The Bear Out There
The Bear Out there is a colourful take on a familiar story! Creator, Jess Hannigan, has taken the time to answer a few of our questions!
Tell us about The Bear Out There!
The Bear Out There has been called a “cozy thriller” by people smarter than me, and I love that description. In the story, we meet a strange little girl is hiding in a house, who swears that there’s a bear out there! She assures us she is an expert on bears, but we soon find she may be the untrustworthy one after all. It could also be described as a kind of sequel to Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, without spoiling. I’d like it to be enjoyed as an intro to suspenseful stories, with lots of laughs so nobody gets too scared!
It is a bold and bright story, was it a lot of fun to design and illustrate?
Yes! The book is so bright for two reasons. One, because I wanted it to not feel too creepy, so there are lots of fun pinks and greens and blues, and two, because those were just the colours I was really excited about at the time that I was making it. I especially enjoyed the big, stretchy yelling pages with the big hand lettering. It was fun to balance the quiet moments, to suspenseful moments, to big AHHH! moments.
What medium did you use for The Bear Out There?
The book was made with paper collage! I painted sheets of tracing paper in different colours, and used those to cut out my shapes and glue together so that there were lots of fun painty textures. I was really inspired by Eric Carle, and wanted to see if it was as fun to do as he made it look, which it was!
Are you working on another book that you can hint at?
Yes! My next book with HarperCollins is set to come out sometime next year, and is titled The Cow in the Dark at Night! It’s about a naive cow who is determined to explore the world at night, and comes across some unsavoury characters.
What inspires your work?
I watched a lot of movies and TV as a kid, so I think a lot of my sense of humour probably comes from The Muppets and cartoons like Spongebob. Aesthetically, I really like artists like Bruno Munari, a master of modern design, Taro Gomi, and Tomi Ungerer. I think my work is a big blend of these things and lots more, I just try to make what I like and hope that it feels satisfying.
