In the twilight filtering through the window into the small basement coffee shop La Boheme, illustrators Tsao Ruei-chi (
Huang and Tsao have each authored over a dozen hand-made picture books, for which they also wrote the texts, but it has taken almost a decade for their work to attract the attention of a publishing house. What makes their work unusual is that, although they are illustrated books, they are not designed for children. Although there's been no lack of illustrated children's books by Taiwanese authors, picture books designed for readers other than children have been dominated by foreign-language translations.
Huang and Tsao are leaders of Picture Book Club (
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PICTURE BOOK CLUB
The Picture Book Club is one of seven such clubs currently active in Taiwan.
We Are Fun (
The exhibitions held by these groups can really be an eye-opening experience. In Picture Book Club's last group show last year, Huang showed books of fairy tales for the grown-ups, accompanied by paper-cuttings that served as illustrations. Other group members made story books with three-dimensional illustrations, devices inside pages for readers to play with, exquisite paper sculptures and even illustrations of noodles that actually felt soft and elastic.
Until recently, the high cost of color printing has kept these works available to only a niche audience who frequent such exhibitions. This was how Tsao and Huang were discovered, and they say that the interest shown by publisher Chen Yu-hang (
Chen, founder of the famous literature-oriented publisher Rye Field Publishing (
"It is a worthwhile experiment," said Chen, who saw their books by accident when he was having a coffee in La Boheme.
"My publishing house is basically literature-oriented but nowadays I really need my publications to have illustrations. I found their [Huang's and Tsao's] works appealing both in their text and their pictures, so I thought I would try them out," Chen said. "Even literary books now have to include something visual. [Novels] whose pages are narrowly printed with line after line of text have lost their appeal. Simple decorations on the margins are not enough either. Full page illustrations are necessary. Young people, in particular, like to see pictures next to words. This is the era of the visual."
Chen went on to point out that being good at drawing alone probably won't get anyone a book deal. "The Blue Photo Studio in H Town is a well-written novel in its own right. With these heavily blue illustrations, the whole atmosphere is there," Chen said.
Even a few years back, Huang would probably have had to publish his books in black and white, if they were published at all. "Ten years ago, no one printed books in color. No publisher wanted to spend money on illustrations because printing them was so much more expensive than now. There was also not the demand for such books," Tsao said.
Even Lucy Chen, Tsao's mentor and one of Taiwan's most respected illustrators, has only had a couple of works published. Her reputation stems primarily from illustrating literature pages in daily papers.
In recent years, the cost of color printing has fallen dramatically, making publishers more willing to print all-color illustrations. The success of illustrator and writer Jimmy Liao (幾米) since his first book in 1998, has bucked a trend in the publishing industry with his continued popularity. Jimmy's best-selling works -- simple stories and European-style illustrations that appeal to young office workers in big cities -- have been adapted for screen, stage play and even music videos. His success has led publishers to seek out more people who can both write and draw.
So far, few newcomers can match Jimmy's fame or sales. Among the seven books by the illustrator after 2000, the most popular in commercial terms -- A Garden in My Heart (
Locus is a self-styled specialist in the publication of illustration books, but none of its other authors can match the sales for Garden. M &M Mook by well-known comic book authors Chang Miao-ru
Tsao and Huang's books fared no better, although Chen attributed that to the recent SARS outbreak.
Despite that, the hunt for new talent goes on. "We will continue publishing illustration books by new authors, and promote illustrated books as a characteristic of the publishing house," said Lo Shi-jing (羅世京) of Locus.
"At present, we get to know new authors partly through the recommendation of Jimmy and other writers but also through the authors themselves sending in their work. If they have a style of their own, we are willing to publish them," Lo said.
For most picture book makers, presenting their work to publishers is far more difficult than creating the works themselves. "It's very difficult to call [the publishers] up and tell them about my work. That's true for most of us," said Wu You-chin, a member of the Picture Book Club. "It's easier to let my books [speak for me] at exhibitions."
Almost all established picture book writers like Red Capsule (紅膠囊) and Cola King (可樂王) started as illustrators for newspapers. With more and more newspapers opting to use the much cheaper CD image albums instead of paying for illustrators, the members of the club expect exhibitions like theirs to become the new springboard to publication.
Regular venues for exhibitions of handmade picture books in Taipei:
Picture Writer
Mi Tsang Cafe (米倉音像食館), 24, Chaochou St., Taipei (
Trio Cafe (三重奏咖啡館), 44, Tai-shun St., Taipei (
Kuroshio Cafe
Cafe La Boheme (
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