Toronto Star Article
This is the link to the article in the Toronto Star with my comments noted below to the parts I found interesting.
"I get to draw the dog, which I love to draw; it was an opportunity to see him big, and do a lot of expression and colour," said Johnston in a recent telephone interview during a promotional tour that took her away from her home outside North Bay.
The question of the art credits has been an issue with me ever since Lynn Johnston personally e-mailed me to say she didn’t know who the persons are who helped her with the art. As you will see later in this article, Lynn’s comment about the colour is very odd considering that supposedly she finally gives credit for that to someone else.
The book has also been given the thumbs-up from the Girl Guides. Farley is the first book to earn the Guides' stamp of approval for its monthly book club, an occasion that was to be celebrated Saturday with a book reading and signing at Yorkdale mall. Johnston herself was a Brownie and a guide leader.
Someone at Harper Collins publicity really knows their stuff. I am quite impressed. First Lynn gets the Humanitarian Award from the Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society in order to attract the dog owners to the book. Then Lynn desperately needed someone younger to endorse the book, since kids at the age of the Girl Guides (and possibly their mothers too) would not be old enough to remember Farley who, until recently, had not appeared in the comic strip in 15 years. Touching on Lynn's experience as a Brownie and guide leader is a master stroke.
Johnston said she did the illustrations for Farley first in pencil, then inked them once they were approved, and then hired a watercolourist to put on the finishing touches. The book took about a year from start to finish.
Johnston said this? Johnston hired the watercolourist? Why no quotes? Why doesn’t it match her quote at the beginning of the article? These unquoted areas have all the feel of promotional information handed out by the publisher inserted in between two quotes from Lynn. Patty Weise (the uncredited watercolourist in question) lives near Hartford, Connecticut and does children’s books and editorial cartoons. She is not a member of the National Cartoonists Society. Lynn hires Corbeil, Ontario locals, Canadore College graduates, and relatives almost exclusively. The publisher would have hired the colourist. Let me reword this now with a little substitution:
HarperCollins said she did the illustrations for Farley first in pencil, then inked them once they were approved, and then HarperCollins hired a watercolourist to put on the finishing touches. The book took about a year from start to finish. That’s much better.
She enjoyed the process: "You don't get an opportunity to draw much when you are drawing (comic) panels," she said. "I love to draw."
Notice no mention of colouring this time.
The dog was jealous of her son, "so I flipped a coin and the dog lost – he went to a happy home on a farm."
We’ve heard the coin-flipping, “happy home on a farm” story before. I notice she was smart enough to leave that story out when she got the Humanitarian Award from the Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society. They would know what “happy home on a farm” really means.
And neither Johnston, nor Farley, are done quite yet: she's already working on another storyline for the loveable sheepdog.
And by “she’s working on another storyline” we mean she is Beth Cruikshank.
"I get to draw the dog, which I love to draw; it was an opportunity to see him big, and do a lot of expression and colour," said Johnston in a recent telephone interview during a promotional tour that took her away from her home outside North Bay.
The question of the art credits has been an issue with me ever since Lynn Johnston personally e-mailed me to say she didn’t know who the persons are who helped her with the art. As you will see later in this article, Lynn’s comment about the colour is very odd considering that supposedly she finally gives credit for that to someone else.
The book has also been given the thumbs-up from the Girl Guides. Farley is the first book to earn the Guides' stamp of approval for its monthly book club, an occasion that was to be celebrated Saturday with a book reading and signing at Yorkdale mall. Johnston herself was a Brownie and a guide leader.
Someone at Harper Collins publicity really knows their stuff. I am quite impressed. First Lynn gets the Humanitarian Award from the Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society in order to attract the dog owners to the book. Then Lynn desperately needed someone younger to endorse the book, since kids at the age of the Girl Guides (and possibly their mothers too) would not be old enough to remember Farley who, until recently, had not appeared in the comic strip in 15 years. Touching on Lynn's experience as a Brownie and guide leader is a master stroke.
Johnston said she did the illustrations for Farley first in pencil, then inked them once they were approved, and then hired a watercolourist to put on the finishing touches. The book took about a year from start to finish.
Johnston said this? Johnston hired the watercolourist? Why no quotes? Why doesn’t it match her quote at the beginning of the article? These unquoted areas have all the feel of promotional information handed out by the publisher inserted in between two quotes from Lynn. Patty Weise (the uncredited watercolourist in question) lives near Hartford, Connecticut and does children’s books and editorial cartoons. She is not a member of the National Cartoonists Society. Lynn hires Corbeil, Ontario locals, Canadore College graduates, and relatives almost exclusively. The publisher would have hired the colourist. Let me reword this now with a little substitution:
HarperCollins said she did the illustrations for Farley first in pencil, then inked them once they were approved, and then HarperCollins hired a watercolourist to put on the finishing touches. The book took about a year from start to finish. That’s much better.
