ARTS & LIFE
Illustrators celebrating ‘super double book launch’ today at Mosaic Books
Meet the Kelowna artists whose books feel like a bear hug from your best friend after a long time apart: Cale Atkinson and Jessika von Innerebner.
Maybe it was some higher power that drew Cale Atkinson and Jessika von Innerebner together.
The Kelowna-based husband and wife artists are celebrating the release of two new children’s books this week.
Off & Away is Cale’s third picture book with Disney-Hyperion, and his sixth book since 2015 (he’s also illustrated four others in that time).
Von Innerebner has also illustrated a book for the Disney empire, a Marvel superhero adventure called Grow Up, AntMan. Both were released on Tuesday. “I think it has to be pretty rare,” Atkinson said of the timing.
They’ll be together at Mosaic Books today from 2-4 p.m., celebrating their “super double book launch.”
Their relationship was built on good timing.
They met while working at a Vancouver Island animation studio.
Von Innerebner admits she was almost ready to quit when Atkinson was hired.
A week or two in one direction or another, and their lives could have been vastly different than they are today.
“She was my reason for the island,” Atkinson said.
From there they were recruited to work at Club Penguin in Kelowna.
Eventually, there was enough freelance work that allowed them to branch off on their own. Has there even been work for them. Von Innerebner is the artist behind two juvenile fiction series, Ellie Ultra and the Escapades of Clint McCool.
She has also illustrated a new adventure series called Miranda and Maude: The Princess and the Absolutely Not a Princess due later this year.
Not only has she worked for Disney, her artwork has appeared with DreamWorks, Nickelodeon, Penguin Random House and many others.
Given the rave reviews that follow Atkinson’s books and the long list of bluechip clients on Von Innerebner’s resume, you might wonder if they have some secret to success.
But it’s no secret: the key that opened doors for them was hard work.
Atkinson said even while they worked for Club Penguin, they accepted almost all the freelance work that came their way.
They’ve illustrated for educational books, magazines and newspapers.
They’ve helped develop characters for big studios and provided art for startup apps.
Even now, with the weight of Disney behind them, Atkinson said they can’t stop to rest on their laurels. Their pens and brushes never stop. Take Off & Away, for example. While searching for new book ideas, Atkinson just started drawing.
He struck upon a girl and a sailboat. He tried introducing mermaids and other mythical creatures, but eventually settled upon a message in a bottle.
“It was just really fun to draw these adventures,” said Atkinson, a 34-year-old Vancouver native. “It was just a nice release for me, artistically.”
The pictures eventually formed the basis for Off & Away.
Those messages in bottles prove to be the test for a little girl named Jo as she faces her fears.
Grow Up, Ant-Man came without Marvel knowing von Innerebner and Atkinson were married; she earned the assignment on her own, but that does lead to an interesting bit of trivia. Marvel has only done two “traditional” picture books for kids. The other is called Nigh Night, Groot, and it was illustrated by Cale Atkinson.
Von Innerebner and Atkinson work backto-back in a bedroom converted into an office studio.
There is a secret to maintaining that environment, and it’s podcasts.
They listen to hear another voice and give them something to discuss, but they also maintain their own interests and hobbies when they’re not working.
“Even though we work together, we are still our own individuals,” said Jessika, 39 and born in Yellowknife.
Professionally, Von Innerebner said their careers changed when they had enough of a portfolio to attract agents. Not that it’s so easy. Atkinson admits 99 per cent of the agents he approached, if they said anything at all, said “no thank you.”
It was persistence that paid off for them both.
Von Innerebner said she’s on her third agent, and suggests it’s vital to find someone you connect with.
“Having an agent,” she said, “it’s a game changer. … Finding an agent is like dating. You’ve got to get a lot of ‘no’s.’ You’ve got to do the work.”
It’s amazing they can be so creative, prolific and connected. Atkinson said they just hit it off from the beginning: “I think it’s been a perfect kind of fit that way.”