bocchiandpocchi.com

June 05th, 2020

6/5/2020

I’m working on my next picture book “Bocchi and Pocchi and Baby Sock.” I just finished this illustration, a chaotic living room where Baby Sock paints everywhere!
This illustration took me nearly two months to finish. I’m a slow drawer to begin with, but I can only work when my 3-year-old isn’t around. The moment she sees my colourful pencils scattered on my desk, she would grab them and wouldn’t give me back!
The colour pencils I use are artist quality. My children had already had a taste of them – they noticed the difference between their coloured pencils and my professional ones. Now of course, they wouldn’t let my coloured pencils go if they see them!
I use oil-based coloured pencils for my illustration. The brands I use are:

Faber-Castell Polychromos
Caran D’Ache Pablo

Here is a sneak peek of my latest illustration. I hope you enjoy it!

This blog originally appeared on NorikoArt on May 31st 2020.

Noriko's picture books are available on Amazon.
For signed copies, please order via NorikoArt.

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Newspaper Article ‘Creator’s Desk’

3/27/2020

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A Japanese newspaper reporter got in touch with me a while ago and told me about their new column called ‘Creator’s Desk @ Artist’s Workplace.’ This column is aimed at teenagers to help them boost their dreams and goals, and they wanted me to appear in their first column. What an honour!

So here is the article published in the newspaper Daily Tohoku, Japan, on the 4th February 2020.

CREATOR’S DESK @ Artist’s Workplace

Notes from Editor:
The new column “Creators Desk @Artist’s Workplace” has started. We will introduce the workplaces of creators who live in or are connected to the southern Aomori Prefecture and northern Iwate Prefecture. We will cover novelists, musicians, manga artists and others who are active in various fields. Today’s creator is Noriko Matsubara, a children’s book author & illustrator living in the UK. Take a closer look at the creator’s workplace, where you can see the tools and items used by the artist.

THREE ITEMS ON THE ARTIST’S DESK

ITEM 1: Sketchbooks
“I jot down notes or sketch images whenever they come to mind before I forget them. Not only ideas for children’s books, I also write down things that I notice in everyday life, such as what sort of mischief my children get up to, things that are different in the UK compared to Japan, etc. My sketchbooks help me later when I think of ideas for my projects.”

ITEM 2: Coloured pencils
“These are oil-based coloured pencils I use when drawing illustrations. The characters in my picture book series ‘Bocchi and Pocchi’ are fluffy woollen socks. I tried various art materials to see which medium is the best to give the texture. I liked coloured pencils the best. I tried water-based coloured pencils too but I prefer oil-based as they give more vivid colours.”

ITEM 3: Treasure Map
“This is a treasure map that shows my dreams and goals in pictures and words which I put on a cork board. It’s hung on the wall in front of my desk so I can see it everyday. ‘Treasure Map’ is proposed by writer Toshitaka Mochizuki. He says that by placing a treasure map in a place that you often see every day, you can input your dreams into the subconscious and make it easier to draw to reality. Perhaps my dream of becoming a children’s book author & illustrator has come true thanks to this treasure map!?”

Q&A

Q. How did you get on the path of a children’s book author?
A. When I was teaching Japanese language in Lebanon, I met art students and got involved in their graduation production. This experience woke my passion and led me to decide to learn art. I started making picture book when I was doing my MA in Fine Art in the UK while my artwork focused on issues surrounding nuclear power. I wanted to create something where I could dream and also give dreams to others.

Q. What do you keep in mind when drawing picture books?
A. First, enjoy myself. Second, look at things from the child’s point of view. Third, don’t include all the ideas, but try to keep them simple.

Q. What are you currently working on?
A. I’m working on my 4th ‘Bocchi and Pocchi’ picture book series, which will be published in the UK later this year. In this story, I have introduced a new character, Baby Sock, modelled after my three-year-old daughter who has been very naughty since she was a baby.

Q. Can you give a message for young people who want to be children’s book authors?
A. Pursue what you love. Express your favourite world. Some people say, “I don’t have the talent.” But I think your talent is in the field that you love. Do what you love and the talent will follow you. You become good at what you love doing – that’s my experience. Even when you can’t open your way with what you are passionate about, if you’re working hard on what is right in front of you, another way will open up. You can live this life only once. Do what you love to do.

ENDS

This blog originally appeared on NorikoArt on February 15th 2020.

Noriko's picture books are available on Amazon!

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Reunion with my Year 1 teacher

12/1/2019

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Last August, I was giving a talk at Hachinohe Book Center in Japan, promoting my newly published book.
When it was time for Q&A, an elderly lady stood up from the audience seat.
That was Mrs Tsuda, my teacher at first grade of elementary school.

I recognised her face right away even though we hadn’t seen each other for over 30 years.

