The power of ‘just starting’ – Interview with children’s book author and illustrator, Kirsten Petersen
Today I am sharing a fantastic interview with illustrator (and author) Kirsten Petersen. Kirsten (known as @thedaydreamillustrator on Instagram) and I ‘met’ in the early days of Life Inspiration File. I came across her then-new Instagram account by accident, but I’m so glad I did! Her profile is full of her beautiful, whimsical illustrations – I love it when they pop up in my feed.
Kirsten recently wrote, illustrated, and published her first children’s book, ‘So, sweet dreams and goodnight’ – a charming story about various animals (including some Australian ones: Kirsten is a fellow Aussie), what they like to do during the day, and, most importantly, how they go to sleep.
I am really inspired by this interview with Kirsten – and I hope you will be too. It’s full of fascinating insights into the creative process of a visual artist, a helpful glimpse into the self-publishing world, and loads of encouraging advice. Enjoy!
Background
How did you get into illustrating? (Was it something that you studied or did it blossom from a passion?) What made you decide to start writing children's books?
Writing and illustrating books is something I have always wanted to do. I was writing books in primary school and my teacher would tell my mum I was going to be a writer. I was also very passionate about art (sketching and painting) and I took creative writing, art and journalism in college, but it wasn’t until I had my daughter in 2013 and desperately wanted to stay home with my babies a bit longer that I decided to utilise my passion and creativity and enrol in a Diploma of Graphic Design.
I graduated in 2016 and ran my own business from home for several years, designing logos, local tourist maps, price list brochures, business cards and nursery prints and also helping people to write terms & conditions, contracts and resumes before deciding to write a book for my daughter.
What's your favourite thing about being a writer + illustrator?
I love seeing the joy on the children’s faces when they read my children’s book - So, sweet dreams and goodnight and the little giggle they have when they read the first page!
I really enjoy the freedom of writing and illustrating from home, I am lucky to have the opportunity to be doing something that I really love; (huge shoutout to my husband for supporting my dreams). I love the creative outlet and solitude, it’s really the perfect job for an introvert such as myself.
I recently donated some of my books to “Caring Cases Queensland” who provide suitcases full of new clothing, toiletries, a teddy and books to children escaping domestic violence situations or those entering foster care - so that was really rewarding.
So, Sweet Dreams and Goodnight
You've mentioned that you wrote this book with your daughter in mind – can you tell us a bit more about that backstory?
Yes - A few years ago, my 8-year old daughter Isabella was suddenly triggered by her brother being sick, after which she became absolutely fearful about all sorts of things, particularly ill-health which was exacerbated by the pandemic.
We went through some extremely long, sleepless nights for a period of 6 months or so with seemingly no end in sight where she would suffer from frequent and severe panic attacks. It was so exhausting, sad and scary… we felt quite hopeless.
I decided to write this book after remembering my own childhood fears and that the escape for me was books. Whilst my book doesn’t directly refer to the topic of anxiety, I just wanted to create the imagery to calm a child’s mind and take them to a place of love, relaxation and warmth.
How did you come up with the idea for the story? (I think it's genius by the way, that the story is structured around sending all the animals to sleep for the night!).
Thank-you so much! I often take inspiration from sentimental items, so I started by drawing one of my daughter’s favourite toys (she loves to swaddle her teddies and dolls and tuck them into her bed with her), and then I made up a little rhyme about its eating and sleeping habits. I continued on with all of her favourite animals.
I finally got to writing the rhyme for the last page of the book and decided to illustrate all the animals tucked up in the bed. I wanted to encourage sleep and inspire the child reading the book by seeing the main characters had already gone through their bedtime routines and were having the sweetest of dreams.
Your illustrations have a certain kind of whimsy to them - they are incredibly enchanting - what's the inspiration for them? How did you hone your personal illustrating style?
Oh what a lovely compliment! When I was growing up, I had some extremely difficult times, so I escaped into my imagination by frequently reading Enid Blyton’s The magic faraway tree series.
Georgina Hargreaves’ illustrations for the book always inspired me. They took me away to magical lands. I love her whimsical, colourful, magical scenes in forests depicting the most fantastic adventures.
I was lucky enough to have received an email reply from Georgina when I was a design student where she shared a few tips with me and also an original sketch concept!
I take inspiration from her use of texture and vibrant use of colour, however she is primarily a traditional artist, whereas I work in a digital format. I’m still ‘honing’ my style - learning and growing, and I love it.
