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Back to Featured Interviews >> MEET DAN SANTAT
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| Dan Santat |
My parents discouraged me from the arts because they wanted me to become a doctor. I always loved drawing and storytelling but I was never encouraged to do so but I drew lots of pictures when I was young and thought up stories all the time (though never wrote them down) I went through college earning a degree in Microbiology, but immediately upon graduation I put together an art portfolio and applied to art school when I realized that going to dental school would have been the biggest mistake of my life.
If you didn’t write as a child, then when did you start writing and what inspired you to start?
Once I attended art school I considered a career in animation, though, it took so long just to create one minute of footage I found it frustrating and I wanted to find another medium in which I could tell stories. I fell into children's books after taking a children's book illustration course and just started writing my own stories.
What was your first job when you graduated from college and how soon after that was your first book published?
I got a job 1 month out of school (2001) doing artwork for a large video game company. I got my first two book deal eight months later and published a year after that (2003)
When was it published
2003 THE GUILD OF GENIUSES
Was your first book accepted immediately? or did you experience a number of rejections?
Accepted immediately. I attended an Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrator's conference and entered my portfolio and dummy book in the portfolio display. My editor was one of the judges and he offered me a two book deal on the spot.
Where do you get your ideas?
There is a lot of traffic in Los Angeles so often times I find myself thinking of ideas in my car. I read a lot and watch a lot of movies and I find my ideas generally spin off of other creative ideas.
How did your life change when you got married? and had children? Did it make it easier or harder to find time to write?
My wife already knew I worked hard while I was in art school so once I got married it didn't change much. Once I had kids it became a whole different story. There will be days I have to watch the kids all day and I can't do any work and so I'll stay up late and work till the early morning (I'll start at 10PM and work till 2 or 3AM) When the family grows it's always hard to find the time for anything, but I think if you are truly passionate about things then you'll find time to make it work.
Have any of your fiction stories been about real people or events?
If some of your fiction stories are factual, do you write about people that you have been interested in for a long time, perhaps since childhood?
Do you work on more than one book at a time?
Often times I do. I'll usually work on two sometimes three books at once.
What are you working on now? When do you expect to start submitting it to publishers?
I'm currently working on a 270 page graphic novel with Arthur A Levine Books (Scholastic) It should be completed this year and released sometime next year. I recently completed a picture book manuscript and have submitted it with much interest as well. I'm currently working on a young adult novel and it will hopefully be shown to publishers around the end of this year or early next year
When is your next book going to be in book stores?
I illustrated ALWAYS LOTS OF HEINIES AT THE ZOO for Hyperion and that comes out in May. I also have another picture book I illustrated called CHICKEN DANCE ( Sterling) coming out in Fall and I illustrated a chapter book BOBBY VS. GIRLS (ACCIDENTALLY) (Scholastic) coming out in the fall as well.
When you first started creating books for children, did you always intend to illustrate (and/or wrtie) - 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 had intended to do both and I was successful in getting to do so with my first book with luck from meeting the right editor.
Have you been able to do your illustrations the way you want?
I've managed to do all my illustrations the way they were originally intended and now I'm slowly starting to get to handle type treatment, and design of the entire book.
Does writing or illustration give you the most pleasure?
I love to illustrate but I would someday like to be considered an author first and illustrator second.
Do you sometimes come up with a sketch of a character and then write a story to fit the character you drew?
Not usually. GUILD OF GENIUSES ended up that way but I'm such a huge stickler for a strong concept that I don't often think a single illustration can capture all of that in just one image