1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
I have been ballroom dancing on and off for most of my life. There were gaps when life and family took up all of my time but next to creating art, twirling around a dance floor is my favourite place to be.
2. What is your nickname?
Most people call me Suze (ooze when my nieces were learning to talk), but I have been called Suzy floozy more than once.
3. What is your greatest fear?
Rats! Keep them as far away as possible.
4. Describe your illustration style in ten words. Colourful, detailed, uncluttered, and at times humorous and whimsical.
5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a creative.
Generous, enthusiastic, optimistic, encouraging, determined.
6. What book character would you be, and why?
Alice. To delve into a world full of colour and wonder, where 'imagination runs wild' sounds like a fantastic experience.
7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
I would go back to my final year of uni. I would tell myself not to listen to my lecturers and explain that working in publishing is more than a job at Cleo or some other magazine. I would tell myself that illustration was my strength - and to focus on that now instead of waiting another 10 years.
8. What would your ten-year-old self say to you now?
They would be over the moon that I get to spend all day colouring in and playing with paint.
9. Who is your greatest influence?
It’s a bit out of the box, but as a fine artist, the expressionist Franz Marc was a favourite of mine. He painted blue horses and yellow cows and was obsessed with colour. Oh, how I would love to create a picture book full of blue horses and yellow cows.
Read KBR's review of Suzy's latest book
10. What made you start writing and illustrating?
For my 11th birthday, I was gifted a copy of The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base. I pored over that book with my friends for weeks. That was the point when I first realised that illustration was more than just decorating the words. I continued being obsessed with art at high school, and studied graphic design at university, all the while painting as a hobby. But that love of the picture book was always there, niggling away.
In 2014, I joined the Facebook group, the 52 week Illustration Challenge (founded by KBR Founder, Tania McCartney). It was here where I drew the line (literally) and decided that this was where I was meant to belong.
11. What is your favourite word and why?
Delicious. Not referring to food necessarily, I love how it sounds and how perfect a descriptor it can be.
12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Oh, a truly impossible question. As a visual thinker, the descriptive writing in Where the Crawdads Sing is something I could read over and over. But for a children’s book, it would have to be my cherished copy of The Eleventh Hour.
ABOUT SUZY
Based in regional New South Wales, Suzanne Houghton is an award-winning picture book creator who describes herself as an illustrator first and an author second. She first hit the shelves in 2018 and has been constantly working ever since crossing between the fiction and nonfiction world of publishing. Suzanne loves nothing more than splashing colour on a page, with her main tools of the trade being watercolour paint and pencil. According to her children, she spends most of her time ‘colouring in’ and can often be found pottering around in her backyard studio.
Oh, a truly impossible question. As a visual thinker, the descriptive writing in Where the Crawdads Sing is something I could read over and over. But for a children’s book, it would have to be my cherished copy of The Eleventh Hour.
ABOUT SUZY
Based in regional New South Wales, Suzanne Houghton is an award-winning picture book creator who describes herself as an illustrator first and an author second. She first hit the shelves in 2018 and has been constantly working ever since crossing between the fiction and nonfiction world of publishing. Suzanne loves nothing more than splashing colour on a page, with her main tools of the trade being watercolour paint and pencil. According to her children, she spends most of her time ‘colouring in’ and can often be found pottering around in her backyard studio.
When it comes to her work, there is one thing Suzanne wants more than anything. To bring joy. Whether through humorous characters, or her colourful artistic style, if a child doesn’t find joy in her books, then she isn’t doing her job properly. Suzanne will talk about picture books to anyone who will listen, and especially loves visiting schools and libraries. She is passionate about promoting the importance of visual literacy and will wave the illustrator flag every chance she gets.
Suzanne believes that art is an under-utilised tool in the classroom and wants to ban the phrase, ‘I can’t draw'. Her goal is to inspire kids (and adults alike) to be as creative as possible, for as long as possible, and hopes to create books that do the same.
Check out Suzy's reviews by using the label Reviews by Suzy.
