Interview with Leanne Shapton

Leanne Shapton recently designed a gorgeous cover for Hilary Thayer Hamann’s first novel, Anthropology of an American Girl (Spiegel & Grau). At 600 pages, the book actually feels light with the quirky hand-drawn lettering and nonchalant watercolor blooms on the cover.

As a visual chronicler, art director, and publisher, Leanne Shapton is an illustrator’s illustrator. Combining images with words, she travels with a sketchbook, jotting elegantly-written notes and drawings to document what’s around her. From ordinary, beautiful things like textiles, architecture and food, her drawings exude an honest, playful quality. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Black Ink, and drawn & quarterly, among others. I love the wearable prints she recently designed for Rachel Comey.

She also co-founded J&L books and started a column of visual delights called, We Three Things in T magazine. I particularly liked the concept of the book she mentioned, Interview by Hans-Peter Feldmann.  

It’s refreshing to see her pen and ink work on book covers and ephemera, especially since everything commercial is often very slick. I’m glad I had the opportunity to learn more about her work:

How did you get involved with designing this cover?

Greg Mollica, who I first encountered with when he was working with the brilliant Rodrigo Corral, emailed me to see if I’d be interested. He sent me manuscript pages, which I liked, and I signed on.

It looks like you had a lot of freedom with this project. Did you have to convince the publishers to go with this look?

No! But perhaps Greg did? I sent a number of sketches and he wrote back that this was everyone’s favorite. The final does not differ much from the sketch. I love when decisions are come to that quickly and confidently.

I’ve noticed a lot of design, and even illustration, is done digitally or tightly composed with tiny brushes and graph paper. I think part of the fun of your work is the loose, natural feel. Do you try to let the medium flow and embrace the imperfections of the hand rather than suppress it?  

I am incapable of doing very much tight, composed work, and not technically skilled enough to do anything digital. I’m generally a little messy, but loose and natural is a nice way of putting it.

You started your own publishing company, written a couple books, and your work is equal parts writing and drawing. What is it about books, or storytelling in general, that you love?

I love words and pictures, in equal measure. I love reading, and how we read pictures is as complex, interesting and illuminating as how we read words. 

Besides the beautiful cover, the long and winding road to get this book in print is another artful tale. After prospecting publishers with no avail, Hilary Hamann decided to forego further rejection and founded her own SoHo gallery and publishing company, Vernacular Press. The title, originally self-published in 2003, sold out of the 5000 initial copies and gained an underground following. Reviewers heard about the book through handwritten notes she sent on letterpress cards and eventually it took off down the grapevine. And now, several years later, the publishers came to her. Read the Publisher’s Weekly article about it.