch flying fish, collect clams, collect Sentul fruits and many more.
In Raub, my grandparents lived in a kampung called Kampung Sega. In the kampung, I discovered more; how to tap a rubber tree, how to eat cenerai and buah letup, how to pick pucuk paku, how to feed chickens, how to make a sling gun and many more. It was in KL that my mother got to continue her hobby planting flowers. This inspired me to write My Mother’s Garden.
From as early as 10 years old, I learned how to cook as my mother will go out and work, so I know how to cook curry, masak lemak, and few others from my mother. This inspired me to write My Mother’s Kitchen.
However, My Father’s Farm was inspired by my late father in-law’s farm combined with my own father’s farm. My FiL had some chicken and goats, while my father has some milk cows, fish ponds and birdhouse (Swiftlet farming). The goose from the book, however, is based on my experience living in a squatter area in Kg Pandan in the 80s.

Can you tell us more about Hearts, one of your latest picture books?
Hearts is different because it is a wordless book. Hearts is the first of its kind in Malaysia. In Europe, wordless books have been around for many years. The artwork is different too as I use collage technique combining several media; watercolour, acrylic, colour pencil, pen.

– How is it different from your past works?
Hearts can be categorised into two categories; art & novelty and children’s books whereas all the other books are more to the clean and direct storytelling of children’s books.

Going through your Instagram, there are also a series of caricatures and paintings inspired by your own poems.  Any plans for the materials to be published?
One day perhaps. When I have thoughts, I put it in the form of poems and sketches. But I do have a short poem book published by Oyez entitled Fleeting Moments. I have some haikus and short poems during my travels and my publisher said why not publish it. So I have it published first before my travelogue (Emila’s Travelogue) has been published. Both can be bought from Silverfish Book Store in Bangsar Shopping Village and Oyez bookstore online (www.oyezbookline.com)

– How has poetry influenced your artworks? Can you share some of your favourite authors?
To me, poetry and the artworks that accompany it are very personal. The artworks are for adults, very sketchy and not as details as those I did for children’s books.
I like to read works by local poets namely the late Dharmawijaya, Zaen Kasturi, A.Samad Said. Internationally I like to read those by Chairil Anwar (Indonesia), Marc Nair (Singapore), David Foster Wallace (US), Maya Angelou (US), Seamus Heaney (Ireland), Lang Leav (Australia).

– Your views on Malaysian nursery rhymes for children?
We have quite a lot of original and adaptation nursery rhymes. I found there are quite a number of nursery rhymes available in Malaysia but the quality of illustrations needs to be improved.

– There appears to be an increase in the number of local book publishers. Your view on the children’s book market?
The market is still small. An awareness program has to be done to promote local picture books; to really let people know the existence of local picture books, how to read it to children (beyond words/using pictures), and what are the advantages of children’s picture books.
Children’s picture books are important to the children in a number of ways. Illustrations in picture books entice children to read and interact with the text. They motivate young readers to find/name hidden objects/characters or to predict what is going to happen next. Young children love to play hide-and-seek and look for hidden objects in pictures.

– What are some your views on the local scene based on your visits to international book fairs?
A lot to be done. We need more authors/writers to come up with new stories or retelling folktales in new ways, and we certainly need more illustrators to come forward and illustrate. We also need publishers to come up with more books with good quality.

As an artist and mother, can you share your views on a perceived over-dependence by parents on the use of animations/applications as a learning tool for young children?
It is good that we keep up with the technology but please consider using it wisely and limit the usage to only a few hours a day. Gadgets have its own bad side to children: damaging the eyesight, disrupt sleep, gave radiation that can cause cancer, nature deficit disorder and many more.
Parents should read more to the younger children and should encourage book reading habit among their children. Do not worry about saving trees because now paper producers are FSC certified. More info on FSC here: https://www.fsc.org

– Should parents be more active in encouraging young children to read?
Yes.

– Can you share some of your experiences with your sons? Were they involved in the creating process of any of your children’s books?
I have a 14-year-old son and a 26-year-old stepson. I normally seek opinions from my 14-year-old son as my stepson lives with his birth mother. My son would tell me what he thinks, how I should improve my illustrations. He has been my advisor ever since he was 5.

Malaysian animation ie. Upin Ipin and Boboiboi have gained popularity in Indonesia and other neighbouring countries for its universal message.
– In your view, can Malaysian children books publishers achieve the same level of success?
It can if the books are developed into tv series or movies, and merchandises.

