Júlia Moscardó graduated with a Degree in Fine Arts in València, and in 2017 went on to study for a MA in Children’s Book illustration at Cambridge School of Art. In her debut picture book, Changing Tides, Júlia explores the challenges and joys of forming a new family and gaining a sibling. Here she tells us about her artistic style and the story behind this beautiful book.

Do you feel your artistic style has been influenced by a particular illustrator? If so, can you tell us how this person inspired or influenced your work?

I think my way of illustrating has been influenced more by my background than by any particular illustrator I might admire. I studied Fine Arts in València and particularly enjoyed drawing, painting and engraving. It was very academic, emphasis was put in proportions, anatomy, colour and the rigorous use of art techniques…. I believe a lot of the skills and ways of working I learned there still show through my current artwork. Doing the MA in Children’s Book illustration in Cambridge I learnt a lot about the industry, doing research and experimenting in order to find the voice of a project. The focus shifted from formal techniques to idea development and storytelling. It is hard to pick one illustrator that I feel has influenced my work, or whose work I admire. There are too many of them! But I recently discovered the work of Georges Beuville and I am in awe. His use of colour is simple yet atmospheric and full of energy.

How would you describe your own style of illustration?

Uhmm, I am weary of being of being trapped in only one “style”. I let each narrative lead the way and consider what would communicate most effectively in each image. If there is anything that conditions my style, I believe it would be my love for certain materials and qualities. I love to paint and therefore, colour plays an important role in my work, it quite often leads the way for a scene. I am attracted to strong atmospheric images, and find mark making really important in order to convey such moods. I like to understand my own characters, so that means drawing them over and over again until I understand how they move and think.

Taken from Trois Tours de Renard by Georges Beuville

Do you have a preferred medium?

I prefer traditional media: pencils, gouache, ink, oils, pastels… But because of the format of the picture book (12 spreads), where the characters and colours have to be consistent, I find digital media very necessary when editing the images. The way I worked in Changing Tides is: pencil line and gouache colour in separate layers. I scanned them and put them together digitally. This allowed me to play freely with the brush strokes and effects of the water, which I added separately too.

Changing Tides is your first book as both author and illustrator. How does the process differ from that of a picture book collaboration with an author?

It depends, in my experience you have to make sure you understand what the author means and how they, and the editor, envisage the world where the story takes place. The text is already given to you, and even though it can still be edited a bit, it is less likely to change than the images.

With Changing Tides, on the other hand, I was able to move the text around to make the whole picture book suit my vision of the project. The designer and editor I worked with helped bring it all together and we still made changes to the text at the end, to help round it all up. The fact that I was both author and illustrator gave us more flexibility working, and communication was very straightforward, which I feel gave me more control in the end.

Changing Tides by Júlia Moscardó is published by Little Tiger Press and is available to buy here - read our full review by LoveReading4Kids Expert Reviewer, Andrea Reece.