American - Author | June 18, 1949 -
I think most people agree there is a component of skill in art making; you have to learn grammar before you learn how to write.
Chris Van Allsburg
ArtPeopleThinkLearnYouSkill
Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the population. It's a fact that most of the true believers are under eight years old, and that's a pity.
CultureTrueChristmasOldYears
At first, I see pictures of a story in my mind. Then creating the story comes from asking questions of myself. I guess you might call it the 'what if - what then' approach to writing and illustration.
MyselfMindWritingStoryQuestions
I'm not a perfectionist. I'm just very observant.
JustPerfectionistObservantVery
'The Polar Express' began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, 'What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?'
AloneMyselfWoodsTrainGoBoy
A good picture book should have events that are visually arresting - the pictures should call attention to what is happening in the story.
GoodBookStoryPictureAttention
The idea of the extraordinary happening in the context of the ordinary is what's fascinating to me.
MeExtraordinaryContextIdea
The whole idea of being mesmerized and not in control of your own actions is fascinating and a little spooky. I remember hearing about someone who'd gone to a magic act, and a person in the audience had become hypnotized by observing too closely what magician was doing on stage, and thought it was spooky to lose your consciousness that way.
ControlThoughtSomeoneDoingMagic
The crudest thing I've done as a teacher was to require students to write a national anthem for their country and sing it themselves.
TeacherCountryDoneWriteStudents
I don't like to travel. Yet all my books seem to involve a journey.
JourneyTravelSeemBooksLike
I'm always a bit disappointed when I've finished working on a book.
BookAlwaysDisappointedWorkingBit
Brainstorming, for me, takes place in my bed at night between the time I turn out my lights and I finally fall asleep. It is not a very violent storm, but what's happening is I am just thinking about different ideas and maybe things I've seen that day that I think might make a good story.
GoodTimeDayStormI AmIdeas
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