Routines + Managing it all
You have two young children: how do you manage your time and energy between your role as a parent and your art?
My son is 11 and my daughter is 8 and I try to work while they’re both at school, thankfully they’re both creative too, so we can have family time where we all draw, but a lot of my work is done while the household is sleeping and the world is quiet. I can usually get a solid amount of work done then.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Well, it changes from day to day, (we’re not a ‘routines’ family) generally I wake up between 5-6am and help my children get ready for school, make lunches and walk them up. After that, I do some catching up on social media and emails. Engaging with content. Replying to messages. Research. Drawing. Writing. Sometimes I’ll go grab a quick cuppa (hot chocolate) with mum (who lives 5 minutes away) and then come home refocused to write and draw for a solid few hours. I also may research trending reels for Instagram or make a quick colour palette in Procreate to inspire my next illustration. After hubby and kids are tucked up into bed, I watch Netflix (“Outlander” is a favourite at the moment) whilst continuing to work.
Advice + Recommendations
Do you have any resources/tools that you use to help you do your work?
These days it’s just my iPad, procreate and the occasional texture brush set from Creative market and Etsy! I used to have a lot more (computer, printer, scanner, subscription to Adobe Creative Suite, hundreds of art supplies…) but have since downsized and simplified my process!
What advice would you give someone wanting to start writing and illustrating children's books?
JUST START!
That’s my motto.
Just start writing, or just start drawing! Write down or dictate all of your thoughts and story ideas into a Notes app and work on stitching it into a cohesive piece of writing later.
Join a Facebook group. Get lots of advice.
Watch writers and illustrators on YouTube talk about their process.
Don’t be afraid to self-publish. There are so many resources these days and a lot of people are able to release books without financial risk, with ‘print-on-demand’ services becoming more widely available.
So, just start! Life’s too short to dream about it but never do it. You’ll feel an amazing sense of accomplishment when you do.
Did you come across any good sources of information for self-publishing a children's book?
Yes, I found a brilliant and talented lady on youtube called Anoosha Syed who does some very informative and engaging videos regarding the illustration and publishing process. I highly recommend anyone who is wanting to break into children’s illustration check her out here.
I also joined a few groups on Facebook who were more than happy to share their wealth of knowledge, one of which is called “Children's Book Authors, Illustrators & Self-publishing”. So very helpful!
What is your favourite children's book?
I mentioned it already, but - The magic faraway tree series by Enid Blyton. And I also love The lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C.S Lewis, Snow White by the Brothers Grimm and The Runaways by Ruth Thomas. I think these books really appeal to the dreamer and explorer in me! The imagery really sparks my imagination every time!
What's Next?
Do you have plans to sell a wider selection of your illustrations?
I would love to have illustrations everywhere someday. Prints, wallpaper, badges, books, logos, wallpaper, cushions, etc. I’d like to illustrate tourist maps for people based on where they’ve travelled, their favourite places and memories. I think that would be so much fun and a lovely keepsake piece. I’m still building my Etsy and Creative Market presence and have recently started selling on RedBubble. I’d also like to build my website portfolio too.
Will there be more children's books coming in the future?
Yes! That’s my hope, absolutely. I just illustrated a book for an author from the UK; Harriet Knock: called Cloth Bum Super Heroes, which is written about a very important topic and was a lot of fun to illustrate! Check it out on Amazon!
As for writing & illustrating another book myself, I would love to bring out a series of books that inspires children to keep dreaming and see the magic in the world. To see hope and beauty beyond what must currently be a very uncertain time for a child to grow up in.
I would really like to stick with the rhyming verse, poetry style of writing, I like the imagery it invokes. It’s cute and catchy!
Do you have any plans to expand in a new and different direction?
I’m quite enjoying working on children’s book illustrations for now and hopefully I can work with a lot more authors to bring their beautiful stories to life and really grow into a style I aspire to illustrate in.
Final words
I found this interview to be really interesting – I loved reading Kirsten’s insights into being a creator in a visual medium. Remember, if you’d like to see more of Kirsten’s work and follow along on her journey, you can find her on Instagram, and purchase her creations through Etsy and Red Bubble.
Today’s post was an interview with Kirsten Petersen
Kirsten is a Tasmanian born Illustrator, Author and Graphic Designer who has spent the last 16 years residing in Brisbane, in beautiful “Sunny Queensland”. When she’s not illustrating children’s books, she likes to go on adventures, hiking and camping with her husband and two children. Find her on Instagram here.
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