German author and illustrator Sebastian Meschenmoser

We wanted to know more about the German author and illustrator of 3 Wishes for Pugman, Sebastian Meschenmoser, so we asked him a few questions.

 1. What attracted you to producing books for children?

I usually work as an Artist/painter in the Art sector where it is not so common to tell stories, and is mostly quite serious. But I like telling stories, so during my studies of art I always made some time in the semester holidays to illustrate certain stories that I had in my head. It was really nice to see that other people liked these stories and that is how my former hobby became my “other” job.

 2. What do you enjoy about writing for this audience?

Usually I start working on a project because I personally enjoy it. I do not really write for someone, but think, if I like the stories, other people might like them too.

 3. What materials and artistic techniques do you use to create your pictures?

Paper and pencil and coloured pencils (polychromos).

 4. What gave you the inspiration to tell the story ‘3 wishes for Pugman’/’3

Wuensche fuer Mopsmann’?

Myself in the morning facing the empty coffee box. I just wanted to create an unusual children’s book character, that is not always happy or loving the world every day. Somehow, Pugman is part of a certain kind of reality, and children also know reality.

'3 wishes for Pugman' by Sebastian Meschenmoser. The perfect antidote to all those fairy books!

5. You seem to enjoy drawing animals especially. Why?

Animal exist in a world parallel to our human civilisation and I find this, and them, beautiful and interesting. Animals are mysterious and sometimes we even seem to forget that they exist.

6. Did you enjoy turning the fairy into a pig?

Yes.

7. You write and illustrate your books. Which do you enjoy more: the words or the pictures?

I mostly enjoy the pictures. I write the text in the end, when all the drawings are finished, because then I can see what is missing to understand the story.

 8. If you had three wishes, what would they be?

I think my first wish would be to know two other really good wishes.

 9. What are you working on now? Have you got any plans to develop the Mopsmann/Pugman character further and do more books with him?

In july the second part of Pugman will be in the bookshops here and I´m really looking forward to this. I have some more pug-ideas…we will see.

Best wishes from Berlin, Sebastian

To see Sebastian’s more serious Fine Art work visit his personal website.