Lori DeMatteis Illustrator

Illustrator Questions
Interview with: Lori DeMatteis
Illustrator of the book: Perfectly Plaid, Max, Max and the Junkyard Dog Meet a Rascal
Author: Michele Klecker-Sailor
Interviewed by: Allen Klingelhoets
Jazma Online

Allen: How did you get your start as artist?

Lori: I have been drawing since I was a little kid. I learned how to draw by lots of practice of drawing cards and pictures for my family and relatives. I also liked coloring books. Sometimes, I would trace cute or funny characters in the coloring books so I could learn from the experts.

Allen: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Lori: I am married and I have two children. I work part-time at an office job. The rest of my time is spent taking care of my family and home. I enjoy the miracles of nature. Most importantly, my Catholic faith has a great influence on how I live my life.

I have always been an artistic person. I am a very detail-oriented person and I really like to organize a lot of different things.



Allen: Do you have professional training or go to school to be artist?

Lori: I took a lot of art classes during my middle and high school years. During high school, I also took a home study course from the Art Instructions School in Minneapolis, MN. I really learned a lot from the professional instructors who critiqued my artwork assignments for this course. After high school, I took a few art classes at college.

Allen: What kinds of books did you read in your youth that inspired you to be artist? Also, did you read any comic books?

Lori: My favorite comic books were Garfield by Jim Davis, Heathcliff by Geo Gately, The Far Side by Gary Larson, and Mother Goose and Grimm by Mike Peters. I always liked these cartoon characters because the artists did a great job portraying in a humorous way the different emotions with their face expressions.

Allen: Who are some of your artist influences?

Lori: Additional artist influences to my work have been from watching a lot of Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, and Tom and Jerry cartoons on T.V. as a child and now on DVDs.

Allen: What are some of your favorite things or genres like to work in?

Lori: My favorite genre to work in is fictional children’s literature because I get to create and draw cartoon characters in a fantasy world.

Allen: What was your first professional sale as artist?

Lori: The first time I ever made any profit from my drawings was from illustrating Max written by Michele Klecker-Sailor.

Allen: Is art your chosen profession or do you have other jobs as career?

Lori: Drawing is strictly an enjoyable hobby for me. I work part-time at an office job as mentioned earlier and the rest of the time I am a stay-at-home mom.

Allen: I have been reviewing Michele Klecker-Sailor books at Jazma Online. Tell me about some of the stories you worked on for Michele.

Lori: Max – The first story I illustrated for Michele was about a rabbit and a dog who become friends despite their differences. It was enjoyable to illustrate the different emotions that the characters experienced throughout the story.

Max and Junkyard Dog Meet a Rascal – I really enjoyed illustrating this story because it involved two new characters along with the original characters from the first book. I used a lot more detail in illustrating this story about bullying and making amends.

Perfectly Plaid – This Christmas story involved an entirely different set of ideas and the illustrations were more simple. The biggest challenge was using a computer program to color the illustrations.



Allen: How did you meet Michele and decide to work on her stories?

Lori: Michele is my cousin’s wife. I’ve gotten to know her from family reunions and relative birthday parties. I remember asking her about her first book The Patient Leaf at one of the get-together's, and I asked if she was working on another book. She said she was working on a new book, but she said she was looking for an illustrator. I immediately told her, “Well, I like to draw!” Once I said that comment, the partnership began!

Allen: Take me through some of the steps you went through to do art for Michele's books. For example, is art done on computer or by hand on drawing board.

Lori: All of my illustrations are my own creations drawn with pencil and paper. The process I use for illustrating Michele’s books is time-consuming, but I believe good work takes time. The following is a brief outline of what I do:

- Michele e-mails the story-line to me.
· She briefly describes how she wants the characters to look for the story.
· I staple some white copy paper together, write the story-line for each page, and then I sketch what I think the picture should look like for each page.
· I mail her a copy of my sketches and we discuss changes.
· Once the sketches are approved by Michele, I trace and draw a final copy by using a drawing board with a light under the board so I can see the placement of everything on the page. I use a pencil and then a thin black marker.

Allen: what are some of your favorite characters in Michele's books?

Lori: My two favorite characters are Max and Rascal.

Allen: Have you ever thought about writing and drawing your own books?

Lori: Yes

Allen: What are some future projects you have in the works?

Lori: I am currently working on a Bible story activity book, but it is slow going.

I have also thought about making a coloring book for young children to learn their ABC’s or numbers.

Allen: What are some insights that you would like to give to person that would like to get start as book illustrator?

Lori: I would highly recommend having a full-time job doing something else while working on improving your drawing skills, making a portfolio of your work, and learning from other successful illustrators either in person or via the internet. It would also be wise to learn the most current digital techniques of how to improve your illustrations.

Allen: What type of books do you like to read at present time?

Lori: Books about how to improve my parenting skills

Inspirational and spiritual books

Allen: Would you like to leave readers of this interview any words of inspiration?

Lori: Everyone has a purpose and sometimes it may take a while to figure out what it is!


Allen: I have reviewed Michele's books mentioned in this interview.




Artist Lori DeMatteis on left with the director of The Pacer Center with author Michele Klecker-Sailor. The Director of The Pacer Center, Paula F. Goldberg is holding book "Max and the Junkyard Dog meet a Rascal"

Allen: Tell me little more about The Pacer Center photo.
Michele: Hi
Allen: The ladies name is Paula F. Goldberg.
  We took a photo with her when we donated a check for $100.00 to Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center. This picture was taken in May of 2016.
  Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center helps prevent bullying, and since Max and Junk Yard Dog Meet A Rascal deals with bullying, they assisted us by sending posters and bookmarks to give out during book signings.
  Hope this helps.
  Michele

Allen Klingelhoets