Happy May everyone! I love spring because the flowers and trees are at their fullest; there’s a balance of rain and sun that allows both flora and fauna to thrive. I moved back home temporarily and my parents have a beautiful backyard garden with colorful flowers that pop against the green manicured lawn. There are budding tomatoes, squash, and oodles of herbs growing from the ground. A certain warmness bubbles in me every time I sit in the backyard and spot a rabbit munching on some cloves or a robin plucking out an unfortunate worm. That same sensation crawls its way into my heart every time I flip through a picture book by Micha Archer, a gifted collagist and children’s illustrator.
Prairie Days, one of Micha’s gorgeous illustrating creds.
I recently discovered Micha through readbrightly.com’s (one of my favorite kid lit blogs) list for earth-friendly reads for kids and another list recommending lyrical picture books to encourage a young reader’s love of poetry. I immediately searched her website and visited my local library to get my hands on one of her books. While there’s a myriad of words I can think of when thumbing through the pages of a book by Micha, lyrical and earth-friendly may be two of the best ways to describe her fascinating work. She uses handmade textures to create brilliant, bold colors for her land and cityscapes where her semi-realistic child characters frolic. The style has stolen my heart, and Micha is my new favorite current picture book illustrator. I went on a shopping spree and bought a few of her books and reached out for an interview. She happily agreed and I was all the more excited to get to know more about her and her process. Please do check out her latest written and illustrated picture book, Wonder Walkers, and read on to find out more about the incredibly talented Micha Archer.
How did you begin your journey as a children's book illustrator?
I was encouraged to do art from a young age, my mother was an artist and we spent a lot of time drawing and painting together and going to art museums .
I loved working with kids and found my way into teaching Kindergarten. There I was exposed to hundreds of children's books and was enamored by the illustrations and which stories the kids wanted to read over and over. I often would make song and poetry charts and would fill the borders with drawings illustrating the themes. I knew I wanted to illustrate then.
I found an agent and at first mainly did educational illustration which had the challenges of tight spaces and short deadlines. It was great practice. This led to doing Two books with Barefoot Books (Lola's Fandango and Wise Fool).
This made me interested in doing more trade books.
I needed a new agent and the agent I was interested in was looking for both authors and illustrators. He saw a drawing I did on my website of a little boy on a stage and asked me if there was a story behind him. I took this as a chance to impress him and came up with my first book Daniel Finds a Poem. He shopped it around and it landed in Nancy Paulsen's hands at Penguin and she loved it. I have worked with her now on 5 books, 3 of them Daniel books ( the third is in process now)
Daniel Finds a Poem*
Girl Running
Daniel's Good Day*
Wonder Walkers*
Daniel III ( Not sure of the title yet)*
I have also done 2 books with Charlesbridge-
Around the World in a Bathtub
Spring Equations
And one with Reycraft
My Big Family
* written by me
Do you have any influences or favorite artists that have impacted your style?
Many, and they change all the time.
Micha’s home studio space (image courtesy of Micha Archer).
My aunt Betty
My Mom
Artists-
Romare Bearden with his collage artist,
Matisse for the colors and patterns,
Mary Cassatt for her tender portraiture with children.
Miro and Klee and Calder for their simplicity and use of space and color.
Artwork from West Africa, India and Central America has influenced me all through my life.
Illustrators-
Maurice Sendak line drawings.
Evaline Ness for anything she does
Roger Duvoisin
Ezra Jack Keats
To name just a few.
Can you discuss your illustrative process? What tools and techniques do you use?
I do dummies in pencil and sometimes completely on the computer.
For my finals I make my own collage papers with inks and acrylics using whatever I can as stamps.
I glue all kinds of things to blocks of wood for stamping or just slide paint across colored paper with a credit card.
I layer tissue papers and use origami papers that I alter or just take parts out of.
I use jagged scissors . I use fun brushes to make patterns.
I spend hours and hours making piles and piles of papers.
It's important to me to manipulate every piece of paper I put down so my work isn't flat.
Do you have a specific place where you create your work?
I have a studio in my house. Not far from the kitchen so I can see the work on the wall and be thinking about it and cooking as I work.
I have also taken my book projects on the road.
Last year I set up in a little tower in a huge manor we were caretaking in Spain and then in a tiny cabin in the Costa Rican mountains.
What are some of your rituals you use to get into a creative sphere?
Making my papers can get me going.
Making fun random collages with my scraps helps too.
Looking through art and photo books to get ideas when designing my dummies.
Painted colored papers (Image courtesy of Micha Archer).
Lots and lots of really quick sketching.
Listening to podcasts while I illustrate but not when I am designing or writing. I listen to music when I am designing.
I have a writing group once a week with just 2 other women and that really helps get my juices flowing.
I sit in our window seat when I am writing.
I take a ton of walks and bike rides to keep me from getting too obsessive. It helps to step away and see the big picture.
You both illustrate and write picture books. Do you prefer to work with your own text, or do you find coming up with a story to be a challenge?
I like both, I love the challenge of both. Writing to me is so much like collage work; adding and taking a way. It's almost like carving sometimes ; starting with too many words and simplifying down until it's almost a haiku poem. I have been working with Patricia Maclachlan( Prairie Days 2020 and Snow Horses 2022, Simon and Schuster) Her books are beautifully written and they tell you in words how to illustrate the page.
What advice would you give to aspiring children's book authors-illustrators?
Draw daily,
Work reallllllly hard,
Start over early when something isn't working,
Learn Photoshop and Indesign,
When you get a book -Be easy to work with, Editors and Art Directors are super busy
Micha’s accumulated cut texture papers (image courtesy of Micha Archer).
Be yourself and different- don't look at too many other illustrators because you might get overly influenced.
When my 2 kids were little I told myself that I actually had a third child named Art. If I didn't pay enough attention to little Arty they would die.
Feed your art daily in one way or another. Don't give up.
Visit michaarcher.com to see more of Micha’s beautiful collage works and find her on instagram @michaarcherart. Her latest picture book Wonder Walkers is out now. Check it out!