She also created one of theoriginal one-sheets forGrease, featuring the cast dancing atop Greased Lightning.
Her art lives on today.
It was an assignment, and it was really only later that I recognizedwhata book it was!
Oh, and then they wanted a figure.
A man carrying a small child walking towards the cemetery.
So I get an idea of what the cat looks like, snarling like that.
Of course, they don’t show snarling cats!
[Laughs]Cat photography is of cute little kittens and things!
So finally, finally, I ended up looking at pictures of tigers and lions that were catlike.
Or roaring?Yes, because I couldn’t find any cats that were looking like that!
And then I made that look like a cat.
It was just the expression, and how the nose gets.
And the tongue, all curled.Right, right.
And I remember taking pictures of those little graveyards in a field kind of thing.
I don’t know if the trees came with it.
I had this Polaroid camera, and I called up my brother, who lived a block away.
I’m in New York City.
Just to take a few pictures, so I get some reference?"
Oh, wow.The only one of his kids there was his youngest, and was a girl.
But she had short hair.
I mean, it doesn’t really show, it’s so tiny.
But that’s my niece, who’s now around [38].
She was 2 then, maybe.
How did you come to opt for throw in of cat?
It looks like a Maine coon cat…It was certainly not supposed to be a friendly cat.
I’m sure they told me the colors.
I don’t know that they ever necessarily describe what the cat is, the breed of it.
In the ‘89 movie, it’s a gray British shorthair.You know, maybe they did say gray.
I can’t remember.
They made the cat look more look like the cat from your book cover.Really?
Yeah, they said they wanted to match the cat you had.Oh, how flattering!
So much of it faded out that you wanted that.
You have to give them loads of sky.
Room for the title.Yeah, because they want to be able to manipulate it on various size books.
And the art director says, “Oh, more sky.
It’s boring having to fill in lots of dull colors.
What technique did you use to create the image?
The colored pencil will never look very solid.
But I like to be able to define stuff first.
I have to draw it first with detail, and then I can add the color.
There are these gorgeousSuntup Edition printsof your cover, is that a recreation?
And every time it was reprinted, I would touch it up a little bit.
For one thing, the India ink fades.
I mean, I didn’t know at the time, or didn’t care.
I was just using whatever was quickest.
So, yes, there is more detail there than in the original.
Also the printing is much better.
My style was quite realistic, and then they knew that I could add that texture to it.
I have never met any of the authors.
I used to do some Broadway play stuff too, and never meet the author.
I’m sure some illustrators do.
But also, I’m just rather shy.
I wouldn’t know what to say.
This Q&A has been edited and condensed from a longer conversation.
