Author Interview with Nick Bruel

The DMS was lucky enough to interview Nick Bruel. Fairday recently reviewed his book Bad Kitty: School Daze, and we are excited to learn more about this naughty story. So, without further ado... take it away, Nick!

What inspired you to write Bad Kitty?

The idea came to me much like all of the ideas I've ever used: the title came first. I employ a personal creative device in which I contemplate book and story titles first. If I run across one I really like, I then contemplate the story that can go with it. Most of the time, I contemplate an idea that can't really sustain itself as a book. But every now and then, as with "Bad Kitty", I come up with something I can really use.

How long does it take you to write and illustrate a Bad Kitty book?

Roughly 9 months. But I've been known to hand work in after only 6 months.

Where did you come up with the main characters: Kitty and Puppy? What about Dr. Lagomorph?

As I mentioned, Kitty came about as a title first. But I did draw upon all of the different cats I've known through my life as a template for her personality. Cats really are quite cool and aloof on the outside. But inside they are a neurotic mess. I can relate to that.

As for Puppy, he came about from a need to find a proper ending for the very first book “Bad Kitty”. I could have ended the book with "And now she was a very, very, good, good, good kitty," but I didn't think that would have been a very satisfying ending. I wanted to make her bad again. My problem, however, was that while food was what made her bad in the first place, she now had all of the food she wanted. I needed something even bigger than food to disrupt her world. A dog seemed like the right answer.

Dr. Lagomorph came about right after I completed and handed in the final work for “Bad Kitty For President”. I was contemplating my next project that eventually became “Bad Kitty: School Daze”. Meanwhile, I decided to treat myself to a movie that happened to be “X-Men: First Class”. I walked out of that theater saturated with thoughts about my next Bad Kitty book and super-mutants. At some point two of those thoughts crossed paths, and the notion of a cute little bunny rabbit who fancies himself a diabolical mutant super-villain whose ability would be that he can transform himself into a cute little bunny rabbit at will came to mind. I HAD to use that character in this book no matter what. And I'm glad I did.

What are some of your favorite books from childhood? Were there any specific authors who inspired you?

I loved all of the usual suspects as a kid - Suess, Sendak, Silverstein. But, there was one author who goes largely unremembered today that I really liked, and that was a guy named Jack Kent. The only thing of his that might be in print today would be “There's No Such Thing As a Dragon”. But I always really liked his stories. He was, by the way, one of the very rare children's books creators who also sustained a comic strip in the newspapers for quite a while. The strip was “King Aroo”, and it's been recently re-discovered. Crockett (Harold and the Purple Crayon) Johnson comes to mind as another creator who followed that path.

Jack Kent did a book I adored as a kid called “Fat Cat: A Danish Folktale” about a cat that walks through town eating everything in his path, including the entire town. One could argue that this book did have an effect on me great enough to later create my own cat character who likes to eat.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Why?

I like where I am now in Briarcliff Manor. I also loved Tarrytown. The point is that I just like to settle. I don't really need anything more than a good table and my supplies. If the opportunity came to move to the South of France, I would pass. I just like to settle.

If you could befriend one of the characters in your Bad Kitty books, who would you befriend? Why?

I AM Strange Kitty. I already am someone who would rather sit at home and read comic books if left to my own devices. Some of my favorite passages to write are the ones of SK and his mouse friends just talking to each other in their comic book geeky wonderfulness. So, of all the characters in these books, he's the one I relate to most closely. 

What are some of the tools you use to create the illustrations for Bad Kitty? Can you tell us about your technique?

Pencil, crow quill pen with waterproof ink, watercolor and gouache paints. I paint all of my backgrounds with watercolor and all of my main characters (like Kitty) with gouache because that flat opaqueness that gouache provides really helps the character stand out from everything else in the painting.

Do you have a pet that needs to be taught a lesson at Diabla Von Gloom’s School for Wayward Pets?

My cat Esmerelda. And my daughter Izzy, pretty much every day around bedtime.

We were excited to meet Mr. Bruel at the 2013 UCONN Children's Book Fair. Stop by the post to learn more about his writing and illustrations! 

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