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[ November 13th, 2006 ] Selina Alko and Sean Qualls talk about life, marriage, collaboration and creating art for magazines and picture books. For the past 2 years in a row their books have been selected for the Society of Illustrator's Original Art Show. Sean's "The Baby on the Way" and "Dizzy" and Selina's "My Subway Ride" and "My Taxi Ride". Their styles are almost opposite in feeling, you could say yin and yang. They both work in mixed media borrowing references from popular culture, urban life and music. Qualls and Alko's work include children's books, editorial, advertising and portraits. What lead you to illustrate for picture books? Selina - I have always been interested in illustrating for children. I started out doing educational illustration work, which was good bread and butter assignments, but completely lacked in creativity. It was mind-numbing work. I busted out with a totally fun and more abstract sample when I was asked to come up with something for the book project, "My Subway Ride". Working with no constraints, I felt freed up and my sample got me the contract. I had so much fun illustrating that book that we're already in talks to do the 3rd in a series ... "My Taxi Ride" just came out in September. Sean - Initially, I wanted to do painted comics and graphic novels. I loved the work of Bill Sienkiewicz, especially his work on the books "Elektra Assassin" and "Stray Toasters". But I thought it would take too long to do a graphic novel, so I decided to try to get editorial work and illustrate book jackets. This proved to be harder than I thought because I did not have a strong background in conceptualizing. Finally, I started getting editorial work, mostly though mailing out postcards. Then I started getting calls from children's book publishers to see my portfolio. On my second interview I was offered a contract.
Your styles are so different, how do describe your work? Selina - I think our work each fits our personalities. I use strong colors and bright playful imagery from pop culture and the world around me. I like to celebrate life and would say my work is optimistic, blithely multicultural, urban and fun. Sean's work is more emotional and atmospheric. It is strong and jazzy with a more introspective appreciation for life. Sean - Selina is right. My work is more about emotion and atmosphere while hers is more bright and happy. I try to capture a feeling and perhaps not tangible things like music and a character's history. We both use collage but we use it very differently. I tend to work in more layers of paint and drawing. I think we are both influenced by pop culture but maybe my work leans more towards social commentary. What are your influences?Selina - The bold and distinctive brush strokes and painting of Van Gogh. City life in New York. Other illustrators who use decorative hand lettering and quirky children's books illustrators such as Maira Kalman, Giselle Potter and Yumi Heo. Sean - I think I am still influenced by the memories of my childhood and a sense of nostalgia. As for artists there are probably too many to list here but a short list would include: Jacob Lawrence, Ben Shahn, Richard Diebenkorn, Klimt, Romare Bearden, Bill Traylor, William Hawkins, Andy Warhol, music and other illustrators. Also, I love cave paintings for their graphic simplicity, texture and sense of timelessness. How have you influenced each other?Selina - Sean has an amazing sense of composition, he really pushes himself with visual unconventional solutions. I have learned from him that you don't need to be traditional in thinking about pictures for children. That the less 'realistic' and more stylized the figures or compositions, the more interesting the pictures will be. He has had a huge influence on how I think about creating pictures. My compositions have become much stronger as a result of working near him. Sean -We are always looking at each other work and giving each other feedback. We probably see each other's work more than anyone else. So there is a major influence we have on one another whether be conscious or subconscious.
Is it competitive working in the same field and being married? Selina - Yes, but in a good way. Sean started getting offers for pictures books with reputable publishers before I was, even though I had been interested in breaking in to the field for much longer than he had been. So, naturally it was hard at first. But, his successes have pushed me to work harder, to do work that I am more proud of and to eventually get interesting book contracts as well. Our competition is healthy. I think it keeps us working hard to keep up with each other. Ultimately what's good for either of us is good for the family! Sean - Yes and No. I think we try to keep up with one another a bit, but at the same time we are always very supportive of each other. I think its good because we push each other to do better work. Have you ever collaborated?Selina - Recently, we were approached by a big publisher to do a sample of Muhummad Ali for a potential book project. We did a couple samples, which they loved, but unfortunately the project fell through. They are currently looking for another manuscript for us to work on together. So we'll see how doing an entire book collaboratively will go. Our greatest collaboration to date has really been our son, Isaiah. He's 18 months old and a total joy and inspiration - to us and our work! Sean - Collaborating was fun and interesting because our temperaments are very different. Selina is more organized in a traditional way. While my work style is more like a chaotic soup. I'll keep adding things and taking things out until a piece works. Selina's approach is a little more straight ahead. But yes, Isaiah has been our greatest collaboration to date.
Selina - Everyone thinks that of course we met in art school! But we actually met at a wedding ... Being the only two artists there, we found each other and couldn't stop yapping about illustration all night. What are the odds? Sean - Ditto!
Selina Alko and Sean Qualls' clients include FSG, Scholastic, Gibbs Smith, Harper Collins, Henry Holt, Houghton Mifflin, Pepsi, National Urban League, Showbiz Weekly Las Vegas, Starbucks, The New School, Harvard Business Review, Time Out Chicago, Chicago Tribune, LA Times and Playboy Jazz Festival. Their children's books can be found at your local bookstore and online at barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.
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