Team Spots or Team Stripes? A Do You Like My Pants? Q&A with Carrie Shryock

I am a woman of many passions. Nursery rhymes. International children’s books. The correct positioning of knitting needles on the picture book page (and my subsequent rage when they’re out of alignment). A desire for more humor is a big one too. Particularly when it comes to female identifying book creators. I have this low-key radar going at all times, and when I zero in on a creator that has a style I like, I get interested.

Recently, I got interested.

Specifically, I got interested in the work of one Carrie Shryock. First off, ten outta ten points for that name. “Shryock”. That’s a good picture book creator name. It does beg that someday she write a picture book about a shy rock, but I digress. On October 13th Carrie is releasing her author/illustrator picture book debut Do You Like My Pants? Now for a certain kind of children’s book specialist, that question immediately calls to mind the line, “Do you like my hat?” from Go, Dog. Go! So imagine coupling such a title alongside art that, for me anyway, brings to mind a little bit of Jim Flora. That’s a combo worthy of attention. Worthy too of a Q&A.

The book is described by its publisher in this way:

Cheetah has the world’s finest pair of pants—spotted, sleek, and just his style! At least, that’s what the enthusiastic pants salesman said. Cheetah can’t wait to dance around and show off his perfect spotted pants…until he meets a tiger who insists stripes are superior. Both felines are confused: whose pants are really the cat’s meow? Could it be that the world’s finest pair of pants is…whatever suits you best? 

With an energetic text and bright, dynamic art, author-illustrator Carrie Shryock has crafted the perfect picture book debut for celebrating differences and embracing what makes you feel like your fiercest self.

Today, I’m going to lob some questions at Carrie’s head. Let’s see how she handles it!

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Betsy Bird: Carrie! Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions today. I’m always on the lookout for fine, fabulous, hilarious picture books for the younger readers. DO YOU LIKE MY PANTS? 100% fits the bill. I will now (and I apologize for this) ask you the dreaded question that may, indeed, be unanswerable: Where did you get the idea for this book?

Carrie Shryock: Hi Betsy! Gosh, I will take that as a huge compliment. Fine, fabulous, and hilarious were all the adjectives I was shooting for, so mission accomplished, I guess! Thank you so much. You’re right that there is not always a clear cut answer about where ideas come from, but in this case I do remember the exact moment where this one struck me. These two characters, and a rough version of the story, popped into my mind when I was out on a walk. Let me take just a second to tell you that walking has become a big part of my creative process. I have found that the best ideas pop into my head when I am walking.

There is some sort of mind and body connection that happens, and it unlocks something that I can only describe as magic. On this particular walk I had been thinking about some greeting cards that I had recently designed. One of the cards features a tiger on the front with the phrase “Congrats on Earning Your Stripes!” For some reason, just like dominoes falling, the image of a tiger and it’s stripes triggered my mind to picture an opposing a cheetah and it’s spots, which led me to imagining these two cats as characters in a story about an epic argument over which is better, stripes or spots. I liked the thought that they might fixate on this one small cosmetic difference. From that seed of an idea, the gears started turning, but it took some time before the full story revealed itself. I considered a whole bunch of different scenarios, but as soon as I drew both Cheetah and Tiger in a pair of pants, it all started to fall into place.

BB: Ah, “cosmetic difference” is such a lovely turn of phrase. I shall be stealing it. Now, I would never have put the two together myself, but on your website you call the Dr. Seuss book THE SNEETCHES the “forbear” to this title. Was is it about that particular Seuss title that’s stayed with you? And what connection does it have to this book? I love this comparison.

Carrie: I love this comparison too, but I have to give credit to the folks at Kirkus Reviews for pointing it out. They were actually the ones who wrote about THE SNEETCHES being the forebear to this book, and I’m highly honored that they would think that. It was a pinch me moment, honestly, because of course Dr. Seuss is one that I’ve always looked up to. I had not directly made the comparison to THE SNEETCHES, but it makes sense! As a creative person I’m constantly soaking up information. Everything from stories and images to interesting color palettes. I think that’s one of the coolest things about being an artist. You ingest all sorts of stuff and store it away in your brain, sometimes subconsciously. Then when it’s time to create something, all of that stored information gets remixed and reassembled and spit out into the world in a form that is totally new. Yes, I would say that this book has some Dr. Seuss influences, as well as a multitude of other things.

In fact, I’ve been thinking lately that the show Seinfeld has worked it’s way into the things that I’m making. DO YOU LIKE MY PANTS? could easily be a Seinfeld episode. I can picture it: Jerry and George both buy a new pair of pants at The Pants Shop, which is run by Kramer’s buddy, who is a smooth talker with some questionable business practices, and… chaos ensues! This makes sense to me too. I love that show, so of course it has a spot in my brain, and now has made it’s way onto these pages along with Dr. Seuss. It’s the collaboration I never saw coming!

BB: There are altogether too few Seinfeld references in children’s literature, on that I can attest. On a very different note, there’s also a distinct retro vibe to these entire proceedings. An almost Jim Flora feel. I know you’re a fan of Bill Peet and Leonard Weisgard and such. Was that a conscious decision on your part as you were coming up with the look of this title?

