The Playtime with Ye Ye children’s picture book was illustrated by artist Haw Shing Yee. Here, she talks about her inspiration and experience in bringing the story from imagination to the page.
Q: The most important thing about any book is the characters. Can you tell us how you made Ye Ye and Boy Boy look so real and lovable?
My inspiration for Ye Ye came from my own grandfather in Muar, Malaysia. He was always dressed in white singlet and striped cotton pyjama pants because it’s the coolest thing for our tropical climate; so that’s how I drew Ye Ye. One difference between my grandfather and Ye Ye is that my grandfather is very slim but Ye Ye has a paunch!
About his pinze-nez glasses, I got this idea from Lao Fu Zi. Lao Fu Zi is a hand-drawn Chinese comic series that was popular in my parents’ time.
Boy Boy is modelled after Pauline’s (the writer) son Lukas. She gave me pictures of him and this helped a lot because I had to draw Boy Boy in different postures, like bending to look under the table or posing for selfies with his grandfather.
Q: The entire story takes place in a living room. It could have been boring; so how did you liven it up?
Well, firstly, the story is more about the relationship between Ye Ye and his grandson, rather than the setting.
But I tried to make the living room fun by using vibrant colours throughout the book. I chose the watercolour medium because I felt that it is very suitable for illustrating history, which is the theme of the story. Plus, watercolour is my favourite medium!
Also, the pages are filled with fun elements that children identify with instantly, like toys, dress-up hats and carton boxes for creative play! Adults would also love the images of nostalgic objects like the chatek, gasing, newspaper hats and Chinese orchestra instruments.
You will see the same iconic objects pop up on different pages. This is because young children love to flip the pages and play “Spot the item”.
Q: My favourite page is the Tok Tok Mee Man because it is so comical to see Ye Ye cooking in the living room (I hope he doesn’t burn the house down)! What is your favourite page?
My favourite page would be Ye Ye and Boy Boy in their refrigerator-box boat. I like imagination play. It’s wonderful how an ordinary box, some cushions and a fan can transform into a boat for you to cross the South China Sea and settle down in a new country.
Do you like Ye Ye’s newspaper hat? I used real newspapers to create a multi-media effect. And, of course, the language has to be Chinese because Ye Ye only reads Chinese news.
Q: What was the most difficult page to draw?
This is my first attempt at illustrating a children’s picture book, so I faced a lot of challenges which also meant that I learned a lot.
Trying to portray the love between the grandfather and grandson through their facial expressions and body postures was challenging. I want to learn to draw a wide range of expressions in the future.
I also had to quickly learn up about things that were foreign to me – like the Formula One Night Race. I’ve heard about the event, but when I really came down to it, I realised I didn’t know what the track or the race cars looked like. So I had to do research on the Internet.
Overall, it was a learning experience and I am glad for the opportunity. I hope to be able to illustrate children’s books again in the future.
Haw Shing Yee studied design and media at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, majoring in illustration. She likes to travel to explore. She loves to draw Nature and finds patterns in everyday life. She is currently a full-time illustrator and designer with a Singapore publishing house.
PLAYTIME WITH YE YE BOOK 