There is no head nor tail in this story!
Pony has been stolen everything: legs, butt, tail and plates. This is how the story and Pony's comical journey begins as he decides to find his lost parts.
Written and illustrated by Anne Vasko, Pony's Tail (Etana Editions 2021) is a crime story the size of a hobby horse. The first part of a trilogy, Lentopusu (A Flying Kiss, Etana Editions 2019), started a series in which difficult feelings are dealt with in a warm and humorous way.
Etana Editions (EE) talked with Anne (AV) about her book, life and illustration.
EE: What tools do you use in your work as an illustrator?
AV: On my desk there are inks, various papers, a couple of favorite scissors, pens, various stamps and an awful lot of "random pieces", which are starting points for illustrations and characters. For sketching, I use different pens, whatever I find first and begin to study either the character or to compose the picture. Illustrations based on collage I usually start by sketching lines and sometimes with the help of a random piece. I am relentlessly curious about tools, testing them is fun!
EE: How did your illustration style develop?
AV: As an illustrator, I'm craft-oriented and it's important for me to try different surfaces and papers, smell colors and test brushes, it's part of the atmosphere of the studio and tuning into the work.
Partly because of that, I am fascinated by the collage technique and also because of its surprising nature. Perhaps such research trips and experiments have shaped my illustration style the most - my own challenges and questions whether it is possible to illustrate also like this.
Perhaps the most important of all are the texts, which immediately set in my field of vision some kind of perspective and atmosphere, towards which I begin to move in my illustrations.
EE: What drives you forward as an illustrator?
AV: Improving the world and wondering, looking close and having far-flung dreams.
EE: Where did you get the inspiration and idea for the Pony book?
AV: I'm quite a nature geek and horses have always been a part of my life. It's actually a miracle that the horses only now appeared in my illustrations and to tell the story of the book.