Any advice for young Malaysian artists?
Keep on drawing and practising. Think outside the box and get inspiration from many versatile artists that can be browsed on Instagram.

– When and how did you first start your career? Self-taught/formal training?
Self-taught. I had my basics at school.

– What is the biggest challenge that you have had to overcome so far?
Time. I work from home and juggle work with house chores.

– Is becoming a full time independent creative illustrator/artist a feasible career in Malaysia? It is if one is fully aware that one has to work doubly hard to gain income.

How would you describe the style of your artwork?
I have many styles. For children’s picture book, the style of my characters tend to be round and cute and full of colours. Otherwise, for other types of books (i.e. poetry and travelogue), I like to maintain up to 2 or 3 colours only (sometimes monotone) and the characters are more for adults. I also paint on canvas and I always work on surrealism theme.

– What is your favourite medium and why?
Watercolour. It is easy to control (with practice, of course). Been using it for 7 years now.

– Do you have a routine that you typically follow?
For painting process you mean? I like to do sketches first before I start drawing on canvas/art paper. This is important to determine if I need to add more elements or subjects.

– How long does it typically take for you to finish an artwork? What has been the longest/shortest time spent on producing an artwork?
For a spread-page, it will take me around 2 or 3 days because I work in between house-chores. The longest one is for the My Mother’s Garden book, I took a year to finish all 28 pages.

– Where do you usually work from? Is there a dedicated space at home etc?
Home. Home is the best place.

What are some your upcoming projects for this year?
I planned to have some books done to be published next year because next year I will concentrate on doing more paintings (for exhibition) as well as more of my job as Creative Development Director to scout for more talented local illustrators.

How many books/artworks have you published so far and which one (if any) is your favourite? Why?
I have 40 books published of which 10 has been translated into other languages such as German, Vietnamese, Chinese and Indonesian. I love all my books without discrimination.

 

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Interview with Time Out Kids.

1. How did you get into writing and illustrations?
Back in 2007, I went to the bookstore to look for a book but could not find it. I was frustrated. So I went back and created one of my own. It was a Malay pantun book for children. But that was that, it never got published. I still have the artwork somewhere in the CD storage. Then I joined an online community “Illustration Friday” where newbies can share their illustrations. I got a lot of good feedback. One day I decided to draw and write a picture books on Drawing Day 2017. Then in 2009, a publisher asked me if I have any manuscript for them to consider, so I submitted the one I did for Drawing Day, entitled My Mother’s Garden. They are interested to publish but they need me to redraw the whole book to make it more Malaysian. So I took a year to finish it and it got published in 2010.

2. What’s your take on personal style?
My style took few years to develop, and I think it continues to develop over time until now. I like to draw cute characters with a big head and small body. Previously the eyes were small, nowadays the eyes are big!

3. Can you briefly explain your creative process, medium, etc?
I come up with the story first; keep the plot clear and simple. As I write, I imagine the pictures that could accompany it. And then I will think about how I’d like the text to be broken up (page-break). After that, I make a storyboard with rough sketches, and then dummy book to draw the sketches clearly and set the text space. After that, I will transfer to drawing paper and colour. After I finish, I will scan them all, and do some cleaning up as well as adjust the colour to match the original.

4. What are your criteria for a good picture book?
A picture book must be simple (not dragging) because children have the short attention span. The pacing of text and illustration is very important to have a good rhythm, pace, and contain the drama of the page turn.

5. Best part or most fun of your job?
Colouring!

6. Do you ever have creative slumps? What do you do then?
Oh yes. I read picture books just to get me up and going and get to my next book.

7. Do you have any favourite bookstores in KL?
Kinokuniya, Silverfish and Oyez Bookshop.

8. What’s on your horizon at the moment? Any current or future projects that you can share with us?
I just finished and published 2 books (publisher is Oyez!Books), Puteri Gunung Ledang and Hearts, and submitted them to Biennal of Bratislava. Who knows if I can make Malaysia proud. I am clearing some pending books written by other authors and have another book in the Dina Series to illustrate. I plan to work on more books with Malaysian folktales theme.

9. Can you share five things inspiring you/your work right now?
Childhood, Malaysia, folktales, what I see around me and nature.