I was the slowest child in the class. It took me so long to do anything. I came to school late because I was dawdling. I couldn’t finish eating school lunch in time so I continued eating while everyone was tidying up the classroom. I was so slow doing work that I continued working after everyone finished and left the class.
But Mrs Tsuda was patient. Rather than looking at what I wasn’t good at, she focused on what I was good at. Although I was slow in writing, she found I was actually good at writing. So she allowed me to work outside the class time so I could finish what I was working on. That year I wrote an essay about a book and won an award, thanks to her patient and continuous support.

Mrs Tsuda said to me when I was seven:
“Noriko, there is shine in your eyes. Many people lose their shines as they grow up. Keep your shine and never lose it.”
Her words resonated with me and still stay with me after 35 years.
I often ask myself in the mirror, “Do I have shine in my eyes?”
Sometimes I answer “Yes.” This is usually the time when I’m doing what I’m passionate about.
When I answer “No,” I’m not enjoying what I’m doing.
I found this question a great indicator to know the state of my heart and helps me keep the right focus.

The impact of events in childhood are great. If I didn’t meet Mrs Tsuda when I was seven, I might never have become a children’s author and illustrator.
I’m very lucky to have met people who helped me to get where I am now. Life is so mysterious. It brings me right people at the right time, although I’m not aware of it at that time.

You can watch my talk at Hachinohe Book Center in Japan below (it’s in Japanese – sorry, no English subtitles!)

This blog originally appeared on NorikoArt.com on November 1st 2019.

Noriko's picture books are available on Amazon!

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Behind the Scene – How I came to do what I do

5/16/2019

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I want to talk about why I do what I do - creating children’s books.

Before I started writing and illustrating children’s books, I was doing an art project that focused on issues surrounding nuclear power (see my 'Nuclear Project’).

I grew up in the area in Japan where a nuclear waste reprocessing plant was being built nearby and the landscape was rapidly changing. I felt compelled to face the nuclear issues through my art. But the more I learnt about the problems of the nuclear industry, and the larger the problems I was dealing with, I felt depressed and powerless. I needed to take a break from it and create something lighter and simpler that I can feel at peace with, so I began writing and illustrating children’s books.

Creating children’s books makes me happy, that’s the reason why I started. But then I came across a quote by Mother Teresa :

“Love begins at home."

This really sparked me into what I do.

I’d love to create stories that children and parents read together.
I’d love children to experience love and warmth through books and the experience of sharing books with their family.
I’d love to help nurture children’s potential.

Children are our future.
Children determine the future of humanity.

So this is why I do what I do and I love it.

This blog originally appeared on NorikoArt.com on May 1st 2019.

Noriko's picture books are available on Amazon!

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Interview with Pippa Goodhart

4/24/2019

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I’m curious about how longstanding children’s authors work. How do they get so many ideas? What do they do if they get stuck? Because I have gone through stagnant periods when I couldn’t find any ideas and felt stuck, I’m interested in how experienced authors resolve these issues and keep going.

I interviewed Pippa Goodhart, the author of over a hundred children’s books, including prize-winning picture book You Choose, and the Winnie the Witch storybooks which she writes under the pen name of Laura Owen.

In this interview, we cover:

0:12- Introducing Pippa

1:32- How Pippa, who was slow at learning to read and write as a child, became a published children’s author

4:54- Pippa explains how jobs in a bookshop and as a publisher’s reader led to what she does now

7:40- Pippa talks about writing stories for various age groups and the different challenges she enjoys

9:21- How Pippa finds ideas for her stories

11:26- Pippa explains how she deliberately writes herself into a corner when she is writing and how she resolves it

14:24- Two useful words Pippa gives to children when they can’t find their ideas for themselves

16:22- What Pippa does and what she enjoys in her school visits

17:54- Questions children tend to ask that teachers are longing to know but are too polite to ask

21:05- What enables Pippa to look at things from children’s point of view

22:41- Pippa talks about characters in her stories

26:36- The reason why Pippa uses the pen name Laura Owen for her Winnie the Witch books

29:25- How Pippa works with illustrators

29:49- Pippa talks about her picture book You Choose illustrated by Nick Sharratt

37:20- Publishers and agents

39:21- Who is Pippa’s favourite character?

39:55- Pippa’s favourite book format to work on

41:34- What Pippa thinks are the most important qualities for authors

43:55- Pippa’s advices for aspiring authors

44:40- Pippa’s online courses

45:40- Pippa’s current project

Visit Pippa’s website here
Pippa gives talks and workshops in schools and libraries.

To book her visit, you can contact Pippa directly here

To find out about her online courses, visit the links below:
Institute of Continuing Education (ICE)
Jericho Writers

This blog originally appeared on NorikoArt.com on April 5th 2019.

Noriko's picture books are available on Amazon!

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Interview with Gillian McClure

2/8/2019

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I love what I do - working as an artist, children’s book author and illustrator. But I have challenges. How can I find more time to work while raising a young family? How can I earn more income from what I do? How can I get more inspiration?

I decided to interview experienced authors and artists to learn from their experiences, and share them with people who might benefit.

