Book Chat: Liv Lorkin

Liv Lorkin is the ultimate publishing triple-threat - an author, illustrator and designer! Having written and illustrated several of her own picture books, Liv has just released her debut graphic novel, Gnoming About, a rollicking, nature-inspired adventure story, starring three unforgettable gnomes. It's an honour to welcome Liv to the page.

Many thanks for dropping by for a Book Chat, Liv, and congratulations on the release of your incredible graphic novel, Gnoming About. It’s an absolute triumph of storytelling, design and illustration – three distinct but interrelated skills that you bring together to wonderful effect.

To begin with, would you mind telling us a little about your journey as an artist and designer, and how these skills came to intersect with your interest in writing?

I’ve had a bit of a roundabout way to get to where I am in my career and creative journey. From a very early age, I have always been quite crafty. I would spend my school holidays up at the local hospital doing arts and crafts with the residents, or I’d be down at the local gallery doing a painting workshop.

At uni, I sidestepped from fashion design into biomedical science but struggled without a creative outlet. I started freelancing and building a graphic design business, which led to running an IT and design studio with my husband. We had a small team and office in Ballarat for seven years. During that time, I had the idea for a picture book. In the background, I was always dabbling with illustrating, but I wasn’t confident in my ability to actually write one. I sat on the idea for two years before attempting a single line. With each page, I built my confidence, and I ended up with five picture books about Ballarat. That was really the beginning of my book career.

Now I utilise the toolkit I’ve developed over the last 12 years into every element of my business. It’s incredibly handy to know how to design, write, illustrate and publish a book, but also know when to hand parts over to the experts, like editing!

What would you most like new readers to know about Gnoming About?

I’d love people to know that I’ve hidden little clues all throughout the story. I loved books like that growing up, ones where you’d read them over and over again and find something new every time.

I’d love to know a little about how you approach writing a graphic story like Gnoming About. I assume storyboarding would be a very important part of the process?

I’m going to call myself out with this answer, but storyboarding is the most important part of a graphic novel, and I learned that the hard way. I mapped out my characters and story very early on, but I figured I could get away with starting the illustrations without a clear storyboard. I was three pages in, spending a lot of time finessing each one and could see my deadline looming! I went back to the drawing board, literally. I outlined every page and panel, did rounds of editing and then finally went in to complete each page.

Here’s how I’d approach it now:

1. Story outline

2. Character development

3. Storyboard

4. Editing

5. Refine illustrations

6. More editing

7. Refine again

8. Final edit

9. Sleep

10. Print

    
    

That’s instead of the mash-up of steps I did in the early days. I see every book as a lesson, and I learned a lot from my first graphic novel.

There are so many quirky, ingenious ideas throughout Gnoming About, such as the idea of measuring time through the rate of grass growth. Were they all there from the beginning, or did exciting new ideas pop up to surprise you along the way?

I love that you picked up on those elements! They were my favourite parts to create. The grass growing as a measurement of time was an idea that popped up in the storyboard stage, but things like the flowerpot car that the gnomes drive around in was a decision I made early on. Out of all of them, I think Gnome-side Assist was probably my favourite part to create and credit where it’s due, that one was my husband's idea.

Gnoming About is infused with love for the natural world.  I’d love to know your thoughts about how the natural world nourishes and interconnects with your creative process.

I am not creative without my connection to nature. It basically fuels me in every way. From the food I eat, which isn’t always healthy, but I try to keep it nourishing, to the water I swim in. If I’m feeling low or need to recharge, I look at nature for solace.

I have a deep reverence for it and try to find ways to, in turn, be a good earth citizen, like picking up rubbish around the trees I draw under or being more intentional about my impact.

This book is a little introduction to the connection between trees and fungi. It’s not scientifically accurate, but I like that it raises questions about how information is shared between nature in the form of postcards.

Are there any particular challenges you’ve noticed as a graphic novel illustrator that you don’t generally encounter when illustrating picture books?

Pacing was probably my biggest challenge. You have a certain number of panels, and you’re trying to tell a story that flows and connects without overexplaining everything. It’s very different from picture books, where you have entire spreads to really depict certain scenes. In a graphic novel, you’re getting these small snapshot moments, and it can be tricky to pick the most important element to visualise and keep the reader interested. It was a fun challenge.

I’d love it if you could offer some advice to writers who are interested in getting into the field of graphic novels, particularly those who are not artists themselves.

I have two bits of advice: my first is to read and buy graphic novels that you’re interested in. Pay attention to what you like and don't like about the storyline, pacing, layout and illustrations. Understand how the words are used to convey meaning and complement the visual elements. Depending on your genre, the writing might be all dialogue or have very few words to begin with.

Secondly, get really clear about how the scenes will look with your writing. As an illustrator, this helps us build the world and characters with as much accuracy as possible. I like a bit of ambiguity, but the more details we creatives have, the better the outcome usually is.

I like to think there are no right or wrong ways to approach a graphic novel, but there are ways to spend a lot of time on them without moving forward. I’ve learnt from that! Okay, final piece of advice. Storyboard everything out, even if you’re not an illustrator or can’t draw a stick figure to save yourself. Just storyboard all your words and ideas, and you can thank me later.

Thank you, right now, Liv! That's such valuable advice.

So, what’s next for Liv Lorkin? From a hint at the end of Gnoming About, I’m very hopeful that further adventures await our gnomey friends!

There are always more books in the works! At the moment, I’m focusing on a witchy middle-grade manuscript, a junior fiction story that’s in the idea stage, and of course, my gnome friends will be back in the next year or so with book two of Gnoming About! I’m thinking something festive, but we’ll see.

That's exciting news! In the meantime, where are the best places online for readers to learn more about you, and to get hold of Gnoming About, as well as your other titles?

You can find me being social on Instagram and Facebook. My website has all my book titles and where you can purchase them. Thanks so much for your insightful questions. I loved chatting about all things creativity, gnomes and nature.

It's been a pleasure, and I've learnt a lot. Many thanks for sharing so generously, Liv, and all the best for Gnoming About and your future projects!

This post is part of a blog tour for Gnoming About, presented by Books On Tour PR & Marketing. Please keep following Liv's journey on all of the fine blogs and sites below.