Oliver Jeffers: How to Catch a Star

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia. – Day 2, February 18, 2009.

Have you ever tried catching a star? Did you get lost while trying? Did you find your way back home?

Have you tried eating books in order to get smart? Would you like to play detective to find out why trees are disappearing from the forest?

Oliver Jeffers, a multi-awarded children’s book writer and illustrator from Northern Ireland, is a brilliant new talent who has written about all of the above.

On the second day of the seminar, he took us on a guided tour inside the picture book process the Jeffers style!

With a degree in visual communication from the University of Ulster, he works as a freelance painter, illustrator, and picture-book maker. Now based in New York, he travels around the world on the wings of art-fueled jet planes.

How to Catch a Star was Jeffers’ debut picture storybook in 2004. Without any trace of arrogance, he said that he sent his manuscript to the top 10 publishers of children’s books. One of them signed him up, pronto!

As a writer and illustrator, he said that he begins with an idea, then sketches something that represents the idea. Sometimes, he sketches a picture, then writes something to describe the picture.

He said he doesn’t begin with a plot outline or a character sketch. He simply follows where the idea takes him by sketching and writing at the same time. He draws and re-draws from different perspectives. He also writes and re-writes. He said that every word matters. One word can change the meaning of an illustration.

He makes it a point to show his work to test audiences. Finally, he shows it to his editor. Being Irish, he sometimes clashes with his American editor because of cultural and linguistic differences.

What’s special about a boy who wants to catch a star? He dreams. He perseveres. He stretches beyond his reach. He never gives up although he seems to be all alone with no one to help him or cheer him up.

In the process of trying to catch his very own star, the boy is shown in magical, humorous, and fantastical moves.

Jeffers’ illustration is simple yet profound. His canvas or page is almost empty. There’s very little text and the illustration is mostly simple figures on a panoramic background.

For example, the first two pages say, “Once there was a boy, and the boy loved stars very much.” The illustration shows the evening sky with four white stars being gazed upon from below by a cartoon-like boy with stick legs.

But Jeffers said that he researches everything meticulously – the sky, the moon, the stars, the sun, light and shadow, ocean waves, trees, sailing, flying, digestion, paper production, printing, etc.

He said he’s been inspired by Shel Silverstein, Quentin Blake, and Eric Carle. Most of all, he always remembers what his Dad has advised him, “Never let the truth get out of your story.”