10. Your #1 art tip or words of wisdom.
Creating picture book is about using imagination in the perspective of a child. Every adult has their inner child; the inner child is figurative, metaphorically real, so one just needs to bring it out. Watching kids , doing their activity also helps the process.

 

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2014 Student Interview.

May I know what is your biggest inspiration when illustrating an illustration for children? And in your opinion, what is the important element to produce a good children’s illustration?
Biggest inspiration is my family and everything around me, I draw from what I see.

The most important elements are both strong story and illustrations. If the story is strong but the illustration is ugly, nobody gonna but the book. If the illustration is strong but the story is not strong, it’s not gonna work either.

So, basically based on your experience, what do you think about children’s book illustrations field in Malaysia? Do you take any individuals as your idol in this field?
The children’s book industry in Malaysia is still in its infancy. A few years back, publishers were not interested in publishing children book because it is costly. I sent a manuscript but was rejected because they said the cost of printing full coloured books were beyond their budgets. But now I can see the rising patterns and publishers actually started to show interest in children’s book since last year. A government body, Kota Buku is doing something about it and to date I can see the rising numbers of writers and illustrators. But still, we are at the infancy stage. We have less than 100 writers/ illustrators for children’s book but in Europe or America, the industry is HUGE. They have thousands/ OR perhaps more!

May I know what is your favourite technics when producing an illustration? Manually or digitally? And why?
Watercolour manually. It gives the kick. Haha. Dunno how to say it. Watercolour was very much introduced to me by my art teacher during secondary school and I pretty much love the outcome.

Do any of your works publish internationally, Kak Emila? How long does it take to produce an illustration for a book, based on your experience so far?

All have been produced locally but recently a publisher from UAE has acquired the publishing rights of 6 books in a series (written by Nani Menon and illustrated by me; we share 50-50 royalty) to produce in their country. This was published by PTS Publications.

Also recently at Frankfurt Bookfair, publishers from Taiwan and Vietnam acquired licensing rights for 3 of my own books to produce in the form of animation and books respectively.

For my first picture book My Mother’s Garden, it took me a year to complete. The second one My Mother’s Kitchen took about 6 months and The Legendary Princesses about 4 months. Such long time to produce because I am also a full-time housewife and family is the priority. Another reason is that I am up for quality, not quantity.

Do you ever illustrate an illustration/book that related to Malaysian culture? In your opinion, what is the often constraints that the illustrator facing throughout the project? One new book entitled Legendary Princesses of Malaysia. It is about the mythical pre-Islamic princesses in Malaysia told from generation to generation. I came up with the illustrations first and then my publisher paired me with a writer, Mr Raman. The princesses include Puteri Bidasari, Puteri Gunung Ledang, Puteri Lindungan Bulan, Puteri Ulek Mayang, etc.
The constraints that local illustrators are having is the time given. Locally, the publisher expects us to finish in two weeks time. Most of them Frankly, this is not the way to do it. Publishers from Europe countries rolled their eyes when they heard this. For them, the minimum time gives in one year to up to 4 years.

How did you get into the children’s book industry?
I blogged since 2006 and posted my illustrations there. In 2008 a comic artist, Sarah Joan Mokhtar found me (Apparently she had been reading my blog for quite sometimes) and invited me to join a children’s book illustration exhibition. I joined and there I met with Linda Tan Lingard, an independent publisher as well as the world’s known Yusof Gajah. Linda asked me whether I have anything that she can publish. I said yes and showed her a book I made during Drawing Day 2007. It was a very generic one. She asked me to localised it and I did. So that was my first book published, My Mother’s Garden.

Based on your experience, how does the children’s book helps the young readers learn?
Most of the children’s books have pictures. this is because it represents a unique literary form that blends stories with art. In a picture book, the illustrations are as important as the text, and both work together to tell the story. A picture book can help increase vocabulary, an important building block for reading. Books can help young children identify colours, shapes, numbers, and letters, as well as names of people, places, animals, and everyday objects.

4 Comments

  • Shoba

    Hi

    I was wondering if you do any freelance work? Please contact me if you do as I have lots of projects coming up. I write for a company that produces both children’s fictional and educational activity books.

    Thanks
    Shoba

  • Angeline

    Hi, Emila.

    Love your illustrations. I’m an author and in the midst of creating and writing a series of picture books for ages 5-9 year old children. The target market is international. I’m looking to work very closely with someone who can dig my storytelling visually and bring them to “emotional life”.

    Looking forward to hearing from you.

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