Questlove is a six-time Grammy Award–winning musician, Academy Award–winning filmmaker, drummer, DJ, producer, director, co-founder of the Roots, and the musical director for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where the Roots serves as the house band. He is also the author of several books for kids and adults. Sean Qualls is a mixed-media illustrator, whose books include Before John Was a Jazz Giant by Carole Boston Weatherford, which received a Coretta Scott King Honor Award. We asked the duo to discuss their new picture book, The Idea in You, and their goal of inspiring young people to pursue creative lives.
Sean Qualls: First of all, congrats on the book. I’m super excited about it and I love the way it turned out. The subject matter is something special, and it gave me the ability to do something visually that I haven’t had the opportunity to do yet.
Questlove: Thank you! I think people tend to think that making a children’s book is light lifting because there’s not much volume to work with. For what seems like an easy task, you’ll actually come to find how much precision and laser focus you need to emotionally connect and make the story come to life.
Your work is so full of joy. Can you tell me what is your illustration process like? Do you somehow astral travel to your four-year-old self when you’re thinking of the artwork you want to create?
Qualls: That’s absolutely what I do. I don’t know if it’s astral traveling, but it’s intuitive and natural. I tap into the feeling of looking at illustrated books that I had when I was a child. There were not a lot around me, but when we’d go to visit the doctor’s office or something, there’d be a ton of books. Children’s books from the ’60s and ’70s had a particular vintage feel to them. At the time, illustrators were trying different things, and the printing was unique. I still love looking at older books like that now. The more you tap into something that speaks to you, the more it sort of flows.
Questlove: As far as the creative process is concerned, is the language of vintage art still a thing now, or is it almost like now you could do it within the speed of sound?
Qualls: Everything I do is by hand and that’s sort of my pride and joy. The thing that made me want to be an artist was growing up and seeing people make something by hand and how magical that feels. And I’ve never lost that fascination. If I were to work digitally, I feel like some of the magic that I try to bring to the work would be lost.
Questlove: Wow, okay, I’ve always wanted to know that. How did you know the exact kind of zone to fall into, as far as the look was concerned [for the book]? What spoke to you?
Qualls: There was a joyful curiosity that I wanted the main character to have. Initially, I did a sample piece, and I feel like it wasn’t quite where I wanted it to go. I spent several weeks doing sample color pieces to figure out how I really wanted to paint the figure. Once I started painting the figure, it was second nature and he’s something of an embodiment of you.
Questlove: You nailed that time of first great adventures, or that time when Dad and I first went fishing. You captured it. As a kid, there’s no limitation to the type of art or projects that you create, when your imagination runs rampant. It’s weird being a creative as an adult, because cynicism is set in. I’m turning in my second movie right now, and I had to pop the bloom bubble of what’s in my fantasies and my creations. For example, in the first 45 seconds of a movie, you have to do something exciting, or else, your streaming audience is going to be lost. Adult creativity is so different than child creativity.
Qualls: Absolutely. How do you manage that process of creating across so many different disciplines?
Questlove: For the first part of my Roots career, I was mostly interacting with music people. And when we got Fallon, that’s the first time I got to chop it up with creatives that were not musical, like comedy writers, chefs, authors, and directors. My question was always like, are creativity and talent transferable?
For me, I decided to put music on the back burner to see what else I have. I’m always curious when greats try other things out, like Michael Jordan trying out baseball, or Miles Davis taking up boxing, or Joni Mitchell taking up painting. I always want to make sure that I’m fully immersed in all types of creativity. Choosing to write this book is a prime example. In my late 40s/early 50s, I wondered what my life would have been like if I knew that acting and writing books and painting and cooking and directing are other languages or expressions of creativity. There are other levels of creativity besides just hitting drums, right? I would have been a way different person.
For this book, I wanted to write an instruction manual for kids, in case you’re in a household that doesn’t encourage dreaming or creativity. I tried to create a book that tells a child to not leave anything behind and search for creativity all around you.
What was the first published piece of illustration you created?
Qualls: Well, back in the ’90s, I tried to launch my career as an illustrator, which didn’t really happen. I did a couple of pieces for very small magazines. My first notable published illustration was in Pulse in 2001 or 2002. There was a compilation of music that sort of predated the blues that was coming out, and they wanted me to do an illustration for that story. And then I think my first book came out in 2005.
I want to go back to something you were talking about. I wanted to ask you how important leaving a legacy is. I didn’t set out to be a children’s book illustrator. It found me. And one of the things that I love about it is that, as a creative person, it’s a great medium to help me feel like I am leaving a legacy beyond myself.
Questlove: You know, it’s weird, when you’re young, you don’t want to think about these things, right? It took Prince’s passing for me to realize how important legacy is. Probably in the last five years, I see the importance of leaving a body of artwork behind. So I’m doing things now that will help me put out all my creative ideas from four until now.
The Idea in You by Questlove, illus. by Sean Qualls. Abrams, $19.99 Sept. 24 ISBN 978-1-4197-3826-5
