Friday's Interesting People: Kit Grady
Today, I welcome Kit
Grady to Friday’s Interesting People. I don’t know how long I’ve been
following Kit's blog, but I am a fan of her work. You see, I draw a bit myself (like
a kindergartener) and there are artists in my family and I love art. OK? Those are
my reasons.
Kit is an over the top—great illustrator AND she is an
author, as well. I hope you’ll notice some of her illustrations that I may have
(with permission) sprinkled along the way.
JW: You began drawing at a young age.
Was there a moment when you realized your drawing/sketching was above average? (Tell
us about that.)
Kit: I can’t
remember when I have not drawn. My mom has kept lot of my early drawings for me. Some good and some not so good. I think
her encouragement has had a strong impression on me. The one time she was not pleased
with my work, was when I took a big red
crayon and drew a life size person holding a jump rope in one hand on my brick house
and drew the rope all the way around the house (on the house) to the life size
person’s other hand. I was given lots of paper after that.
JW: Do you have formal training in art
or are you self trained to be an artist?
Kit: I attended Virginia Commonwealth
University in Richmond, majoring in commercial art for several years, but later
I continued to learn and practice on my own. I have played around with
cartoons, children’s activity pages for newspapers and had a line of greeting
cards before really focusing on children’s illustration. My first book was
written, just to have a vehicle to illustrate. Now, I have fallen in love with
writing too. But one never stops practicing and improving their craft, so I try
to draw or write every day.
JW: How many books have you illustrated
thus far?
Kit: I believe about fifteen, total. I
illustrated the three books that I wrote: A Necklace for Jiggsy
with Guardian angel Publishing, Just on More Mom,
with Kaeden Books, and Mollie the
Merbaby with Meegenius, an ebook on itunes. I have also illustrated for several
private authors. One author, Tracey Delio, has this loveable cat and has
written a series of three books about LOUIE
V. I have enjoyed illustrating for her. I am a staff Illustrator for
Guardian Angel Publishing and have completed about ten books for them with many
of their talented authors.
JW: Aside from your day job, what’s
your daily schedule like for your craft?
Kit: I try to work 10am -2pm on email,
marketing and illustration work. After a break, I try to write for a couple
hours. In the middle, I’m walking the dog, buying groceries and doing a little
gardening. I will be planning a story as I’m cleaning. Sometimes I do not get
as much done as I would like, but I think that is normal for everyone.
JW: Where do you get your ideas for
characters?
Kit: I think all I’ve experienced, whether it is just life’s craziness,
nature’s colors, a grin on an opossum, seeing a lonely child, or a dripping ice
cream cone; everything contributes to my views of this world and it somehow
finds its way into my art. Even, when I’m not really looking for ideas,
they pop in and I have a small notebook just to jot down ideas and thoughts and
possible titles, before I forget about them.
JW: What are you
working on right now?
Kit: I am working on a middle grade
novel and I’m up to 14,000 words. It is
a story of a young girl who befriends old ladies at a nursing home and finds herself,
trying to save an endangered species. It sounds like a lot to cram in, but so
far it is working well. This so different than writing a picture book and
limiting word count to less than 800 words. I’m also working on some
illustrations to mail out for a promotions campaign. Sketching and drawing are
always part of my works in progress.
JW: Ok, Kit, let’s
talk childhood. As a child, did you
have a dog, a cat or an imaginary friend?
Kit: I have
always had animals and I think that is why I really love to draw animal a bit
more than people. We had dogs, cats, hamsters, turtle, newts, rabbits and
chickens. Each named, of course, even the 10 chickens. My first book was about
one of my favorite pets, Jiggsy. It wasn’t hard to write because that was
exactly how he would have acted.
JW: Were you: a.
Loner b. Leader c. Bossy d. Follower e. Shy

JW: Now think back. What did you believe, as a
child, that you found out later was not correct?
Kit: Ha, I did
think all cats were girls and all dogs were boys, I never thought too much about
the stork!
JW: Let’s talk random
stuff. Neat handwriting or “I should have been a physician” handwriting?
Kit: Not so neat. I print a lot.
JW: Coffee, Tea, both or neither?
Kit: Gosh, I
love coffee. I start my day with coffee. I have to stop about 1pm or I do not
sleep well.
JW: Ok, imagine
this: You wake up one morning and you have become one of your illustrated characters.
Who would you like to be and what would your day be like.
