{"id":27982,"date":"2016-09-15T09:04:16","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T09:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/?p=27982"},"modified":"2019-08-09T20:50:49","modified_gmt":"2019-08-09T20:50:49","slug":"emmanuelle-walker-dogs-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/emmanuelle-walker-dogs-cars\/","title":{"rendered":"Review and Interview: Emmanuelle Walker (‘Dogs In Cars’)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Brand new from jolly publishing house Flying Eye Books is a collection of bold, tail-wagging delights\u00a0by\u00a0Emmanuelle Walker<\/a>. Dogs in Cars<\/em>, created with writer and Skwigly favourite Felix Massie<\/a> showcases\u00a0the duo’s love for our four legged friends as well as sleek automobile\u00a0design.\u00a0Emmanuelle is an illustrator, animator and director who has worked with The Walt Disney Company, The Hollywood Reporter, Orange, Xbox and many more. Currently working as an animator\/director at Nexus in London, her digital style and sleek line work has been developed over her years working in industry as well as studying at some of the world’s leading arts schools including Gobelins L’\u00c9cole de l’image<\/a> in Paris.<\/strong>
\n\"dogs-in-cars-1\"<\/p>\n

The book itself is a countdown of\u00a0cars and dog breeds that\u00a0takes the reader on a journey across the mighty\u00a0highway from One Afghan hound to a\u00a0surprising ending that you might not expect. The combination of the deluge of dog breeds,\u00a0unusual mishaps (a trademark of\u00a0Massie’s humour) and sharp\u00a0design makes this book not only a brilliant children\u2019s read but a dazzling book of design and character for any fan of visual arts.<\/strong><\/p>\n\"screen-shot-2016-09-11-at-16-32-46\"\n

It\u2019s Emmanuelle\u2019s use of graphics and\u00a0design as well her\u00a0characteristic\u00a0eye for\u00a0detail and\u00a0colour that\u00a0makes this book pop. Her knowledge and sense of layout is a tribute to her talent as an artist, and Skwigly were glad to have the opportunity to learn more from Emmanuelle herself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u00a0in<\/span>spired you to create a book full of\u00a0dogs<\/span>\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0vehicles?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dogs<\/span>\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0cars<\/span>\u00a0always make me smile, and about 6 years ago I did a series of\u00a0dogs<\/span>\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0cars<\/span>\u00a0illustration. When Alex from Nobrow saw it, he told me that it could be a great book idea. I just had to think of something that could link all the illustrations together. That’s why we decided to make it a counting book, because the more\u00a0dogs<\/span>\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0a car, the best!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n\"dc8322d2eac6e8ab53a83c08bc7b5e61\"\n

What was it like to work with co-writer Felix Massie and how did you split the work between the two of you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don’t personally write, at least I haven’t yet! Well… I could have tried but the result wouldn’t have been as funny as what Felix came up with! He’s a fellow director at Nexus, and he often sketches people from the studio and writes a little story about them. They are always hilarious and fresh, so I thought he would be the best person to collaborate with. I simply gave him a spreadsheet of a list of dog breeds from A to Z alongside an A to Z car brand list and I told him to mix and match the breeds and brands he preferred for each letter (A-1, B-2, C-3) and make a little rhyming poem from 1 to 100 and A to Z.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Your work is so clean and graphic but is still full of character and heart. Can you pinpoint a lesson or an event that led you to your current style?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don’t think there’s a special event that led to my style. I have just always liked to work on clean graphic things, but I really admire the people who work\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0a more rough style like Quentin Blake, or Ronald Searle. I think that the fact that I work\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0animation helps me give life and personality to characters even if the lines are very ‘strict’.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Your work looks like such fun to create; do you have any\u00a0in<\/span>fluences you can think of that massively\u00a0in<\/span>form it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve been\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0this world since 2001 when I started studying animation at the CVM\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0Montreal, so yes, I have had a lot of different\u00a0in<\/span>fluences since then. I’ve always been to museums\/galleries for\u00a0in<\/span>spiration, movies are a big part too, I also have a huge fashion folder and quite a few L’officiel magazines. And of course I follow the work of fellow illustrators\/animators, my favourite at the moment are Pascal Blanchet, Yamana Fumio, Jasmin Lai, V\u00e9ronique Joffre, Evah Fan, just to name a few.
\nBut the best way by far for me to generate ideas is to go away on long walks, retire somewhere\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0nature for a few hours or days, even if I don’t do it that often, I think that taking the time to think away from computers and wifi is the best for creativity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Now for divisive question- which is your favourite dog? And what is your favourite panel from the book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My favourite dog\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0the world is probably the Whippet because of all the crazy positions they can take thanks to their long limbs. If I had a garden big enough I would have one. The dog I had the most fun drawing was probably the Old English sheepdogs, because I love drawing hairy things, could you count all the hair on that spread? I like all the book spreads, but the special one is probably number 10, where I drew my dad\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0his blue Jeep and myself as a child with our 10 Jack Russells (even if we never had a single Jack Russell before).\"screen-shot-2016-09-11-at-16-33-03\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is your second children\u2019s book, following on from Beautiful Birds<\/em>, which was a big success. What did you learn from that book and how did it\u00a0in<\/span>fluence this one?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think the two books are pretty much diametrically opposed, I guess I wanted to try something a bit different with this one. The Beautiful Bird<\/em> book is super colorful, ‘beautiful’ and more serious. All the work went\u00a0in<\/span>to creating nice spread compositions, with a bright colour palette and a decent number of birds.\u00a0In<\/span>\u00a0the\u00a0Dogs<\/span>\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0Cars<\/span><\/em>\u00a0one, all the work went\u00a0in<\/span>to drawing the 477\u00a0dogs<\/span>\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0the book. The composition had to stay simple, on a white background with only the important elements illustrated. I think that this one is also funnier, and more ‘in<\/span>teractive’ than the bird book. There’s also a list of other things to count throughout the book on the back end page that will hopefully keep the children (and adults) busy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n