Everyone has their own idea of what
Paddington looks like and so, when pen and ink illustrator Bob
Alley was first asked to put his idea
of Paddington on paper, it must have been a daunting task!
However, he has achieved the impossible,
and his new illustrations of the bear from Darkest Peru have
somehow managed to please every Paddington fan. But how has he
done it? We met up with him recently, when he and his family came
on a visit to London from their home in the States.
Can you tell us a little about how you
became Paddington's illustrator?
"Well, I was doing work for
HarperCollins in New York and I guess
they saw a match there. As you know, the Paddington bear novels
are illustrated with those wonderful pen and ink drawings, and so
I think Michael Bond and the publisher
were looking for another pen and ink illustrator. And that's my
usual thing, the main part of what I do."
So you did you initially like the
idea?
"Oh yes! I'd known about Paddington
bear since the age of about ten, and before I went over to England
to meet Michael I read all the novels. And, of course, the more I
read, the more interesting it all was and I realised how wonderful
it would be to illustrate picture-book versions of the stories.
The only picture books I'd seen were illustrated in a very flat
style, with a single outline - something which works well for
animation, but in this case didn't seem to capture the spirit of
the words. Michael writes in such a lovely flowery way, with
little turns of phrase that you don't really expect to find in
picture book language, that it's nice to have quirks in the
drawings too."
Did you have an image of Paddington
that leapt straight on to the page, or did your ideas develop and
change as you worked on him?
"No, they had to develop. There are so many other, different
drawings of Paddington and I couldn't rid my mind of those
drawings for quite a while. If you look at my early sketches,
you'll see I made quite a progression.
"It's funny, but I found the only way
to do it in the end was to watch our five-year-old, Max, who's
about Paddington's height now and has something of Paddington's
determination! And also, I discovered that it was better to begin
by drawing a bear and then clothing him. So, instead of drawing
the hat and coat first with Paddington's head and his paws and his
legs sticking out, I drew the bear first, and then clothed
him."
You mention all the other pictures
there have been of Paddington. Was it hard to recreate a character
that everyone knows so well?
"Well, a good example was what happened
this fall. I finished the illustrations for a new picture book of
the original story where Paddington meets the Browns. Towards the
end of the story, he has a bath and comes down, all clean and
shiny, to sit with the Browns and chat with them by the fire. I
drew him with nothing on - no hat or anything - a bare bear! And
Michael looked and said, 'Well, you know, in the past he's always
been drawn with his hat and coat on', and I said, 'Yes, but it
doesn't really make any sense, does it?' and Michael thought and
then said, 'No, it doesn't.' So we all decided that Paddington
should remain without his hat and coat on, with just his jet black
ears as his signature.
"Actually, those ears are one of the best things about
Michael's description of Paddington - they're very good for
drawing. And if you ever buy a Paddington bear toy, you can cut
off his hat and cut off his coat (they go back on, I've done it
before!) and underneath his hat there actually are jet
black ears!"
Do you make allowances when you're
painting for the odd marmalade sandwich stored under his hat?
"Oh yes, you always have to think of
that. That's why it's always sort of pouffy up there, because
there may well be one or two marmalade sandwiches lurking."
How do you and Michael work - it must
be difficult sometimes with him in England and you based in the
US?
"It's a little silly, isn't it! I feel
something like a fraud - being American when Paddington is so
extremely English - via Darkest Peru, of course! I have lived in
England, though; my Dad was a physics professor (so you can see
how he influenced me!) on sabbatical over at Cambridge University
for a year, and some time later my wife and I actually met on a
university exchange course, again in Cambridge.
"Despite the distance Michael and I
have got to be very friendly though. What happens is that he
writes the text and then sends it on to me. I'll then do some
sketches for it and send those back to Michael. And he will
comment on them, and we'll talk about it on the phone or fax
machine and gradually it all gets done."
But there must be occasions when, for
example, Michael has a specific place in mind which you haven't
necessarily seen?
"Yes, this happened in the instance of Paddington at the
Carnival, which takes place on the canal around Little Venice.
I had only seen the area briefly, when I visited Michael a few
years ago, and so Michael took about 400 snapshots, labelled each
one and sent them over. He was very good about that. Anyway, when
we visited him this time, he put my family and I on a boat ride up
and down the canal.
"It was extremely nice - but also just
a little bit worrying because I thought, 'Oh no! I'm going to have
to redo every single picture!' Luckily though the 400 snapshots
were enough and the pictures were fine."
Michael Bond's writing appeals to
people of all age groups - there must be as many adult fans as
children. Is it difficult creating pictures to please all these
audiences?
"Not really. You hope you've been
chosen because your work will talk to the right audience. I think
it's similar to the way one writes for all those different ages -
you just do what you do. The only thing I consciously try to do is
make even the grumpy people seem non-threatening. Even if there's
not a cheerfulness about them, there's something that kids aren't
going to be scared of. So if the character is expressing anger,
for example, then there should also be a sillier side to them as
well."
My favourite thing about your
illustrations are the range of Paddington's expressions! Which is
your favourite 'Paddington mood' to illustrate?
"The expressions are the best bit! His 'hard stare' is the
most difficult, because you don't want him to be angry but you do
want him to be penetrating. And I like the quizzical look he gives
- that's fun. And the expression when he's obviously annoyed with
something and is voicing it.
"But Paddington's good because he never
gets really very angry; he gets miffed, annoyed if people aren't
doing what they obviously should be doing, but he never gets
angry."
Do you think this one of Paddington's
attributes that have made him immortal?
"One of the nicest things about any
book is when you get to root for the character, when you get to
cheer them on. And another thing I think about Paddington is that
he has no mean spirit - the blunders he gets into are not through
any desire to be clever on his part, they just
happen!
And I think that's what happens a lot in children's lives too. As
a child you think you're doing absolutely the right thing and then
the grown-ups around tell you you're actually doing the wrong
thing. So then you try to make up for it by doing something that
also seems absolutely appropriate - which of course turns out to
be absolutely inappropriate. But in the end it always turns
out to Paddington's advantage - which is wonderful for kids to
see. Actually, they're rather subversive little stories if you
read them that way, aren't they!"
Paddington himself experiments
creatively - particularly with paint! - in a number of stories. If
he came to you and asked if he could use your studio for a
morning, would you say yes and what artistic advice would you give
him?
"Of course I would let
Paddington, of course! I would say that the best artistic advice I
could give would be never to copy other people's drawings. Just
have an idea of what you want to draw and draw it in exactly the
way you want. Take a big piece of paper, lots
of paint and don't look up until you're done! Have confidence in
what you're doing and don't ask too many questions while you're
doing it. If you ask too many questions you'll end up like the
centipede trying to figure out how to walk and then you're in
trouble!"
