When I'm writing a picture book text, I always bear in mind the illustrations that will accompany it. Page after page of the same characters, in the same place, doing the same sort of things, makes for a dull picture book. A good picture book will have something different to look at in each illustration. When I'm writing a pop-up text, I try to think about how the pop-ups will work as well. A lot of pop-up books feature similar pop-ups throughout (a series of snapping animal heads, for instance). But, I usually try and come up with a different type of pop-up for each page. The early drafts of Ten Little Monsters told a simple story. But, while they would have worked fine as picture book texts, I thought that they were too limited in terms of the pop-ups I could produce for them. In the end, I decided to do away with the story-telling, and came up with a text that gave the opportunity for ten different entertaining pop-ups.
When it comes to designing individual pop-ups, I try to think about how the pop-up will move as the page is turned, and not just about how it will look when it is fully "popped". Kids love playing with pull-tabs which make things move, or appear and disappear. But enthusiastic toddlers often damage these delicate pull-tab mechanisms. Many of the spreads in Ten Little Monsters are what I call pop-outs (rather than pop-ups). They are intended to produce a pull-tab-like effect by simply opening and closing the book.
"10 Little Monsters" was the first pop-up book that I had published, and I had to learn a lot about the pop-up production process in order to finish it. Difficulties will often arise because the illustrations don't fit the paper-engineering (or vice-versa depending on your point of view). Fortunately Ant Parker, who provided the colourful lively illustrations for the book, has a lot of experience working on pop-up books and, despite a tight deadline, producing the book was a relatively stress- free and enjoyable experience.
When I'm writing a picture book text, I always bear in mind the illustrations that will accompany it. Page after page of the same characters, in the same place, doing the same sort of things, makes for a dull picture book. A good picture book will have something different to look at in each illustration. When I'm writing a pop-up text, I try to think about how the pop-ups will work as well. A lot of pop-up books feature similar pop-ups throughout (a series of snapping animal heads, for instance). But, I usually try and come up with a different type of pop-up for each page. The early drafts of Ten Little Monsters told a simple story. But, while they would have worked fine as picture book texts, I thought that they were too limited in terms of the pop-ups I could produce for them. In the end, I decided to do away with the story-telling, and came up with a text that gave the opportunity for ten different entertaining pop-ups.