Carrie: Oh, for sure. I wanted it to have a retro vibe and feel very nostalgic. I’m a huge fan of vintage picture books and I thought it would be cool to create something that feels classic and familiar, that might stand the test of time. When I was starting out with the sketches, and trying to establish the look of the illustrations, I created a big mood board with all sorts of images that I wanted to pull from. The board has everything ranging from jazz album covers, to retro clothing advertisements, to photos of Robert Redford from the 1970’s. As I was designing the characters I was thinking about these things too. I took lessons from the old Pink Panther cartoons, because I wanted Tiger and Cheetah to have long lanky limbs that could move around and strike funny poses. And of course, the style of their pants is a call back to the days of high waists and that slight bell bottom shape. Very groovy!

BB: PINK PANTHER! Yes! That is exactly what I was getting from this! You’ve hit the nail on the head. And then there’s the limited color palette too. We’re talking a light green, peach, blue, and back. I know I just asked you about the classic feel of the book, but this is an unusual color combination. I know you work digitally to a certain extent. How do you settle on the right series of colors for a book like DO YOU LIKE MY PANTS?

Carrie: One of the biggest decisions I made right at the start was to establish a very limited color palette. I created the entire book with only three colors – a minty green, peachy orange, and blue, plus black and white. I tried out several different combinations, but I kept coming back to this particular palette because it seemed to give me everything I needed, and I like that it feels unexpected and different. Yes, I did create the illustrations for this book digitally, and not to get too technical, but I kept each color on it’s own layer, so that where the layers overlap we get a few additional secondary colors. For example, where the minty green and the orange overlap we get a darker olive green, which you can see in Tiger and Cheetah’s pants.

Using these color layers is a very old way of working, but at the same time I’m using top of the line digital tools to get it done. This meeting of old and new technology is very pleasing to me, for some reason. It fits the style and the look I was going for, and it gives the entire book that classic feeling, like it comes from a different time. Another upside is that I could check off all of my color decisions right off the bat. Color can feel overwhelming, so giving myself these color constraints was actually a relief.

BB: Ah, that makes sense to me. This is also your debut author/illustrated book, so congrats! Tell us a bit about your process. How does a book like this come together for you? Did you write out the manuscript first and then put in the pictures? Did they both come out together? Did you have images in your mind and then you found a text to match? How did this come about?

Carrie: Thank you! I have been lucky to get to illustrate books for other authors, but this is my first book as both author and illustrator, which is a completely different experience. It was SO much fun. I think I’m still trying to figure out my process, but I do know that for me it starts with images. The thing about picture books is that the pictures do half of the storytelling, so I feel like it’s vital, at least for me, to consider them at the beginning. With this book in particular, I had the basic idea for the story, but I had a hard time putting words down on the page before I had done any drawing. I first started with sketching out the characters. I had to get to know my actors! I needed to know what they looked like, and how they moved, before I could understand their personalities and how how they might interact with one another. The story really didn’t start to take shape until I had some drawings to work with. From that point on I worked on it as a whole package, the words and pictures together. I find that it is really hard for me to separate the two.

BB: Okay, and there is a LOT of movement on these pages. I’m looking at these spreads of Cheetah dancing about, and I get curious. What are your visual references for a spread like that? Models? Yourself? Photo references? Or maybe it all just comes straight out of your head? What’s the process here?

Carrie: Cheetah loves to boogie! Yes, you’re talking about the opening spread. I had so much fun drawing him moving and grooving, and I love that the story opens with this scene. For this series of poses in particular I did get some help from a visual reference. I knew it needed to be dynamic and fun to look at, and at first I tried to just work it out on my own, but that wasn’t cutting it. I ended up watching a bunch videos of this really incredible hip hop/funk/break dancing group that blew my mind. There was one guy in the group who had definite Cheetah vibes, and I zeroed in on him. I paused the video periodically and did a bunch of sketches to try and capture his moves. It worked really well, and I think about that guy every time I look at that spread!

BB: Hard Question: If you had to wear either Cheetah or Tiger’s pants, which would you choose? Are you, personally, a dots fan or a stripes fan?

Carrie: Ha! Well, no one has asked me that yet, but I’m not sure I can take a side. Actually, right now I’m on the hunt for a new pair of pants to wear to the book launch party, and I’m open to any and all patterns and styles. I think I’ll know the right pair when I see them, but I haven’t found them just yet. Will they be striped, or will they have spots? I don’t know…stay tuned!

BB: Finally, what else are you working on these days? What’s next for you?

Carrie: Currently I’m working on the follow up story to DO YOU LIKE MY PANTS?, which is very exciting. There’s not much I can say about it at this point, other than I hope it will be another funny, clever story starring a few bi-pedal animals with some over the top outfits.

I also just wrapped up illustrations for a spooky silly story, written by Christine Virnig, which will be published by Random House. It’s about a house that really wants to be haunted, but when a new family moves in, things don’t go quite as planned. It’s called HAUNTED HOUSE WANTS TO SCARE – BEWARE! Look for it next summer!

BB: Can and will do.

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Good stuff all around. Thanks to Carrie for answering my questions and to Abby Synnes and the team at Penguin Young Readers for helping to put this together. Do You Like My Pants? is out October 13th, so you haven’t long to wait. Til then, keeping dancing you crazy critters!

Filed under: Interviews