Meet Gloria Young 1) How did you learn to draw? All of us can draw. Some of us like to draw more than others and so we keep drawing and learning more about it. When I was young, I liked to draw faces. My parents wanted me to learn to play the piano. Even though my parents were very poor, they still somehow managed to buy me a piano. I didn't like practicing the piano. One day, instead of practicing, I scratched a picture of a girl's face into the wood of the piano. I got into serious trouble that day, but my father still told me I was a good artist. I took art classes in school and went on to college at Pratt Institute's School Of Art where I learned a lot more about design, perspective, colors, sculpting, and art materials like pencils, charcoal, brushes, watercolors, inks, oils, paper, canvas, woodblocks, printing, clay, and lots more. It's great fun to paint from life - like portraits, landscapes, flowers, or the monkeys at the zoo! Or maybe you would like to paint what you're feeling or what you're dreaming about. 2) What would you tell kids who want to become professional artists? Keep drawing, painting, sculpting or whatever art work you like doing the best. Enjoy it; keep learning more. Show your work to people. Ultimately, see if you can sell your work. 3) What do you like best about being an artist? It's exciting when I get a good idea for a drawing, and I like the creative process of drawing. I also like researching for pictures. Every drawing is different, so by researching for every drawing, I get to learn a lot about a lot of different things. I look in library books, magazines, photographs, and on the Internet for pictures of people or buildings or animals or whatever I need to use as models for my pictures. Research is fun. I learned about armored trucks and coins from all over the world when I illustrated "The Wishful Penny". I love color - even black and white and shades of gray are colors, too, like in The Wishful Penny illustrations. I feel proud and happy when I've finished a drawing that I like. Using my talent reminds me to feel good about myself. I also like it when other people like my work, too. 4) What was it like working with your daughter on this story? My daughter is a terrific person and a pleasure to work with. Since this is my daughter's book, I felt in every way that she should have the last word - you know, to be the boss about the book. She's an excellent boss and we make a good team. I also used my daughter, from photographs, as a model for a couple of drawings in the book. 5) Do you have other children besides the author, and what do they do? Yes, I have a terrific son, Steven, who is a great husband and father. He does splendid work as a marketing consultant, which means he helps companies figure out the best way to sell their products and services. He even helps design their logos - both of my children are very creative! His wife, Linda, my very fine daughter-in-law, is a great wife and mother. They have three wonderful children, my grandchildren, Connor, Corinne, and Ryan, who are young students and athletes. I used my son's family of five as models for some of my drawings in The Wishful Penny. |