Kit: I would love
to be my Mollie, the Merbaby, and spend the day playing in the sea with all my
friend sea creatures, like Silly Fish and Sharp Tooth. I would love to be
surrounded with bright beautiful colors, bubbles and able to swim all day. What
a life.
I would like to thank you, Teresa, for having me on your Journaling
Woman Blog. I
have really enjoyed being here.
JW: Thank YOU, Kit. I’ve
really enjoyed having you here on JW.
Kit Grady is a
children’s illustrator and author, who lives in North Carolina in the United
States. She began drawing at an early age. Kit’s clients include The United
Methodist Publishing House, Kaeden books and is a
staff illustrator at the Guardian
Angel Publishing. She won first place in the 2011 SCBWI Carolina’s Children
Picture Book Manuscript contest where her picture book is currently under
revisions with a publishing house. She has an eBook released by Meegenius
Publishers titled Mollie
the Merbaby , where Kit is author and
illustrator. She has a long list of
credits as illustrator for other author books, as well. Kit Grady can be found
at www.kitgrady.com, www.kitgrady.blogspot.com and on Twitter and Facebook. You can purchase her
eBook here.
Questions for you: Are you following Kit? Do you like to draw? Is your talent
better than mine (the kindergartener)?
JW
Kit, I'm so glad you're here today. I've enjoyed getting to know you better through your answers.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed meeting Kit! I *wish* I could draw. I think I'd almost prefer drawing over writing. Kit, I love that you have such a creative day each day! Thanks for introducing me to Kit, Teresa.
ReplyDeleteThat's great Kit gets to combine writing and artwork!
ReplyDeleteI love Kit's illustrations here. All the expressions are perfect. My drawing ability, sadly, ranks right along with my ability to act. And they're both at the non-existent level. But I am an art lover.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the introduction, Teresa!
i love the drawings you shared--she is great---i cannot draw at all---but all of my family both sides and all around can!---your guest went to the same college as my dil and husband and bil!
ReplyDeleteIts great to meet Kit. She is a very talented artist. What a fun way to make a living.
ReplyDeleteKit's illustrations are incredible. She is so talented. Thank you for doing this interview.
ReplyDeleteWow, 15 books is quite an accomplishment!
ReplyDeleteDrawing is something I hugely admire, because it's something I just don't have a talent for. Thanks for the interview!
ReplyDeleteWow, I just love your drawings. You're so talented. It's the one thing I'm horrible at but wish I could do.
ReplyDeletei love the drawings you shared here, kit sounds like a very talented person and artist.
ReplyDeleteit's great to meet kit!
Great interview. Sounds like you've worked on some really fun projects. I love it that you'd like to be one of your own characters. That's why we create, isn't it? To live another life.
ReplyDeleteGo. Create. Inspire!
Great interview! Thanks for letting us in on a glimpse of the amazing world of Kit Grady! Got to know you a little better Kit :o)
ReplyDeleteThis was a wonderful interview!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interview. Kit's artwork is great! I need coffee to start my day, too. First things first. Then the writing can begin. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat interview!
ReplyDeleteI know that with constant practice, writing improves, gets better and better; and I've always imagined that anybody can write a "fairly decent" story... but can anybody learn to draw? I've always wondered about this!
Thank you all so much for these most generous comments. I loved doing this interview with Teresa. She is great. Love reading all her blog posts.
ReplyDeleteKit
Terrific interview---both the interesting questions and answers. The jump rope around the the whole house is just begging for a story to be written....
ReplyDeleteTerrific interview---both the interesting questions and answers. The jump rope around the the whole house is just begging for a story to be written....
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed learning about you Kit. This was a great interview! I agree with Bill,the jump rope story is a great start for a children's book.
ReplyDeleteLoved the interview, Kit. Your book is delightful. Congratulations, mate.
ReplyDelete*Books for Kids – Manuscript Critiques
http://www.margotfnke.com
I really enjoyed this interview of one of those maddeningly talented people--author AND illustrator!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Thank you for sharing the great interview. I'm a huge fan of Kit's work! I'm pleased to see my Animal Sound Mix-up here and hope Kit will be able to illustrate more of my books in the future.
ReplyDeleteWhat an informative interview! Nice to learn more about a talented artist.
ReplyDeleteKit your illustrations have such fun in them; you really know how to bring an animal to life.
ReplyDeleteTeresa, thanks for the interviw. You asked some interesting questions.