Grown-Ups
Behind the Scenes with Leanne Franson
Because we know you’re curious about where all these characters, stories, and illustrations come from, Rainbow Rumpus presents a new series of interviews with our authors, illustrators, and staff. This month we talked comics with Leanne Franson, illustrator of our monthly kids’ comic, Rosen’Blue and Sassafras.
How did you come up with the idea for Rosen’Blue and Sassafras?
At the very start, … I had this idea that I would develop this recurring cast of characters, including a little girl who was having trouble accepting that her parents were gay and another little girl who was homophobic and another who wasn’t. We would get to know these characters slowly, and they would evolve over time. But, at the time, Rainbow Rumpus didn’t know whether it would be publishing regularly, and [the publishers] decided to have themes every month.
I wanted to have some nonhuman characters, and I have a big Saint Bernard, so Rosen’Blue came from that. And I used to have hamsters. I wanted to have a big dog, and I have friends who have Newfies [Newfoundlands], so I made him a Newfie. With my dog, people always say “Good boy, good boy,” and they think she’s a boy because she’s a big dog, so I wanted to have [Rosen’Blue] be a girl because people always have gender stereotypes and make assumptions. And then I made the hamster a boy. And “Rosen’Blue” kind of [evoked], “Is it a boy dog? Is it a girl dog?” And [the name came from] putting together “Rose” and “Blue.”
As a kid, I had hamsters. I had—at one point—thirteen hamsters. So that was what I knew: hamsters and dogs, and their behaviors. I wanted to have characters a kid could identify with, no matter what their age or the orientation. That way they can be pets but also characters.
And the first kid character I did was Alex. I wanted her to be tomboyish and have a non–gender-specific name.
I want to be inclusive, and I want to make sure the kids are reading it. I wanted to make sure different kinds of families would be represented—someone could be living with their grandparents.
And I wanted to have someone who was adopted from China, and I wanted to have someone who was in foster care—Dudley—and he’s a little bookish and nerdy. And often gay men end up fostering nonwhite kids, so that’s where he came from.
A lot of it comes organically. If I have a story in my mind and it just needs parents or a kid, I’ll think, okay, we haven’t really had anything from the point of view of the dads for a while. And often Beth and Laura [Rainbow Rumpus’s editor in chief and publisher, respectively] will give me a theme.
How do you create each comic?
I usually start with the idea, and then I think of the punch line. I think of what [the comic] can start with, what it can end with. I take two pieces of paper, and I draw the logo and the six squares, and I think of how much space I need at the end. I draw the punch line—whether it’s the last or second-to-last box—and the characters’ reactions to the punch line. Next, I usually draw in the start, and then the middle; I can make it go faster or slower depending on the amount of physical space, and if I have extra space, I can put in one or two other little jokes.
Doing comics is much more difficult than illustrating children’s books, which is what I normally do. When I do the comics, and want to have five people running around and saying something funny, either they are going to have to be incredibly tiny, or we’ll need five panels to fit all the writing.
I first come up with the idea in my head, and it’s usually not at my drawing table. It’s usually when I’m doing something completely different that inspires me. And then I sit down and do sketches, and I email the sketches to Beth and Laura, and they’ll discuss it. They see if there’s anything they don’t understand or that won’t work. Then I make the changes, and I ink it in with technical pens. I choose a panel for the email newsletter that shows what [that month’s comic] is about without giving the story away.
Why did you decide to become an illustrator?
I’ve always loved books. I wanted to learn to read when I was four and was excited to go to school because we learned reading. And I’ve always drawn, ever since I was small. When I was in high school, I was always really good at things like biology and math, but I drew all the time. I drew in all of my books, all the time.
I went to school for fine arts, and I was into ceramics and lithography, and you need a lot of equipment for them. And it’s hard to do them at home. I remembered that I’ve always loved books, and I’ve bought kids’ books even when I was an adult and didn’t have children. So I made a portfolio and began illustrating.
