Estrela Lourenço, illustrator of Mimi the Dancing Bee, on her fascinating journey from science to animation to storyboarding and on to writing and illustrating children’s books.
I think I’m one of those people that just can’t stay still in one place for a very long time – and that has been the theme of my career so far.
From Science to Animation
I started as a Science student in Portugal back in the early 2000’s because during our Junior Cert year we needed to pick a path for our future career (crazy, right?). I picked Science, because even though I loved Arts, I thought Science would give me a ‘proper’ job (whatever that meant).
After two years, many panic attacks and a visit to a therapist, I was told there was a school that was teaching animation and so I dropped out of science and started studying animation.
I then went to a Fine Arts College in Lisbon; it was a big shock. The classes were not something I related to but since I had promised my parents I would have a college degree, I continued the course, and in the evenings, I would try to work on my own personal projects in animation, and on commissioned work from animation studios in Portugal who had seen my student film at film festivals.
From Animation to Storyboarding
My animation portfolio landed me a job in Ireland in 2009 as a character animator for “The Amazing World of Gumball.” After a few years I became an Animation Lead and then an Episodic Director, but even though they were great jobs, I really missed drawing every day.
As an Episodic Director, I talked with a lot of departments, and I found storyboarding to be one of the most creative – it was pushing the teams so far in regard to storytelling and they got to draw all day! I asked to be moved to that department where I stayed for about four years.
From Storyboarding to Part time Illustrator
In the meantime, I was starting to listen to a lot of animation podcasts, and on one of them, it was mentioned that some people in animation were starting to illustrate children’s books. My interest increased as time went by and I learnt more about the children’s books industry.
While I was working in storyboards, I began to share my own drawings online, using hashtags such as #kidlit and #kidlitart, in the hopes of one (lucky) day, being discovered by an art director who might be browsing the web. It eventually worked, and in 2018, I illustrated my first two chapter books for the American publishing house Albert Whitman & Co.
When the Covid lockdowns happened, I continued working in storyboards, but I was becoming more serious about getting into the children’s books market. My agent James McGowan from Bookends Literary found me through the hashtags I was using on social media and we signed in March 2020.
When I finally became a mom in 2022, I decided I had to leave one of my passions behind. I finished my nine to six job in animation and focused on being a new mom. And after a few months of sleepless nights, I decided to continue working towards my new passion for children’s books.
From Part time to Full Time Illustrator
Since then I have been so grateful to have worked with so many amazing writers (many became friends online – as most are overseas in the US). I worked mostly in picture books as a fellow illustrator for clients such as Macmillan, Harper Collins, Scholastic, Kiwi Co, Pagestreet Kids and Sourcebooks.
From Full time Illustrator to Author-Illustrator
Since I had signed with my agent, he had been asking me about writing my own stories. I always felt too afraid to do so, as I had almost zero experience. So, I took some writing courses and joined the 12×12 challenge which led me to two critique groups. After writing and building many book dummies with my agent, we received our first green light with Walkies – A Dog’s Tail.
From Author-Illustrator to Board Book creator
As I was reading a lot to my first child, I fell in love with board books and got my wish to create a character-based series. After writing and brainstorming with my agent, we pitched the Peek & Boo series, which got picked up by Sourcebooks and became a dream come true of a series of four board books.
From Author-Illustrator, Board Book creator to Comic Artist
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I just can’t stay still very long in a particular medium, and I soon discovered a new interest in comics for children. I have loved comics since I was a child, so this seemed like a natural progression. I started studying the medium and I’m so grateful to have gotten a deal to illustrate my first graphic novel with First Second in the “Fox and the Magic Book” series, a character I started designing and writing about when I was pregnant with my first daughter, four years prior.
Illustrating Mimi the Dancing Bee
I always wanted to illustrate a book for the Irish market, so after reading the really sweet manuscript about a dancing bee written by Eoin O’Brien, it was a no brainer. I said yes to O’Brien Press right away!
I had no idea bees actually danced to help other bees find a new place for a hive. After researching and watching videos of real bees dancing, I understood how the waggle was so important. I tried hard to translate those real movements into dance moves that an illustrated bee (and a child) could do in real life! It was also SO much fun to design Mimi as a much smaller bee than the others, and to give her big goggles so the wind doesn’t hurt her tiny eyes as she flies fast looking for a new place for the hive.
It was important to illustrate Irish wildflowers and Irish towns, so a lot of research went into these.
I tried to use my neighborhood as a reference, so children like mine could recognise houses like theirs in the book, and gardens like ones they can create themselves.
My wish is for Mimi to be an inspiration to children and adults to embrace biodiversity in their neighborhoods, which helps us all, and in particular, the bees.
(c) Estrela Lourenço
About Mimi the Dancing Bee by Estrela Lourenço:
Mimi is a tiny bee with a tiny voice.
The bees need to find a nice spot for a new hive – somewhere with lots of flowers and trees.
Mimi finds the perfect place, but when she tries to tell everybee about it, nobee can hear her.
It’s time to dance!
Order your copy online here.
And read more on illustration on Writing.ie here.
