Interview with Thuy-An Buis, illustrator of Jack and Lucy

Find out more about the experience of Thuy-An Buis, the illustrator who brought to life the characters imagined by students at EIB Grenelle as part of the One Action, One Book project. 

Thuy-An Buis, a passionate illustrator

Thuy-An Buis is an illustrator who studied animation for three years at Lisaa and then illustration for a year in Rome at the IDEA Academy. Like many children, she started drawing at a very early age, and grew up surrounded by cartoons and comics (Lou, Witch, etc.) that made her dream and encouraged her to continue down this path. She has illustrated a webtoon, Vacances Timbrées, available on the Adphile website, and two books, Enquête de Haute Voltige and Appelez-moi MDL.

Interview

How did you get involved in the The Adventures of Jack and Lucy, Mission Fight Food Waste project at EIB Grenelle?

Stéphanie Baronchelli, director of Gulf Stream Éditeur, contacted me and I agreed when I found out what it involved.

Had you worked with children before? Or on a similar project?

No, never, and in fact, I was a bit nervous, but the children were adorable!

What was your inspiration for the illustrations in the book?

Knowing that the children were going to be drawing the backgrounds, I had to make sure that the characters could blend in. To do this, I was inspired in particular by Ponyo, whose backgrounds are also drawn in coloured pencil.

What was the creative process like with the CE1 pupils?

When I arrived, they had already done most of the work: who are the characters? Their ages, passions, personalities? All I needed to do was guide them on the design (physical appearance, colours and type of clothes, etc.). They were very attentive!

 

Did the fact that the book is in three languages (French, English and Chinese) influence your choice of illustrations?

I was mainly thinking about the fact that several schools in different countries might use these characters. I hope that my style, inspired by both Disney and Ghibli, will appeal to everyone!

What was the most memorable moment of this project for you?

The workshops with the children, without a doubt! They're at an age when their imagination and creativity know no bounds. They've inspired me a lot and I hope I've done the same for them!

What were the main challenges you faced in producing this book?

Usually the characters are created after the story, but for this project I had to draw characters and poses to anticipate the needs of the different stories that might be created.

How did you go about tackling the food waste issue in your illustrations?

I added a militant message to Jack's T-shirt at the children's request, but they did most of the work (and very well too)!

How did the Gulf Stream and EIB Grenelle teams support you in the creation of this book?

Émilie Chaffaud, head of school at EIB Grenelle, made sure that both the student project and the workshops ran smoothly, which was very reassuring for me, and Stéphanie not only laid out the book, she also gave me a lot of guidance as an editor. They were both very involved, while giving me a lot of creative freedom, and I'd like to thank them for that!

Do you have any interesting or amusing anecdotes to share about working with children?

There was a lot of discussion before we settled on Jack and Lucy as the names for the characters. It had to be easy to pronounce in French and English, but all the suggestions seemed to have been used before!

As an illustrator, what is your opinion on the importance of addressing issues such as sustainable development to young readers?

I think it's important to raise young people's awareness of sustainable issues at an early age. After all, it's their future that's at stake, and unfortunately a lot of older people don't understand that our lifestyles have to change.

How do you hope this book will inspire other schools to get involved in the One Action, One Book project?

This project not only raises children's awareness of important issues, it also allows them to get involved in the whole process of creating a book (writing, illustration, translation, etc.). It's beneficial on several levels, and I hope that other schools will be able to follow this example!

Do you have any future projects related to sustainable development?

At the moment I'm not creating my own projects, I'm just participating, but if one day I get the opportunity, yes, it's a subject I'd like to develop.

Finally, do you have any advice for artists who want to get involved in education and awareness-raising projects?

In this kind of project, I think the most important thing is to get children involved as much as possible, to get them passionate and involved. That's what makes the work rewarding!

 

Find Thuy-An Buis' work on Instagram :

THUY-AN Buis