Axel Scheffler: Gruffalo

Adored the world over by kids and adults for his illustrations of The Gruffalo, Axel Scheffler was born in Hamburg in 1957.

He came to England in 1982 to study at the Bath Academy of Art; after graduating he worked as a freelance illustrator. He first teamed up with the writer Julia Donaldson in 1993 and the dynamic duo have gone on to create some of the best loved children’s books of our time including the much-loved Gruffalo (published in 1999), of which more than 5 million copies have been sold. Later, Scheffler was commissioned by Faber and Faber to provide new illustrations for a new edition of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and in 2006 he designed Gordon Brown’s Christmas card.

Axel has just moved to Richmond from Blackheath and lives here with his French girlfriend Clementine. He was once a judge for Booktrust’s Early Years Awards and an advocate for National Bookstart Day (booktrust.org.uk). In addition to Stickman, Pip and Posy, Room on the Broom, coming soon are The Grunts: a series of four books by award-winning author Philip Ardagh, featuring the totally disgusting Grunt family.

MG: What brought you from Germany to England in 1982?

AS: After breaking off my studies at Hamburg University, I felt that I wanted to live in another country and learn a second language so I moved to England to study visual communications at the Bath Academy of Art. After graduating, I moved to London getting work illustrating for a number of German and British publications and publishers. As part of my degree I studied a broad range of topics including graphics and photography, but I always enjoyed drawing so began illustrating.

You were involved in Booktrust’s Early Years Awards and National Bookstart Day – do you think we do enough for children in encouraging them to read and learn early on?

I think more can be done. Obviously, I’m not qualified to comment on whether the UK is doing enough for children in encouraging them to read, I think it is important that we encourage our children to read and create an environment for them where they can read freely and are surrounded by books. I loved reading when I was growing up and I would like to think that this is passed on to my daughter.

You have said that when you were a child, you wanted to be a naturalist because you loved animals so much! Can you share some recollections from your own childhood – what about your parents, were they artistic and when did you realise you had talent as an illustrator?

My parents weren’t artistic - my father was in the peanut business and my mother was a housewife - but I always enjoyed drawing. When I was growing up there wasn’t a lot of picture books around. Sure I read comic books and other books but there just weren’t many picture books. I think parents influence your reading to some extent, though I can’t explain why I enjoyed reading more than my siblings. We always had books in our family so I felt surrounded by books and having general access to books whenever I wanted. As soon as I was old enough, I borrowed books of interest from the library.

But we heard you won a lilac cow in a drawing contest so you must have been pretty good. Is that true and do you still have it?

I won the lilac cow when I was 14 and entered into a drawing competition for Milka the chocolate company. I think it was a bit of a laugh at the time but I still have the cuddly lilac cow I won and have passed it on to my daughter.

How did the story of The Gruffalo come about?

Julia had sent the finshed text to me and I showed it to my publisher. I then came up with my own ideas and sketches, developing the main characters and showed them to the publisher. I guess Julia focuses on her area of expertise and I focus on mine, she doesn’t really give me suggestions on what she thinks it should look like - except she didn’t want the animals to wear clothes. I come up with my own ideas based on the text, we meet with the publisher and editor to agree the sketch work and then I proceed to art work. Originally my monster-like Gruffalo was a bit too scary and forbidding so I had to tone him down a bit and add some charm so as not to scare the kids too much.

Other characters you have drawn include Stick Man, Pip and Posy and the Witch and the Cat. Any favourites and any that give you grief?

I prefer more fantastic illustrations. It’s harder to draw contemporary life-like images like in Tabby Mc Tat. At the moment drawing super-worm is quite a challenge. I generally prefer rodents.

So could you walk us through how you work? We heard you have a very messy desk with bits of paper all over it!

I work from my home studio so typically on a project I would receive the text, read it and try to work out the format together with the editor and the designer, whether it requires a double spread or vignettes for instance. I would then do some pencil sketches and after they are accepted I would start doing the art work with watercolours and coloured pencils. I try usually to work a normal working week with generally consistent hours around 9-6pm like most people who work. This pattern is a little harder to keep up since I work from home and my daughter is at home in the afternoon.

You do lots of work with children – are there any questions they frequently ask? What’s your favourite question?

They usually ask me to draw them something. Otherwise they ask me how long it takes to finish a project or drawing. Usually it takes me 2-4 months depending on how many other projects I am working on at the same time and the illustration requirements such as whether or not it’s a double spread or vignettes. It took 4-5 months for The Gruffalo.

Kids love or fear monsters. What’s with the monsters?

Just like adults who enjoy scary movies, kids seem to like to be scared a little and be attracted to monsters that aren’t too scary. There’s also something nice about the weaker little mouse outwitting the Gruffalo, it’s a David and Goliath situation. I’m not sure how many younger children actually understand the plot, they still seem to enjoy the story and the pictures.

How are you finding local London life?

I live in Richmond, having only moved here from Blackheath last Spring. I don’t quite know the area that well yet but we moved to Richmond for the German school for my daughter. I take her to nursery most days and occasionally we go to the local cinema. I also enjoy Richmond Park and walk there whenever I have some time to spare.

The Gruffalo will be showing at Rose Theatre from 15-18 February

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