Think of The Cat in the Hat, and the first thing that comes to mind is not a half-destroyed house with parents just minutes away. You probably see a slinky cat and his striped hat, standing with a mischievous look on his face.
In the world of children’s literature, the illustration is just as important as the storyline it supplements. It creates lasting impressions on the reader, and the images can stick with you forever.
As a freelance children’s book illustrator, Luanne Voltmer Marten ’80 happily takes on the challenge of creating those memorable images. Working from her home near Kansas City, Mo., her active, cartoon-like drawings accompany books such as The Old Woman in the Shoe.
An art major at Central before earning a degree in social work from Iowa State University, Marten’s career as an artist wasn’t one that she found immediately. After working in social work and taking time off to raise her children, she was pulled back into art.
“In 1993, my grandmother died,” Marten recalls. “She was an artist and always loved to paint. Sometimes when somebody dies, you get the feeling that life is short and you need to make the most of what you have.”
The fateful event inspired her to begin pursuing a career as an artist. She started self-promoting as a freelance illustrator. “I had always drawn, and that’s what I wanted to do. But I had just gotten off track,” she says.
Although she landed her first illustration job in 1999—with a toddler’s book—Marten realized that work was not easy to find in her new field. She began thinking of ways to make herself more marketable. “I thought maybe it was lack of skill,” she jokes today, “so I decided to take more classes and get a degree.”
Marten enrolled at the University of Kansas, earning a visual communications degree over the following three years. After securing a steady position as a graphic designer for a local business, she once again began to pursue children’s book work.
Marten submitted samples of her work to different agents. When one of those agents liked her drawings, she signed a contract with Portfolio Solutions. Over the successive years, her agent has submitted her portfolio to publishers looking for illustrators. When a publisher feels her work is a good fit for a book, they hire her.
“Generally, they send me a copy of the text,” she explains of the working arrangement. “I do the drawing, send it back to them and get notes. Then I do a round of changes. Hopefully it doesn’t take too many rounds,” she says with a laugh.
The amount of flexibility she’s allowed differs from job to job. The publisher will establish parameters—some loose and some strict. While recently illustrating a market scene for a Korean publisher, they prescribed nearly every detail—down to the direction the fish lay on a display stall.
For most projects, though, she has more room to make creative choices, and that is when she imparts her unique style. “I like putting humor into a piece,” she says.
This was not an approach that always characterized her work. In fact, her style has changed significantly since her early career. “I started off incredibly realistic,” Marten explains. “I would work off a photograph my kids had posed for me. Now, I just draw. I’m more keyed into what can make it fun for both me and the viewer.”
