Interview – Susan Szecsi Illustration and Design

With beautiful, full-color illustrations and fun, catchy rhymes, Yes I Can Listen!, written by Steve Metzger and illustrated by Susan Szecsi, encourages children to develop attentive listening skills. Read below for an interview with the talented Susan Szecsi, as she dives into her illustration process and reveals her favorite techniques and inspirations. Be sure to check out the activity packet that goes along with the book as well..

One day, after watching the movie for about the hundredth time, I wondered that what Toto would make of this wild adventure.That was all I needed to get started.

Here are some initial thumbnails and sketches how I created the characters

Tin Woodman was the most interesting and also the most challenging to draw. The original Wizard of Oz book was written more than 100 years ago, still most adaptations are faithful the first woodman illustration by W.W Denslow. I wanted to use a bit more modern , more robot-like version, that is still recognizable as the Tin woodman.

Fun fact: L.Frank Baum, loved to craft, especially liked window displays. From various scarp metal pieces he created a figure that resembles to Denslow’s Tin Woodman. Baum’s figure had a body from a wash boiler, limbs from stovepipes, and a sauce pan served as face with the iconic funnel-hat on the top of the head.As I thought the funnel was the most iconic element I kept it, but everything else got a bit updated more contemporary look. Next to the sketches you can see my own comments.