She enjoyed the process: "You don't get an opportunity to draw much when you are drawing (comic) panels," she said. "I love to draw."
Notice no mention of colouring this time.
The dog was jealous of her son, "so I flipped a coin and the dog lost – he went to a happy home on a farm."
We’ve heard the coin-flipping, “happy home on a farm” story before. I notice she was smart enough to leave that story out when she got the Humanitarian Award from the Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society. They would know what “happy home on a farm” really means.
And neither Johnston, nor Farley, are done quite yet: she's already working on another storyline for the loveable sheepdog.
And by “she’s working on another storyline” we mean she is Beth Cruikshank.
posted by howard at 11:20 AM
12 Comments:
I too would like to applaud Harper Collins for their masterstroke in tying this to the Girl Guides; they certainly know to shoot where the ducks are, so to speak. They're certainly more aware of the world than Lynn 'Flip-a-Coin' Johnston seems to be; they also seem to be generous enough to allow her to take credit for hiring the people they recommended to tidy up her artistic mess.
A cute, flippant story about euthanizing her dog. What a lovely person Lynn Johnston is.
Wait a minute...she flipped a coin and the dog lost so she had him put down....what if the dog had won? Would she have had her son killed?
Even if you believe the story about the farm (yeah right) what? If the dog had won she would have sent her son off to live on a farm?
That quote makes no sense.
The "the dog lost" is clearly a joke; she's used the anecdote before
DreadedCandiru2,
…they also seem to be generous enough to allow her to take credit for hiring the people they recommended to tidy up her artistic mess.-
It would be interesting to have a camera in Lynn’s house or the HarperCollins office when they discussed credit for the book. I wonder if the article’s mention of the colourist is in any way related to aprilp_katje’s e-mail conversation with Patty Weise, where she revealed to Patty what Lynn’s reaction was to finding her name associated with art on the book.
mings_kitten,
Wait a minute...she flipped a coin and the dog lost so she had him put down....what if the dog had won? Would she have had her son killed?-
I think you can get a good feeling about why Lynn and her son have had issues between each other.
Even if you believe the story about the farm (yeah right) what? If the dog had won she would have sent her son off to live on a farm?-
Sending children off to the farm was certainly the theme of a number of the For Better or For Worse strips. Also, if Aaron had lost the toss, we would have children’s book called “Aaron Follows His Nose” about a little boy named Aaron who wanders around the neighbourhood sniffing things.
Most people, when talking about how they had to find a new home for their dog because they couldn't handle it as well as their son, would be somewhat serious. They'd be sad that they had to give up a family member. They would also do their best to find a good home for the dog, and not make stupid jokes about deciding the fate of dependent creatures, whether animal or human, with a coin toss. Lynn's not most people.
And as much as I adore animals, I would not be pleased if my mother repeatedly equated my value with the dog's in a very public joke. If Lynn could put Aaron and the dog in competition like that, how did she talk about Aaron versus Kate?
Lynn's natural audience loves sentimentality, Lynn hates sincerity, how did she ever get a following?
Hmm...when I was a Girl Guide, I think I was at the age when I was a little too old to be reading picture books.
clio_1,
Most people, when talking about how they had to find a new home for their dog because they couldn't handle it as well as their son, would be somewhat serious.My impression has always been that Lynn Johnston never liked the real-life Farley all that much and was happy to be rid of him. She liked him much better as a cartoon dog.
Muzition,
Hmm...when I was a Girl Guide, I think I was at the age when I was a little too old to be reading picture books -
According the article, the book is supposed to be for kids from Kindergarten to Grade 3. The Brownies of the Girl Guides are supposed to be between the ages of 7 and 10. There is a little overlap in ages there.
Grade 3? Seriously? I thought it was a baby to kindergarten book. By grade 3, aren't kids into more complex books, whether picture books or not?
I wonder if the article’s mention of the colourist is in any way related to aprilp_katje’s e-mail conversation with Patty Weise, where she revealed to Patty what Lynn’s reaction was to finding her name associated with art on the book.I wondered the same thing.
Lynn's natural audience loves sentimentality, Lynn hates sincerity, how did she ever get a following?I've never thought of it in quite this way, but I think you're absolutely right about Lynn hating sincerity, clio_1. Like the very idea of it must pain her.
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