Meet Tuesday Mourning, illustrator of the Kylie Jean series

When Tuesday Mourning was a little girl, she knew she wanted to be an artist when she grew up. Now, she is an illustrator who lives in South Pasadena, CA. She especially loves illustrating books for kids and teenagers. When she isn't illustrating, Tuesday loves spending time with her husband, who is an actor, and their two sons.

Here is an interview with Tuesday Mourning:

What are your favorite kids of books to illustrate?

I enjoy illustrating children's picture books that have interesting, silly, curious, quirky, caring, adventurous, unique, strong and loveable characters.

Do you have different illustration styles for different types of books?

I do have a few style changes, depending on the project at hand. For younger picture books and early readers (such as Kylie Jean), my illustration style often tends to be more simple, silly and expressive. For older characters or more sophisticated stories (i.e. young adult novels, etc.), I often flesh out the illustrations a bit with slightly more depth and detail. And many times, it ends up being a mixture of these two styles.

What was your favorite part of illustrating Kylie Jean?

I love how fun, playful and expressive Kylie Jean is. Her personality was incredibly fun to illustrate. With each new illustration, and with each new book, I came to love Kylie Jean (and her family and friends) more and more.

What is your favorite part of being an illustrator?

I love being introduced to new characters and bringing them to life. Each time I meet a new little friend to illustrate, my creativity is full, I'm inspired and very happy.

How do you begin to create a character?

It's definitely important to capture the personality of the character along with their physical attributes. I try to read as much as I can about the character until I feel like I really know who they are. After that, finding them  with the pencil becomes much more easy and entirely enjoyable.

With two small children, how do you find time to illustrate?

Good question! I still really don't know :). I try to be a mom by day and an illustrator by night...but we have our "Let's sit on the couch and watch a movie today, kids!" times for sure. My children also love to watch me draw and my oldest finds it fun to see how things go from the sketch stage all the way to the published book stage. 

What kinds of projects do you like to work on in your free time?

I love anything visual, so if I'm not working on a book, I love to create things for my children and for my home. I love to sew, craft, design, you name it.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Just that I'm incredibly lucky and grateful to be doing what I love so much! I have plans to write and illustrate a few picture books of my own and that is something I am really looking forward to. So stay tuned!

Interview reprinted from a digital press kit, courtesy of NetGalley.

Visit Tuesday Mourning's blog here.