I got in touch with Gillian McClure, an author and illustrator whose career spans four decades. Since she started her career in a rather unusual way in 1974, she has had many books published as well as running her own publishing company, Plaister Press, for six years.
In this interview, we cover:

0:11- Introduction

2:31- How Gillian became a published author and illustrator

5:21- Gillian’s artwork and mediums

7:00- Process of creating a picture book

7:40- How Gillian managed to work while raising a young family

9:47- How Gillian gets ideas for her book

10:57- Events and people that had a great impact on Gillian’s life

12:30- Pros and cons of working with big/small publishers

13:50- Gillian’s involvement in typographic design

16:04- What kind of workshops Gillian gives in schools/libraries

18:32- What Gillian enjoys the most amongst all the things she does

20:19- How schools/libraries can get in touch with Gillian

20:48- How authors/illustrators can earn more income using their books

22:06- Gillian’s tips for aspiring authors and illustrators

23:22- Gillian’s current/future projects

Visit Gillian’s website here

Gillian gives talks and workshops in libraries, schools, and at festivals and conferences.
To book her visit, you can contact Gillian directly here or through the links below:
Authors Aloud
Contact an Author

This blog originally appeared on NorikoArt.com on January 31st 2019.

Noriko's picture books are available on Amazon!

Buy now

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How Bocchi and Pocchi began

10/7/2018

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In this blog I’d like to share my inspiration for my Bocchi and Pocchi picture books and why they're about socks, as I have been asked about it quite a lot.

I grew up in Japan and my culture imbues everything with a spirit, so that's part of it. But more essentially, it’s because of my grandma. When I was a child, I would bring holed socks to my grandma and she would patch up the holes for me. I loved watching her mending the socks, and patched up socks have a certain character. So I would get attached to them. I think that was when my affinity for socks began. This childhood memory gave me the inspiration for my first picture book "Bocchi and Pocchi: a Tale of Two Socks”.

I have also, always been interested in non-human characters in stories. I like looking at the world from different points of view from normal human eyes. One of my favourite children’s books from childhood was a story about a raindrop. I loved all the adventures the raindrop goes through and these adventures were so different from the ones humans would experience. So it was natural for me to come up with ‘a pair of socks’ as main characters for my story. I imagined what a sock would feel if the other half developed a hole and went missing, and how happy they would be when they found each other again.

An important character in my books is 'Grandma mouse.'
Japanese houses in the country when I was a child were made of wood and so you sometimes found various creatures other than humans making homes in them. In the house I spent my childhood, lived mice. I would hear clattering noises from the ceiling during the night as they scampered about, and wondered what this tiny furry family was doing. These mice stirred my imagination greatly. Their memory stayed with me for three decades and I wanted to commemorate them in my picture books as 'Grandma mouse' and her family. In the "Bocchi and Pocchi" series she represents both the mice and my grandma, often helping Bocchi and Pocchi when they are in trouble.

I wish I could have showed my picture books to my grandma. She passed away just after I found my publisher who published my first picture book a year later. I think she would have been very amused by the sock with a hole and Grandma mouse.

Noriko's picture books are available on Amazon!

Buy now

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A caterpillar comes to stay – inspiration for "Bocchi and Pocchi's Big Surprise"

7/6/2018

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One day when I took a cabbage out of the fridge and I found a caterpillar between cabbage leaves. I told my husband to take the caterpillar outside. He refused and said "If we put him outside with only one leaf, he’ll die."

I was appalled, but we kept him. I didn't like the caterpillar first, but as days passed, I got attached to him and ended up naming him, 'Midori-chan.'

But one day Midori-chan stopped eating. He didn't move and his green body turned yellow. I thought he got sick. I worried our creepy crawly might die.

On the next day he vanished.

About a couple of weeks later, I got up in the morning and found a white butterfly perched on our flowery patterned curtain. “Midori-chan, where were you hiding?” Then I saw a little straw coming out from the butterfly's face.

'He wants to suck nectar from flowers!' I thought.

So I put the butterfly in a jar and into my backpack. I rode to the countryside with it on my bike. When I was cycling, I was filled with strange feeling I never felt before.

The weight of the life of the butterfly was no lighter than the one of a human.

As this thought came to me, tears started coming out from my eyes with joy. I felt connected with this little creature and he is so precious. I am in a human form and he is in a butterfly form but we are the same life energy and we are one.

Finding a caterpillar on a cabbage was a trivial incident in my daily life. But what I learnt from this trivial incident was more than I could have learnt from hundreds of philosophy books.

From that experience, Bocchi and Pocchi's Big Surprise came to be.

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June 05th, 2020

Newspaper Article ‘Creator’s Desk’

Reunion with my Year 1 teacher

Behind the Scene – How I came to do what I do

Interview with Pippa Goodhart

Interview with Gillian McClure

How Bocchi and Pocchi began

A caterpillar comes to stay – inspiration for "Bocchi and Pocchi's Big Surprise"

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