Don't set sail without it!
Farmyard Tales book with 30 stand-up pieces, wind-up tractor, and 3 tracks.
A biographical interview with Jo Litchfield
Jo very kindly agreed to an interview. Read more about her and about her work as a clay model illustrator.
Books illustrated by Jo Litchfield
Q. Where did you grow up? Are you still living there? If not, where do you live now?
A. I grew up in Leicestershire in the Midlands of England and moved to London when I first started working in publishing. I have now moved back to the Midlands to a village called Melbourne in Derbyshire (near the Peak District) and much prefer village life to city living.
Q. Do you have brothers and sisters? Are any of them illustrators?
A. I have an older brother who was very artistic when we were younger, always drawing funny cartoons, but he went on to become a tree surgeon and now has a workshop selling chainsaws and garden machinery. Quite different I'd say.
Q. Do you have children?
A. I have a son called Finn, he's one year old and a mischievous little chap, we have a lot of fun together and he's kind enough to enjoy all my books (especially if they have flaps to lift and things to discover). In the photo he is enjoying reading
Farms Lift and Look.
Q. What is the first book you remember illustrating? Was this when you were a child?
A. I've always been into drawing and I used to write stories all the time too. I remember winning a prize at school for a book I'd written, illustrated and bound when I was about 7 or 8 (?) Oddly I remember it was a detective story about a private detective who was always oversleeping.
Q. What age were you when your first book was published?
A. I worked on lots of other people's books when I started at Usborne, making props for mystery books (and even appearing in a few) but my first book,
Everyday Words,
came out in 1999. I'd worked on it for about 4 years I think. I was 26.
Q. How many books have you illustrated?
A. I honestly don't know. My models get used so many times for so many books I've lost count, perhaps even as many as a hundred by now.
Q. How did you get so good at making models?
A. Practice, simple as that. I've had no training in model making at all, I've made it up as I've gone along, doing a bit of reading and research here and there. My mum bought me some Fimo modeling clay when I was about 8 and I've not stopped playing with it, so I suppose I should be quite good by now.
Q. Which Usborne book is your favorite? Why?
A. Out of my books I think it's the latest dinosaur book
First Picture Dinosaurs
. I'm really pleased with the models, and the artwork that people have added later is superb. I love Rachel Wells' books though (including
That's Not My...
series) as they are my Finn's favorites. He usually gives the pop out baby from
Goodnight Baby
a little kiss when he gets the book out.
Q. Is this a job that makes your rich? If not, why do you do this job?
A. I am not rich and not likely to be any time soon. I do this job because I enjoy it and I get to make a living from something that had always been a hobby from when I was younger.
Q. What is the hardest thing about doing your job?
A. Making yourself work when you don't feel like it. I am my own boss so if I wanted to stay in bed I suppose I could, but I have to make myself get started. Once I'm started it's easy and I love it.
Q. What is your favorite thing about being an illustrator?
A. I love to see my work in print, the finished article, even after years I still get a buzz at seeing my books on a shelf in a shop, better still if a child has chosen one to read. I get some lovely comments about my work too, that makes it easier to keep trying to do new things.
Q. Which book you've illustrated has been your biggest selling success?
A. Everyday Words has sold the most copies so far and been translated into nearly 50 languages at the last count.
Q. Do you have any pets? What type and what are their names?
A. I have a cat called Molly. She's very fussy and very greedy, I got her as a stray a couple of years ago and now she follows me everywhere.
Q. Where do you work when you make your models?
A. I have a workshop in the village where I live. It's an old stone building that I think used to be a stable, it's cold but it's ideal because I can play my music loud and make as much mess as I want when I'm working.
Q. How do you figure out how to make your models look right?
A. This comes back to practice, you have to just keep going and trust that when you think a model is finished, it's finished. Some things drive you mad trying to get them right and then you need lots of reference books and a few tactful friends to tell you where you're going wrong.
Q. Is there a book you'd really like to illustrate that you've not done yet?
A. I'd love to do a book full of monsters and weird creatures, something funny and scary and gross. I think I'd have a lot of fun doing that.
