Is it possible to reinvent a previously published picture book with illustrations alone? Yes! Yes it is!

Jessica Meserve was born in the US and grew up in the UK. She studied illustration at Edinburgh College of Art and Cambridge School of Art and worked in publishing as a children’s book designer before pursuing a career as a children’s author and illustrator. In 2020 she was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal for What Clara Saw. She finds inspiration and happiness from the great outdoors, her two dogs, and her family. She lives with her family in England. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Instagram.

THE BEST DADDY OF ALL is a sweet tribute to fathers everywhere. In this story, a little turtle and his dad are enjoying a warm end-of-summer day. Dad is keeping the child warm and when the younger turtle asks “What else can dads do?” the reader joins them on an exploration of animal fathers in a guessing game with brilliant page turns. Some of it is fact, but I’m not sure all of it is (do centipedes really teach their young how to untangle their legs?). Nonetheless, it’s a wonderful galavant through nature that is made all the more delightful because of the illustrations by Jessica Meserve. Bunny ears peek-a-boo from the grass in one scene and a frog chorus is led by a conductor with his baton in another. Nature is friendly and inviting here (even the spiders) in this ode to fathers, but it’s not too saccharine or soft. The patterns and the details kept me looking at the images long after it was time to turn the page, and drew me back again and again. This is truly a memorable homage to daddies that I’m betting will easily become a favorite bedtime story.

Welcome Jessica!

Me: Can you share about your artistic journey? When did you start creating art?  How did that bring you to where you are now as an author and illustrator of this book?

Jessica: My mother is a very creative person and throughout my childhood she drew, painted, designed and made some of our clothes and house furnishings. Together, with my sister, we made paper maché piñatas, Halloween masks and Christmas decorations from things we collected in the woods.  In short, we were always making.

Every Christmas and birthday we would receive beautifully illustrated books, from collections of fairy tales and classics to pop-ups and popular picture books of the time. A few of my particular favorites were the Tales of Beatrix Potter, Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban and the Russian folk tale of the Firebird.

At school, I always illustrated or decorated my English essays in the margins and loved my art classes.

Illustration seemed like the perfect form of art for me with its endless narrative possibilities. The words of a book are a wonderful starting point to make an imaginary world come to life.  It was a very natural progression for me to study illustration at university and find my way into the world of publishing.

I have always loved drawing trees and animals.  My final degree project was a paper puppet playhouse set in a forest! I spent countless hours drawing in woodland so it seems inevitable I would eventually make picture books about animals and trees!

Me: I understand that this book was originally published in 2003. What made you want to take on re-illustrating this story 20 years later?

Jessica: I decided to illustrate this text because I really loved the relationship between Sebastian and his father.

The text didn’t follow the usual stereotypes of fathers teaching their sons how to throw and catch, play sports or be tough but rather focused on a father’s equal ability to be nurturing and playful with a variety of talents–each different. I felt like it would give a child a more expansive idea of all the things dads do!  It’s also such a wonderful universal text simply about the bond between a father and a child.

Me: I absolutely adore your illustrations in this book. There is so much color and texture! What media do you typically use to illustrate? Are you a traditional or a digital artist?  Or do you use a blend of both? What did you use in this book?

Jessica: I use a variety of materials but mainly: watercolor, colored pencils, graphite, crayon and ink. I like to create all the different elements of an illustration on separate pieces of paper. For example, I do the black and white line drawing on one layer, then the sky on another and leaves on another etc. I scan in all of the elements and layer them on top of one another in photoshop on my computer. I love working this way because it allows me so much control over the final illustration. It also allows me to make the most of the happy accidents you can get with watercolor and ink–like the lovely swirling textures where two colors meet. These things are hard to control and if I was painting everything on one piece of paper there would be a very high chance I could ruin the whole thing with one mistake.

 Me: There is quite an assortment of nature (both animals and locations) included in this story. You illustrate them all with such joy and energy. Did you use reference photos for any of your illustrations? Or was it all from memory, based on your own love of nature?

Jessica: I do use reference and I also try and do a lot of observational drawing where possible. I like drawing trees, landscapes and the animals at the zoo.  It’s interesting, however, how illustration is sometimes about letting go of everything you know and just about trying to capture the feeling of an animal or a place. Sometimes, if I try too hard to be accurate or realistic, my drawing becomes stiff and lifeless so I have to rely on my imagination too.

Me: I love every single spread in this book. Each page brings something new and different that somehow feels “classic” in your approach. Do you have a favorite spread that you illustrated for this book?  If yes, which one? 

Jessica: My favorite spread is the hide and seek image. I enjoyed hiding all the different characters in the illustration for young readers to find. It’s important to me to make illustrations that children can pour over and find more details each time they read the book. My children loved reading picture books the most when they could participate themselves, even before they were able to read any of the words.

Me: What is one thing that surprised you in illustrating this story?

Jessica: I rediscovered Quink ink! I used to use it when I was a teenager and had totally forgotten about it but it has really amazing qualities. I use both the blue and the black and when you use it with lots of water it creates so many lovely colors, tones and textures. I made all the moonlit skies with it and I’ve used it in all my subsequent work. 

Me: Any advice for new picture book illustrators?

Jessica: Draw, draw, draw and then draw some more! In my opinion drawing from observation is what will help you illustrate more than anything else. As you draw from life, you are practicing crucial skills: conveying a 3-dimensional world onto a 2-dimensional piece of paper, mark making to depict form, textures, quality of light and color. You are having to make compositional decisions as well as choices about what you are trying to capture–the ambience, the shadows, the movement, the shape or the space. Lastly–a cliché–life is stranger than fiction and you might be surprised by what things really look like. So, collectively, all this practice will help you build a subconscious visual dictionary in your brain that you can use when you are illustrating and, like magic, you will be able to create imaginative worlds that you would never see in real life!

That is great advice Jessica. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today.

Dear readers, this book is published in the US today. Happy book birthday Jessica! It’s a story that is reborn through the illustrations which are just as endearing as the text. Trust me when I say, you won’t want to miss it!