Why Humans Invent Cool Things: Introducing John Devolle’s Brilliant Science Series

You’ve said that you “get excited about communicating complex ideas with humour”. How did that philosophy shape the way you approached this series? Were there particular scientific concepts you felt had to be treated differently because the audience is young?

This whole series (of Big Science for Little Minds) came about first because I was reading science books as an adult and was discovering things that blew my mind. This made me think that if I could get some of these ‘mindblowing’ concepts across to young kids, they might have more of an interest in science than I did when I was a kid. I was not a good student at school, and I think part of the problem was how we were taught science in the 1980s. Maybe this was my school in particular or maybe it was just how it was, but as a ‘non academic’ kid I felt I got left behind. So from the very start it was all about getting ideas across to young kids. I think I had learnt the skill of getting across complex ideas in as simple a way as possible from years working on editorial illustrations for newspapers and magazine. I did a lot of work for scientific and engineering publications, where you are often asked to distill a complex idea down into it’s simplest form whilst still making an arresting image. so I think the skills are pretty much the same for both.

The series (including titles like Atoms, Germs, Planets, Brains) is broad in scope. How did you decide which topics to tackle and in what order? Did you map out the entire arc before beginning, or did it evolve organically? 

It all started with the original idea I had for the book that became PLANETS. It was more of a narrative originally telling the story of a kid trying to find a better planet to live on because he was sick of his parents telling him what to do. A goldilocks story, as the Earth is known in scientific terms as a ‘goldilocks’ planet because it is just the right size, just the right distance from the Sun, which is just the right size for life to exist. But it never really worked in this form, or at least, my narrative writing skills weren’t up to it. In the meantime, I had another idea for the ATOMS book, which was written in a much more direct, simple way. Hitting the reader with facts and going on a sort of ‘thought journey’, zooming out from a single atom to the whole universe. When I was eventually offered my first book deal through Pushkin Press, they offered me a two-book deal, releasing ATOMS first, and suggesting that I rewrite PLANETS in the same style as ATOMS, and it all fell into place from there. Then we had a series!

What was it like working with Pushkin? How involved were they in shaping the content, tone, illustration style or editing of the series? What were the major benefits (and perhaps surprises) of working with a publisher rather than self-publishing?

Pushkin were great, from the start, they saw the potential in the series. They have generally left me to it, regarding the content of the books. Daniel Seton, my editor, has always been very helpful, giving me advice when needed and feedback along the way, but because I write, illustrate, and design/layout all the books, they are quite hands-off in that regard. They did suggest the subject of the GERMS book, which was their idea, but I felt it was a great idea and fitted in with the series, so I was happy to make that book. The Benefits of working with a publisher were that they are established, they gave me deadlines, as they have distribution and all that stuff already worked out, which leaves me to concentrate on just making the books. Also, I was paid an advance, which meant I could afford to take the time off from client work in order to work on the books. I guess the disadvantage (if there is one) is that the writer/illustrator gets less of a cut of the profits, so I guess if you can afford to take the time and put in your own money to get a book out, you could potentially earn a lot more out of the book’s sales. But for the situation I was in, I think it was the right route to take. Also, I think I needed the ego boost of a company, believing in an idea you’ve had enough to put their time and money into it. And a deadline helps too!

You’ve got a rich background in illustration, design, working with science institutions, education and publishing.  How has your experience in those fields helped you when creating children’s science books? Were there any parts of the process that you found unexpectedly difficult or counter‐intuitive?

Because my background is not really in the writing side of things, I found this a challenge. I was used to making simple/fun images, but I had to work at getting the language just right. I was trying to use simple words, but I found that sometimes I would end up with overly complicated sentences. I had to then work on these sections so that hopefully they were as pared down and direct as possible. I think this is probably the case with all picture books, and it is quite a skill in itself.

Translation and global reach seem to be part of the story: “These have been translated into Mandarin, Korean, Polish and Brazilian… so far.” How did translation or international rights considerations affect how you conceived or illustrated the books?

 I wasn’t thinking about translating the books at all when I was working on them. I was only really ever thinking about what interested me and following that, all the books came from this, really. We started to get translation deals after the first two books. I was blown away, as it wasn’t really something I had considered. It’s amazing to think that kids all over the world might be reading my books. Especially as I failed my English GCSE 🙂 I am currently working on a very different book for Pushkin, this one is a rhyming book, which would be very hard to translate, but it’s where my interest took me, I pitched it to Pushkin and they offered me a deal to release it, so I’m really happy to be doing it, but if I were doing it with a view to getting translation deals, then I wouldn’t have chosen to do this book. 

With science constantly evolving, how do you stay up-to-date and accurate in your content? Did you ever have to revise or rethink a concept because new research or better understanding came along during your process?

So far that hasn’t happened, but I think its because in the books I’m usually dealing with quite established scientific principles, the atomic theory in ATOMS is probably nearly 100 years old, its pretty established stuff that kids and a lot of adults won’t be aware of, so I was trying to get these things across, rather than the cutting edge of science, like string theory of quantum mechanics for example, which is changing constantly as we become more aware of things. So I stay with established principles and try to explore what these mean, for example, the fact that the atoms inside you right now have been part of millions of other things in the past, rocks, animals, trees… stars!

From an illustration standpoint: what part of the visual design process was your favourite? And what was the most challenging piece of illustration or design in the series?

I think my favourite part is when I have an idea, usually for an image with text, in a layout. It’s that combination of things working together that excites me; it could be something really simple, some shapes and colours working well together, for example. One of the most challenging pieces of illustration was drawing the Big Bang, it’s obviously impossible to draw this, so once I realised this and kind of established my approach to drawing this in quite an abstract way, I was OK. Also, I ended up just writing ‘Bang!’ in the middle of it; sometimes, just doing the simple, stupid idea is best.

The series is billed as “Big Science for Little Minds”. Given that, do you have plans to expand into new topics or to adapt the series into other media? What would your dream extension of the series look like?

Yes, I do have plans to do more in the series. I have a couple of ideas for the next ones, and I also would love to produce some short narrated animations of each book, but I’m still looking into how I might do this. In the meantime, I’m busily working on another book, as I mentioned, which is a bit of a departure in style for me; this should be out middle of next year. Not sure I can say what it is yet!