In Flight with David McPhail - A Creative Autobiography

David McPhail has loved drawing since he was a child, and he has been doing it as long as he can remember. His drawings seem to show rough edged sketching with pencil or ink, and he creates shadowing in his figures with just a few pencilstrokes. The result of his drawings appear mostly lifelike, but I notice that his drawings of people are slightly disproportionate, in that the heads are somewhat larger in proportion to the bodies. McPhail relates with a very clear image to the reader on page 5 of his autobiography that pictures just "dance" through his head and are "fuzzy and out of focus" until he draws them. He can then see them. The illustration on page 5 shows fuzzy colored drawings superimposed on a sloppy draft of a page of writing. It seems to show as he describes in his biography that the pictures come into his head when the writing becomes clear. He relates that the stories he writes find him, "not the other way around." Because of this he likes to always have his writing tools handy, so he can quickly get a story down when it comes his way. The autobiography describes his early books mostly about bears and pigs. He shares with the reader the communication he has with his editor in a form of argument back and forth until both are satisfied with his stories. He reads his story over and over many times before beginning his illustrations, so he can quickly sketch with the story clearly in his head. He draws a picture from many angles and perspective before he decides which one best fits his story, so he draws numerous illustrations before deciding on the final ones to go on the pages of the dummy book. He illustrates mostly with watercolors and ink. He has written and illustrated about fifty books, and he has illustrated fifteen more. His goal is to write one book every year or two. He loves getting paid to do what he loves best.