Putting a face on Franklin was a welcome challenge for Brenda Clark, who had worked as an illustrator for children’s magazines and books before she signed on to create the art for Franklin in the Dark. The artist was gratified by the freedom she was given to provide visual dimension to the characters and their environs. "Paulette has a way of writing a good story without over-describing things, and I was able to interpret her words any way I wanted," said Clark. "It was a treat to be able to invent a world for Franklin and his friends."
Clark’s inspiration for the images she created had several origins. Wanting to make the illustrations believable, she researched various fauna and plant life extensively. "I’ve never been one to want to put clothing on animals and make them into humans, so I tried to keep Franklin and his friends as close to their species as possible," she explained. "So Franklin looks like a real turtle, but he walks on two legs and can crawl out of his shell. He’s both imaginary and real."
Some aspects of Clark’s art sprang from a more personal source. To capture the turtle’s changeable expressions, the illustrator sometimes asked her son, now 24, to pose for her. On one such occasion, he came to her aid when she needed to portray the unhappy protagonist of Franklin’s Bad Day. "Franklin did a lot of pouting in that book, and I asked my son to pose, and pout, for me, since I wanted to get that expression accurate," she said. "And a lot of times I looked at myself in the mirror for help in capturing an expression. I also relied on my own childhood memories and my experiences as a mother for inspiration. I wanted people to understand what the characters are feeling and to relate to them. To me, that was the most important thing of all."
The Burgeoning of Franklin’s World
The look of the Franklin books evolved as the author introduced more characters and expanded the original forest backdrop of the series’ first installments. "I tried to keep the characters and settings consistent, yet make each book a little bit better," said Clark. "I modified Franklin slightly over time, to make him a bit more clear and defined. And it was fun to add different details in each book—images not mentioned in the text—so that kids could discover new things, even when rereading the stories."
As Franklin’s popularity blossomed and the pace of the series’ publishing schedule accelerated—in 1995, four new Franklin books rolled off press—Clark hired other artists to help with certain stages of the art process. While she created the designs and layout of the drawings, an "under painter" would transfer them onto watercolor paper and paint the first layers. "Though it became physically impossible for me to complete all aspects of the art for four books a year, I always did the last few coats of paint and the characters’ facial expressions—to make sure that same feeling was there," she explained.
Kids Can art director Marie Bartholomew, who has been working with Clark on the Franklin books for 20 years, praises the artist’s adaptability as the complexity of the books increased. She also applauds Clark’s skill at transitioning Franklin’s persona to the subsequent TV tie-ins and her careful monitoring of the merchandising program, which has brought Franklin’s image to everything from toothbrushes to plush to snowsuits to backpacks (all of which are subject to Clark’s approval).
"From the start," Bartholomew said, "Brenda managed to make Franklin such a lovable character—a great combination of turtle and boy—and as Franklin’s world got bigger, she added more and more details to create a welcoming place for kids to be." And when Franklin moved to TV, she added, "Brenda made sure that he was always immediately recognizable, reviewing animators’ art at every stage of the process. She gave a nudge here or there to get Franklin more on character and make sure he looked like himself."
Yvette Ghione came on board in 2002 as one of three editors of the Franklin series, and continued in that capacity until 2011. Since then, she has consulted on the Franklin publishing program as senior editor and currently oversees the series as editorial director of Kids Can Press. She expressed admiration for Bourgeois and Clark’s ability to make Franklin "every turtle and every kid. Franklin’s experiences are so relatable and so accessible. The stories and the art are timeless, and the world that Paulette and Brenda have created has such magic and richness to it. We are so pleased that these stories are capturing the attention and curiosity of a new generation of readers."
