Jungle Gym Jitters (Walker) reveals something new each time readers revisit its extraordinarily crafted drawings. Even its author and illustrator, Chuck Richards, admits forgetting about and then discovering anew some quirky detail he's created among the book's countless contraptions and spine-tingling perspectives. His high-flying artwork chronicles a boy's fear of his father's fantastic, sky-scraping jungle gym.
Holding both a bachelor's and master's degree in fine arts, the 47-year-old Richards says he found his calling as an illustrator late, though there may have been hints about this path early in his artistic career. "When I was in graduate school, one of the comments that was made about my work was that it was illustrative. Madison [University of Wisconsin] has a reputation as a fine arts program, and that comment was not really intended as a compliment," he recalls with a laugh.
Richards, an associate professor of art and design at Iowa State University, has spent more than 20 years teaching at art schools, universities and community colleges. The constant throughout has been his work with students in foundation-level drawing courses. That might help explain the meticulous attention to fundamentals in his own art. "I try to do as much from my imagination as I possibly can, but I ultimately will find a lot of things in a drawing idea that are just beyond my level of experience, and that's when I have to do some research." In addition to library trips and making 3-D clay models of things he has trouble visualizing, Richards videotapes himself acting out a character and then uses still images from the tape for reference.
The idea of writing a children's book took root back in 1996, when his school-age son and daughter were bringing home picture books "that kind of blew away whatever misperceptions I held at the time about what children's books should be or were," he recalls. "At the same time, I also occasionally would see some things that I would feel weren't very good at all. Both those things inspired me."
Richards notes that he is also fueled by rejection, and he experienced his fair share when he sent out a portfolio soliciting commercial illustration work. However, the biggest factor propelling him to create his own book was a desire to really connect with an audience. He feels that connection now with Jungle Gym Jitters. And Richards says he's more satisfied knowing that a greater number of people can access and own his book than could own his higher-priced studio art.
His son's sixth-grade teacher, who had some experience in the educational publishing field, initially represented him for a couple of years. She sent dummies of his book (which was in prose at the time; Richards later decided to switch the story to verse) to large publishing houses. Rejection again kept him motivated and even helped shape his work. "A lot of times there would be a little comment to explain an issue, and that got me to think more objectively about what I was doing, and it led me to gradual changes over time"—changes Richards says ultimately helped him with his writing.
Author Kevin Henkes and illustrator Derek Anderson, whom Richards calls friends of friends, advised him to take his portfolio to New York, which he did in 2003. It took visits to eight publishers before he landed a deal with Walker. His editor there, Emily Easton, worked with him to pare down a much lengthier manuscript to a 32-page format. Richards was surprised he didn't have to give up creative control when working with an editor. "Emily would raise issues, but she wouldn't rewrite. I'd write three or four choices, and give them back to her." He confesses that cutting some finished artwork "was painful."
Richards lists several diverse influences on his style, ranging from his childhood favorite, Dr. Seuss, to Basil Wolverton (whose grotesque faces sometimes appeared in Mad magazine) to artist Albrecht Dürer. Richards now follows the work of contemporary authors and illustrators and lists Jon Scieszka among his favorites.
His next book will be with Clarion, for whom he has illustrated Author Day for Room 3T by Robin Pulver, a picture book due out in May. Richards has some time off from teaching next semester, when he'll be trying his hand at a few story outlines. He admits he has more fun when he is working on illustrations for his own ideas.
And his hope for the audience of Jungle GymJitters? "That kids and parents would not be in a rush to get from the beginning to the end of the book, but would enjoy spending time just navigating through the details in the pictures."
