When did you first come up with the idea for a Foal Called Luna? Have you been thinking of illustrating a picture book for a long time?
The idea for Luna came from a doodle in my sketch book. I’d not been trying to come up with a character or any particular story but after years working with illustrators on children’s books, in the back of my mind, I knew that I’d love to challenge myself to create my own book one day. I love to draw animals, and since I was very small I’ve loved horses. I would spend hours and hours trying to draw them from a collection of photographic books. I knew having my own pony was out of the question so being able to draw them felt like the next best thing.
So I was sketching one evening and drew a little foal and then randomly decided to doodle some wings. Suddenly I felt like this little foal had a story behind her. Where did she live? Were there others like her, or was she the only one? How would she feel about being different? And did she have some kind of connection to the Pegasus of Greek myth?
I went on to sketch an image of her looking up at the night sky and seeing the constellation of Pegasus come to life. I really liked the composition and the contrast in scale between this tiny foal and a giant winged horse. This image became the scene where Owl describes Pegasus and Luna imagines her above her in the night sky. It appears now in the middle of the book, but was the starting point of the whole story! I’m really pleased with how it has been realised in the book…
You’ve been a book designer and art director in the publishing industry for over 15 years, how did it feel to switch roles and illustrate across from our Art Director Lilly? Do you think your experience helped you in the process?
Working in publishing and my experience in design helped when coming up with the initial compositions, the pacing of the spreads and in designing the cover. But although I’ve made many, many books over the years, designers and art directors are in the background of a project, so it’s quite nerve wracking to put your own artwork out there for the first time!
Having Lilly art direct this book has been a wonderful experience, she was super supportive and had great suggestions to push the artwork forward and make it even better than I thought I was capable of. You get so close to the artwork you’re creating, so it’s important to have someone who can stand back and see the book as a whole and has
the experience and skill to know what it needs and help guide you towards it. It’s really hard to do that for yourself, no matter how experienced you are as a designer.
In your art direction you usually work across more non-fiction than fiction, do you think that affected your approach to A Foal Called Luna?
The things I like to draw and why I was drawn to work in children’s non-fiction come from the same place: a fascination with the natural world and animals. Luna’s world is obviously fictional, but I loved weaving in the images of real plants and animals into the background.
When I was a young pony-obsessed reader, I wanted the illustrations of horses to feel realistic, like the ones I learnt about in my huge collection of non-fiction horse books, so I was delighted when Flying Eye suggested we include a non-fiction spread at the back of the book all about foals, which is exactly the kind of thing I would have loved as a kid.
How did you balance working on the book with your art direction work?
I worked in the evenings and weekends, and took some holiday time. It was a lot of work, but I feel like drawing uses a different part of my brain to the part that is juggling multiple projects and emails in my day job, so it was nice to put on a podcast and immerse myself in creating Luna’s world!
Are there any illustrators in particular that you think influenced your illustration style? Or do you take inspiration from other sources?
In my day job I spend a lot of time looking at and working with illustrators across all sorts of styles. I don’t think I am directly influenced by anyone in particular, but I’ve learnt so much from everyone I’ve been lucky enough to work with. Interestingly, I spent a long time feeling unconfident in my art, because I felt like it needed to have more of a defined ‘style’. But drawing Luna was like letting myself go back to the little girl who was obsessed with drawing ponies, without worrying about everything I know about publishing trends and doing what I love to do – draw, and just embracing what came naturally.
Do you prefer to work digitally or with traditional materials? And do you keep a sketchbook?
I use both digital and traditional materials. I find in the initial stages working with pencils forces me to keep experimenting rather than hitting ‘undo’ the moment you think a drawing doesn’t look quite right (sometimes the bit that you think has gone wrong turns out to be the thing you come back to in the end!).
All my initial drawings and composition sketches for Luna were done traditionally, but I found that for the final artwork, working digitally was the most practical when you are working to a deadline, especially when it comes to making changes and adjustments.
I particularly love the colours in A Foal Called Luna– especially the skies, particularly in the dawn and dusk scenes. How did you arrive at this distinctive look for the book?
Initially the book had mostly dark skies, and it wasn’t until the artwork was almost finished that Lilly suggested that we try varying the skies to tell more of a story. So we go from the sunny daytime meadows, through the slowly setting sun, and then, in the last spread, there is a hint of dawn light. It instantly brought so much more colour into the spreads, so I’m so glad we changed them. I also decided to add the Northern lights to the spreads where Luna learns to fly for an extra hint of magic!
We’ve heard that you’ve been fascinated by horses for a long time- when did you first get interested in horses?
I have always been interested in horses and ponies. I didn’t grow up around horses, so when I was very little I had a horse as an imaginary friend! I learned to ride when I was 10 years old, after years of begging my parents for lessons. I live in London now, and don’t have much opportunity to ride, but when I do I feel all the same excitement of being a kid the first time I sat on a horse. They’re so powerful, graceful and gentle all at the same time – for me they’re just pure magic, with or without wings!
Thank you for answering our questions, Katie!
A Foal Called Luna
Katie Knutton
Wouldn’t the world be boring if we were all the same?
Luna the foal has tiny hooves, a fluffy tail and she loves to play with her friends in the meadow. But Luna also has something special… Luna has wings.
When Luna realises that she’s different, her mother and friends help her realise that everyone is unique and that’s what makes us special.
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