THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 29, 1996 TAG: 9606280050
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 72 lines
THE TIME CRUNCH Paul Zelinsky endured to produce his first Caldecott award-winning children's book, ``Rumpelstiltskin,'' felt like a vise tightening around his brain.
The Brooklyn-based illustrator - who appears Sunday at The Chrysler Museum of Art - had from early 1985 to May 1986 to put the book together.
That seemed hardly sufficient to complete what he had in mind: some 18 illustrations, richly detailed and styled after early Renaissance art.
``I worked very intensely on it,'' Zelinsky said, speaking this week from his studio. ``Right away, I started working seven-day weeks, 15-hour days. It was not nice.''
Zelinsky, 43, is a rarity among illustrators - he frequently switches styles. Most of his 20-plus books have featured a different style, technique or art medium.
For his first book, the 1978 ``Emily Upham's Revenge,'' he created 10 simple pen-and-ink drawings. A 1985 book, ``The Story of Mrs. Love-wright and Purrless Her Cat,'' includes 30 whimsical colored pencil drawings in a contemporary style. Then there's ``Swamp Angel'' (1994), one of three books that have earned him Caldecott Honors, the highest award for children's book illustrators. ``Swamp Angel'' features illustrations painted in an American primitive style, with oil paints on cherry, maple and birch veneers.
For ``Rumpelstiltskin,'' he sought a high degree of realism. He decided to find models for his illustrations, to pose them and take photographs for reference.
As Zelinsky recounted the ``casting'' of key characters for his ``Rumpelstiltskin,'' he sounded like a film director.
``Making a picture book and making a film seem to me to be very similar. Even if you make up the characters, there's casting. And there's costume design and scene design. There's lighting,'' he said.
``I think of it very cinematically. And I think a lot of children's book illustrators do.''
In reflection, ``making `Rumpelstiltskin' was a pretty terrible time. My wife got pneumonia. My mother-in-law died. I got shingles.''
He felt cursed.
Then came the Caldecott Honor, placing among the nation's finest illustrators, and setting his career on a hot path.
``The Caldecott was my reward.'' And the curse was gone, never to be felt again. Until now, with his latest book project, ``Rapunzel,'' due for publication in fall 1997.
These days, Zenlinsky said, ``I'm sort of like the miller's daughter, crying into her hands about doing `Rapunzel.' ''
There sat the miller's daughter, without the slightest idea how anyone could spin straw into gold.
Can he avoid such horrid maladies this time? ``I'm trying,'' he said. ``I'm wishing and I'm hoping.'' MEMO: WANT TO GO?
What: Children's book illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky
Where: The Chrysler Museum of Art, 245 W. Olney Road, Norfolk
When: at 2 p.m. Sunday, he will assist in a book-making workshop; at
3 p.m., he will read from and autograph his books.
How much: Free with museum admission: $4 adults, $2 for students and
ages 60 and older. No charge for ages 5 and younger. (Admission is free
on Wednesdays.)
Call: 664-6200
The exhibit: ``Myth, Magic and Mystery: One Hundred Years of
Children's Book Illustration,'' on view through Sept. 8 at the museum.
Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5
p.m. Sunday. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo of "Rumpelstilskin" book cover
Photo
Paul O. Zelinsky... by CNB