Happy Thursday Critters! One of my favorite things is picture books that center around food. I love to cook and bake and I always enjoy a good food driven story. Today I’m sharing a new picture book that celebrates the joy of food: EVERY NIGHT IS PIZZA NIGHT, which released in September, written by New York TImes Bestselling chef J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and illustrated by Gianna Ruggiero. I’m thrilled to have Gianna join us today to talk about her debut picture book and road to publication.
So without further ado, please welcome Gianna Ruggiero!
Where do you live?
I currently live in Oakland, California, but originally hail from South Philadelphia. Proud of you, Philly.
When did you know you wanted to write/illustrate picture books?
I have always liked telling stories, and in college I remember doing a mock children’s book idea for a class. It was really fun and I experimented with photos and digital illustration. I knew then that this would be something I would like to pursue, but didn’t really know how. From that moment my career has mostly been in feature animation and video games. Children’s book illustration has always been on the back burner. In the past few years, I had finally started to pursue illustration more seriously by attending SCBWI events, networking with agents and publishers, and talking to published illustrators about their journey. That hard work seemed to pay off as it helped land me a spot with a literary agency.
Tell us about your road to publication, what did that involve for you?
Man, I wish I could be a little bit more inspiring and helpful, but it was pure luck and a backlog of portfolio work. I lost my job a couple years ago and tweeted out to the world wide webs sharing that I lost my job and was looking for work. Somehow that tweet landed on Kenji’s timeline and he took interest in me and my work. He later reached out to me asking if I would collaborate on a children’s book with him. I was optimistic, but I wasn’t aware of who Kenji was at the time, so to me he was a random stranger on the internet, thus it led me to be a bit hesitant. A lot of times internet strangers will email you asking for you to help do work on a screenplay they are writing, or their 5,000 page novel, and it goes nowhere. It’s a total crapshoot. But for me, I was lucky. Kenji not only turned out to be a famous chef, but a wonderful, talented, kind-hearted human that valued me and my work. I owe him many thanks.
Can you share a bit about your process?
My process usually starts out with a large amount of panicking, and what I can only describe as me flailing wildly around in circles, drawing things that somehow amount to an idea. Then I develop those half-baked ideas into a final concept.
Oh, boy. I feel like my process is always evolving. For some reason it is easier for me to conform to a style that is given to me from an art director than to form a style that I need to adhere to myself. For Every Night Is Pizza Night, it started out with a lot of reference gathering. Gathering styles from other illustrators I like, and photos of people I wanted to draw. From there it is a lot of scrappy sketching on paper or in the computer. I try to think a lot about the scope of the project, what kind of style I can commit to in a given time, what makes me happy, what the mood of the project is, things along that line that help inform how the final illustration will look.
What do you do to shake the rust off or get new ideas?
Ever since I was a kid, I walked a lot. I walked to school, I walked to friends houses, the bus. Wherever I walked it was usually accompanied by a CD player. I found myself lost in daydreams. Whatever I would listen to would conjure up a mood, a style, characters, scenarios, and stories. I would visualize little snippets between characters or come up with story arcs. Still to this day, I do that mostly walking my dog or commuting to work. The only thing that has changed is the CD player.
That was a very long-winded way of saying: Music. Music gets me in a creative mood.
Another thing I do is get rid of my shame and turn off the judgemental side of my brain. When I am sketching and trying to enjoy whatever it is I am creating on paper, I try not to judge it or shame it. I just enjoy it and see where my brain takes me in that moment.
Anything you can’t live without while you write/draw?
The internet.
Any authors and/or illustrators who inspire you?
So many to name. I am a big fan of Emily Carroll and her short story horror comics. Big fan of Emily Hughes, John Bond, Amélie Fléchais, Joe Todd-Stanton, and Christian Robinson.
Dream project to work on?
I would love to work on a strange silly adventure, or some sort of fantasy book. I really like books that feature animal characters meeting strange characters. I loved “The Phantom Tollbooth” as a kid, and I just loved the strange and creative worlds; ones that have never been explored or thought up before.
Tell us about your debut book.
Every Night is Pizza Night is about a young girl named Pipo who believes pizza is the best food in the world, that is until her parents tell her to go investigate. Pipo takes that as a scientific challenge, and goes on a journey in her neighborhood tasting different foods from different cultures. Pipo tries a whole range of foods from bibimbap to rice and beans. It is a book that celebrates different cultures, and diversity. It inspires kids and families to be adventurous, and try different foods while understanding that food can hold different traditions and meanings to us.
The book is light-hearted and funny. It also features pages that are explosive and whimsical whenever Pipo takes a bite of a new food she has never tried. It even features a pizza recipe in the back of the book for parents and kids to make together.
What’s up next for you?
Kenji and I are taking a much-needed break for right now, but I expect that sometime next year we might begin exploring a new book idea. Currently, I am enjoying just sketching and learning how to get better at roller skating. I am also coming up with a video game idea that I might pitch to my studio. So nothing too exciting, but that is fine for me.
And last, but not least, favorite 80s movie?
The Thing! It is the best!
Huge thanks to Gianna for stopping by Critter Lit today! Congrats on your debut!
Gianna Ruggiero is a concept artist, video game developer, and illustrator. Every Night Is Pizza Night is her debut children’s book. She lives in Oakland, California.
FOR MORE INFORMATION about Gianna or her work, visit her online: www.giannaruggiero.com or follow her on social media:
Instagram/Twitter @immagigi
ORDER THIS BOOK To order a copy of EVERY NIGHT IS PIZZA NIGHT click here.
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