Northern Highlight - Lucy Fleming

 NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT 

 

Lucy Fleming 

Why did you become an illustrator?

When I was at school I became enthralled by the idea of making books. I loved reading and coming up with ideas of my own, and I wondered what it would be like to be an author. People could read your words and nobody need ever necessarily know what you looked like! Readers could love your work rather than your clothes, weight or what you looked like - all the things a teenager worries about would be immaterial. What a wonderful thing to do. What joy you could bring to others.

That all changed when I found a new way of creating characters and telling stories – through drawing! I became obsessed with drawing and making art, but I always came back to the storytelling as well. Inevitably, illustration felt like a natural marrying of my love for art and books.

Tell us about where you live.

I live in Stalybridge in Greater Manchester near moorlands and the Peak District. I've lived in a few areas of Manchester over the last five years but have made my home here, somewhere between the rural and rugged landscape of the Peaks and Manchester’s industrial past. Part of me has always had a gothic love for blackened sandstone houses - I think it was born from visiting family in West Yorkshire as a child and spending time with my grandparents on the moors. It was so different to the sleepy Warwickshire town I grew up in, and part of me always knew I’d end up back in the North someday.

Where do you illustrate?

I work from a teeny office set up in my home. I've always loved working alone and beavering on with my artwork quietly. The fewer interruptions the better! 

From Ella's Night Lights published by Candlewick Press

What for you is the 'spirit of the North’?

When people think of the North, I think they either envisage hardened folk, or everyone being friendly with one another. But, I feel that the spirit of the North is a sense of community that runs deeper than that. I also see the North as a deeply creative place, possibly it's not always seen as such. It has never been and never will be a good idea to underestimate the people of the North. 

Has this spirit influenced your work?

I don't think I'd be the person I am today without my Northern influences. Being the only Yorkshire family that I knew of in my hometown of Kenilworth did shift perspectives as I grew up. It seems cliché to say that Yorkshire folk are down to earth and value friendliness, above all, but in my family it certainly was so. I think that's grounded me and shaped the way that I work and what messages I gravitate toward in the manuscripts I want to illustrate.

 

Published by Candlewick Press. Designed by Anna Louise-Jones

Who for you are the great northern illustrators?

Although not from the North originally, Beatrix Potter chose the North, near Windermere, as her home and inspiration for the stories she wrote and illustrated. To this day, she is one of the most adored and influential children's book illustrators of all time. 

 I also have to give a shout-out to the contemporary Northern illustrators who are making waves currently and all of my fellow picture book makers in Children's Books North which is creating space for creatives from the North to be heard.

If you could be transported to anywhere in the North right now, where would it be?

Whitby. Possibly a dark corner of a pub as rain pours outside with a view to the sea, and a fire lit somewhere near my feet. Just let me bring a book and glass of red and leave me there for an hour or a few. 

What would you like to see from children's publishing in the North?

I'd love to see a real supportive community develop that raises each other up. I'd really like to see a diversity of people from all backgrounds, seeing that publishing could be a place for them and that it's not out of reach. 

What's your favourite children's book set in the North?

Isn't it sad that I can't think of a single one!

You can follow Lucy on Twitter and Instagram and find out more about her work at her website