Ask the Author: Victoria L. Mowrer
Answered Questions (1)
Victoria L. Mowrer
Hello Teri.
I am delighted that you enjoy the illustrations in my book, and will try to explain a little bit about how they were created. It certainly was not a straight forward process! I wanted to stay true to the history of the gourd and how it was used to record stories and history by carving into its surface. That led me to decide to do the illustrations in woodcut. I learned that was too hard on my hands and moved to linocut. After pulling loads of images, I reached the part of the process where I needed to digitize them. At the same time, I needed a new computer and opted for an iPad. Lo and behold, there was a program on there called Pro Create. I tried it out to see what it was all about. One thing led to another, and eventually finished/cleaned up many of the images using that program. As I went through that process, a style emerged that suited the story perfectly. I do not know if I will ever use the program in the future but, it helped me produce images that were able to be printed with deep rich black results ... which I wanted! I hope this answer helps you to understand a very long and winding process!
Thak you for asking!
I am delighted that you enjoy the illustrations in my book, and will try to explain a little bit about how they were created. It certainly was not a straight forward process! I wanted to stay true to the history of the gourd and how it was used to record stories and history by carving into its surface. That led me to decide to do the illustrations in woodcut. I learned that was too hard on my hands and moved to linocut. After pulling loads of images, I reached the part of the process where I needed to digitize them. At the same time, I needed a new computer and opted for an iPad. Lo and behold, there was a program on there called Pro Create. I tried it out to see what it was all about. One thing led to another, and eventually finished/cleaned up many of the images using that program. As I went through that process, a style emerged that suited the story perfectly. I do not know if I will ever use the program in the future but, it helped me produce images that were able to be printed with deep rich black results ... which I wanted! I hope this answer helps you to understand a very long and winding process!
Thak you for asking!
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