Award-winning illustrator Sophy Henn has a new picture book The Best Worst Day Ever and after almost ten years in children’s books she looks back over the decision which started her dream career.
The Best Worst Day Ever
Before I begin I feel I should point out that as with all good advertising the title of this piece is a rather more dynamic version of the stark reality…I will explain…
The real reason I left my Monday to Friday, 9 to, well, whenever job in advertising was because I had my daughter. I freelanced from the off though, cleaning rogue baby spew off my suit just before I went into to present a pitch on female grooming products. And when I wasn’t working during nap time I was mumming to the best of my ability and very quickly I realised one of my favourite things to do with my daughter was to share books. Books and books and books. I became quite obsessed with picture books and how they could convey rather complex messages and emotions with a few well chosen words and an engaging image. Much like the advertisements I have been creating at work. Posters and magazine ads designed to grab your attention with words and images that when combined properly are so much more than the sum of their parts. I started to see these books as objects of design and communication as much as an opportunity to share a lovely moment with my daughter.
I think it was at this point the penny dropped, I wanted in! But I am not the first and I certainly won’t be the last parent who decides to create a picture book, so I went back to University, part time, to study sequential illustration in an attempt to qualify my ambitions. I tried to draw from my work in advertising, choosing bold layouts and constantly stripping the text back as I had done when creating headlines. I remembered favourite read-alouds I had shared with my daughter and tried to work out why we had enjoyed them so much. And all the little doodles and notes in my sketchbooks of moments I had shared with my daughter became (and still are) invaluable. The combination of both of my jobs, advertising and being mum, resulted in creating picture books! And it was on this court I created what was to become my first book, Where Bear?
I am certainly not saying that being a mum a definitive requirement for the job, not at all. But that is where I come from when I am writing and illustrating. Trying to convey those little moments from my daughter’s childhood, remembered observations of her and her friends. Or trying to empower and reassure the reader about those situations and feelings that we had needed a little help with. And hopefully making books that give the reader and the child that moment when the pictures and images fuse together to create something a little bit magic.
So while I suppose I did quit my job advertising to become a children’s author and illustrator, it was my other job as a mum that helped me realise it was actually my dream.
The Best Worst Day Ever by Sophy Henn (published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Books) is out 13th May
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