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Back to Featured Interviews >> MEET KADIR NELSON
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| Kadir Nelson |
First and foremost, I liked to draw more than anything. But playing with my friends after school is a close second. I loved playing outside.
What books influenced you most when you were growing up?
I think I was most influenced by comic strips in the Sunday newspaper. I loved comic books too. I loved drawing super heroes.
When you were a child did you ever have a moment when you decided that you were going to be a writer when you grew up?
I can honestly say that I always knew that I wanted to be an artist. It was just a feeling I recognized very early on.
When you went to college, were you already pursuing a writing career? (or a career in illustrating? or just art in general?)
My first semester in college I decided to major in architecture to "pay the bills" because I had always heard the "starving artist" cliché. The last thing I wanted to do was starve. However, one semester was enough to let me know that it wasn't for me. I changed my major to illustration and never looked back.
What was your first job when you graduated from college?
My first job was as a visual development artist for the feature film AMISTAD, directed by Steven Spielberg. It was a dream come true.
How soon after that was your first book published?
My first book was published three years later in the fall of 1999.
Do you enjoy researching or do you prefer working totally from your imagination?
I enjoy doing research, but I also like using my imagination. Most books require a little of both.
Do you work on more than one book at a time?
I work very strictly on one book at a time as to devote all of my attention to it. I work straight through, chronologically from the first image to the last.
What are you working on now? When do you expect to start submitting it to publishers?
At the moment I am finishing up a picture book biography of Abraham Lincoln written by Doreen Rappaport.
When is your next book going to be in book stores?
My next book entitled, WE ARE THE SHIP: The Story of Negro League Baseball,will be released in January of 2008. You can learn more about it at www.wearetheship.com
Is there anything about yourself that you’d like to share - hobbies, where you were born, special talents other than writing/illustrating, what other jobs you had before you became a writer/illustrator?
Well, I'm a Scrabble nut.
When you first starting creating books for children, did you always intend to do both the writing and illustrating - and were you successful in getting to do both on your first book? (so often writers or illustrators begin by doing one or the other)
I began as an illustrator and didn't really intend to write at all, but an opportunity to write a book presented itself and I thought I'd give it a shot. Fortunately, it worked and I'll be glad to try my hand at it again.