Interview: Stephanie Buosi
- Little Thoughts Press
- 7 hours ago
- 6 min read
Stephanie Buosi is a Canadian illustrator and graphic designer who loves drawing animals, fantasy creatures, and kids on adventures. She’s an environmentalist, and in her spare time volunteers with Turtle Protectors in Toronto, assisting mama turtles throughout the nesting season. When she’s not doodling in her sketchbooks, you can find her outside among the trees, or escaping into new fantasy worlds with a good book and a cup of tea. See more of her work at stephaniebuosi.com and at @stephaniebuosi.com on BlueSky and @stebuosi_ on Instagram.
Little Thoughts Press: Your illustration A Murklin Sonata is such a dreamy scene. All of the onlookers seem so peaceful and entranced by this nighttime serenade and we too are able to imagine the sounds of the music that they are hearing. What advice would you offer to young artists and illustrators for how to create a sense of peace and pleasure in their artwork?
Stephanie Buosi: I think colour is a huge factor in creating peace and pleasure in your artwork. Colour has its own language, and it’s fascinating once you dig into it a little. Want to build excitement? Reds and yellows are your friends! Peace and calm? Blues and greens are the way to go. The best advice, and what helped me a lot, is to do colour studies. Create an outline of your work. Then try colouring it in two different ways, with two different colour palettes. It’s easiest to do this digitally, but you can definitely practice with paper, markers, paints, whatever you have! And be sloppy! At this stage you are testing and experimenting, and it’s always best to be messy!
Little Thoughts Press: Was there a particular song you had in mind when creating this piece and what did you do to try to capture the feeling of that song in this image?
Stephanie Buosi: Ooo this is a great question! So I created this piece while my daughter was only a few months old and she would take her naps on my lap. I’d often play lo-fi music to help her sleep, and I found this one playlist that was all about Nintendo and the Legend of Zelda. The song that we’d listen to on repeat was “Zelda’s Lullaby” by Mipsick. It’s a very peaceful, calming song.
Little Thoughts Press: Our Stirring Words issue is all about odd, interesting, or inspiring words and phrases. What is your favorite word right now? Why do you love it?
Stephanie Buosi: I love the word querencia which is Spanish and means “a place from which one’s strength is drawn, where one feels at home; the place where you are your most authentic self.” I think as artists we are constantly creating from a place inside ourselves, and as a visual artist I am always searching for my “style.” I love this word when you connect it to your art practice because it helps remind me to try and be authentic, to create from an honest place that feels like me. Does that make sense?
Little Thoughts Press: Why did you choose the word(s) you chose to feature in your Stirring Words piece?
Stephanie Buosi: When I first saw the word Murklin, it made me giggle a little. What a fun word to say! Then when I read the definition, I immediately thought of night critters. We live in an older neighbourhood in Toronto, and there are many, beautiful, hundred-year old trees that support a lot of animal life and biodiversity. When we would go on evening walks we would often catch sight of raccoon families, possums, skunks, cats, rabbits. The dark is so full of animal life, and it’s a little magical when you can spot a critter at night.
Little Thoughts Press: What initially brought you into the world of kidlit and what do you find most challenging and rewarding about making art that will appeal to children?
Stephanie Buosi: The world of kidlit can encompass so much creativity, and variation of style, it’s so amazing to me! Every time I browse my local library or bookstore’s children’s book section I discover a new artist or illustration style that I fall in love with. So I was naturally drawn to the world of kidlit as an artist.
Growing up, I was also a huge reader, but my little sister wasn’t and that really bothered me. I think I just wanted her to feel that excitement that a great book can inspire. So she wouldn’t read novels or chapter books, but she loved picture books and comic books. When I grew a bit older, I realized that kidlit and illustrated stories have a super power—they encourage reading! So I suppose the most rewarding part of making art for kids is making reading really fun for kids who don’t really like to read. Because reading is amazing and can change your life in so many good ways.
Okay, challenges. The many many many many hours of practice to get to where I am today. I am good at drawing, but I wasn’t always! Many people will say to me “I wish I was talented like you and could draw,” but you know what? I’m not talented! I just practiced. A lot. And it can be hard to practice and keep going when you don’t think you are very good at art. I am always happy to show you my drawings from 10 years ago… oh man they were bad. Actually, if you have the time, scroll very very very far back on my instagram page and you’ll see some pretty bad drawings! And I am still practicing! I still sometimes think my art is bad, but you just have to keep going.
Little Thoughts Press: I have asked these questions of the young artists we’ve featured on our blog and I am curious to know your answers as well: What is your favorite thing to draw and how does creating art make you feel?
Stephanie Buosi: Bird. Hands down. When I doodle, it always seems to be birds in fun hats.
Creating art is such an integral part of myself I couldn’t imagine myself never not creating! When I haven’t been able to pick up my pencil in a couple days, because of other life priorities, I feel incomplete and anxious. Creating art is my happy place, and I could draw for hours (and have).
Little Thoughts Press: Which kid-lit authors, illustrators and books were your favorites growing up?
Stephanie Buosi: The Chronicles of Narnia were a big favourite. Especially when I was sick. It was so easy to slip into this amazingly magical world of talking trees and animals, and the adventures were always so fun. I also loved the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler) as well as Brett L. Helquist who illustrated all the covers. I was also super into Pony Pals and Saddle Club. For illustrators, I loved Phoebe Gilman (The Balloon Tree, Something From Nothing). Growing up, I was also a huge reader of Archie comics! I think those comics probably influenced quite a bit of my more cartoony-style of work.
Little Thoughts Press: What advice would you give to young artists?
Stephanie Buosi: Practice. I really can’t stress how important it is to practice. And doodle! Because it’s fun and you are practicing while you doodle so you’re doing both at once! I love to doodle while watching movies at night with my family. Or when I’m chatting on the phone with a friend. Sometimes I even doodle outside in the park!
I would also recommend grabbing a dollar store sketch and doodling in that. Because when you have a fancy-smancy sketchbook you don’t always want to get messy in it, or you feel your drawings have to be really good and there’s a pressure there. But with a dollar-store sketchbook? I always feel I can draw really ugly doodles in there and have a blast doing it!
Little Thoughts Press: Is there anything else you wish I had asked? Any upcoming projects, publications, or other news you'd like to share?
Stephanie Buosi: I’m currently (slowly) working on a detective hummingbird book for early readers! It’s still in its early stages of character development, but I’m very excited to start creating some fun misadventures for Detective Zip!