While it may be difficult to recall the characters, author or plot details of a novel read six months ago, most people can recall — in surprising detail — their favorite books from childhood. From endearing characters to personified animals to beloved rhymes, children’s books have a way of embedding themselves in the reader.

But somewhere along the way, most people find that the reading experience changes from the glossy, illustrated pages of children’s books to thick chapter books with few or no pictures.

Reading becomes a solitary, quiet experience; a far cry from story hour, where reading was a social event– entertainment at its best. “Serious readers don’t need illustrations,” is the message students eventually receive. “Picture books are for babies.”

Research has proven over and over that children benefit immensely from the experience of being read to, but

For Stephanie Brash, capturing the different personalities and expressions of each character was one of her favorite processes in illustrating the book.

particularly from illustrated books. Illustrated books improve children’s attention spans, motivate young readers, strengthen visual thinking, improve listening, build vocabulary, reinforce analogical thinking, build self confidence and simplify complex or new ideas. With educational benefits such as these, it would seem that picture books are pretty serious business after all — and seriously fun, if you ask artist Stephanie Brash.

Collaboration

Brash spent the past few years working on one of her biggest projects to date: illustrating J. Philip Miller’s “Milo Meander.” Published earlier this year, “Milo Meander” tells the story of Milo, who discovers the wonderful experience of greeting his neighbors, thereby making new friends.

“To me, it doesn’t look like it took as much time as it did,” Brash laughed. “It looks like it was done in two weeks, but it really wasn’t anything like that.” The project involved long-distance collaboration with the Boston-based author, whose connection with Brash goes back many years. “Typically, when you write a book, the publisher assigns an illustrator and you don’t have a lot of control over how your story is portrayed,” Brash explained. “But Phil’s wife is a graduate of Fredonia High School, like me. She and I and another woman were best friends. I’ve known her since sixth grade, and we’ve remained friends all of these years.”

Miller explained, “I have admired her works of art and have, over the years, purchased a number of her ceramic pieces. When Milo Meander became more than a fun personal idea for me, I decided that I should think about pictures, and Stephanie came to mind. She is very talented and, recognizing this talent, I decided to propose that Stephanie do the illustrations.”

Brash’s and Miller’s

backgrounds

Although Brash had never done book illustrations before, her many years of experience as an artist and teacher gave her plenty of tools with which to work. Brash studied art at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and transferred to Antioch College, where she earned her bachelor’s degree. She went on to earn a Master of Arts in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan and planned to teach art at the college level.

“Then I didn’t do that!” said Brash. “I fell in love with puppet theater when I was in college and grad school, where I was making 3D work.” Brash spent a year applying for theater jobs, a much bigger challenge in the pre-internet era, and landed a job in Oregon, where she was the resident designer of a puppet theater company that toured internationally. There, she learned a lot about the industry and discovered that being a freelance artist could be a lucrative endeavor and, importantly, one that could bring her closer to home. “I knew I could move to New York City or Chicago — big theater towns — and be closer to Fredonia,” she said. “I lived in Chicago for eight years as a freelance artist and designer there. I worked in theater companies and in museums designing exhibits.”

After her daughter was born, Brash returned to Fredonia, where her grandmother, first grade teacher Antoinette Harris, encouraged her to get her teaching certification. For a year and a half, Brash commuted to Buffalo State College to earn her certification while raising her young daughter. She taught in Fredonia and Silver Creek before she was hired as the middle/high school art teacher at Brocton Central School, where she has been teaching for the past 10 years.

Brash was excited to become part of Miller’s project, as she knew he had many years of experience teaching and entertaining children. Miller received a Master of Education degree from Harvard University and taught grades three, four and six in Massachusetts. As a producer, director and writer for children’s television, his credits include Sesame Street and a number of after-school specials for NBC. He has received Emmy, Peabody, ACT and Ohio State Awards for his work. “Milo Meander” is his second children’s book.

The illustration process

Brash explained that her job began with a “dummy book” based on Miller’s story. “I did so much research on imagery for the book; everything has been researched,” she said. “I studied photos of cabooses, towns, steeples, interiors and exteriors of diners, how dogs run, how people walk, how older people hold a cane, how your hand looks when it’s pointing at something. I have probably thousands of photographs on my computer of the visual imagery that I researched so I could get it anatomically correct and stylize it.”

Brash began experimenting with different mediums and materials. Initially, she worked with watercolors but soon realized that it would be difficult to adjust them throughout the revision process. “I then started with charcoal and pencil drawings, and I ended up scanning a lot of the imagery into my computer, and then I drew it all in Photoshop,” Brash explained. “That way, I could make lots and lots of revisions as necessary. I designed the cover; I designed everything. I learned a lot about Photoshop and Illustrator.”

One of the most enjoyable parts of the process for Brash was creating the characters for the book. “A lot of times I would just end up posing myself, like looking in the mirror or trying to make a face,” Brash explained. “Using that helped with bone structure and the anatomy. I do that in clay, too, when I do figurative work. I have my students do that with mirrors. If you can feel it, it’s easier to translate it.”

“Stephanie captured the essence of every disparate character in the book, especially Milo,” said Miller. “And she was able to portray Milo’s various moods and even those of Dog, Frog and Duck, which were characters added late in the process of writing.”

A new experience, illustrating a children’s book was also an incredible learning experience for Brash. For her, one of the biggest challenges was the composition of the book: arranging the page to make room for the text and bridge the divide between pages, while fully portraying the scene. “Then I had to make sure that all of the characters stayed consistent throughout the book,” said Brash. “That was new to me as an artist.”

Fulfilling a dream

Brash was both thrilled and relieved to hold the finished product in her hands earlier this year. “I was happy to have it completed and hoping that I did a good enough job,” she reflected. “I think artists are never really fully satisfied with what they make. I think that drives an artist or designer to further pursue their passion.”

Miller, too, is pleased with the book, which has been met with great reviews. “I have been attending a few farmers markets here in Maine, and the people who look at and buy the book rave about the illustrations,” he said. “I agree with them.”

Without today’s technology, a collaboration such as Brash and Miller’s would not have been possible. “If it weren’t for the modern conveniences of email, texting, portable hard drives and thumb drives, I don’t think we would have been able to complete the book,” Miller said. “It took nearly five years overall to finish the book. I am retired, but Stephanie had to create the illustrations while continuing her other artistic activities and teaching full time.”

Brash said, “Phil is one of the nicest people I know, and he was so patient with me and my schedule. It was a sincere privilege to work on this book, to have the opportunity to do this project.”

Interestingly, in completing the book, Brash fulfilled a childhood dream that she hadn’t thought about in many years. “When I was in fifth grade, my teacher had us make a timeline with 3 by 5 notecards and make our whole life story,” she recalled. “It was pretty amazing, and I still have it. One of the things on there was illustrating a children’s book. And here I am — I illustrated a children’s book! It’s just amazing.”

While Miller has no immediate plans to write a follow-up book to “Milo Meander,” he has considered developing some of the various characters. “I have a number of other characters that I had to cut in the editing process,” he said of the possibilities. “Who knows?”

“Milo Meander” is available to purchase online at milomeanderbook.com. “The target age range is Pre-K up to fourth grade,” said Brash. “It’s a wonderful message about loving each other, being kind to one another. In this day and age, we can always use more of that.”