Tita Berredo is a Brazilian picture book writer and illustrator based in Glasgow. She has a Master’s degree in Children’s Literature and Illustration from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a background in cinema and marketing. Tita is the Illustrator Coordinator of SCBWI British Isles and the Art Director of their weekly magazine, Words&Pictures. Her wordless picture book, The Dress, was selected by dPICTUS for the Unpublished Picture Book Showcase. It was featured in 2023 at the Bologna Children’s Books Fair.
What is it about illustration that appealed to you as a career choice?
First of all, I’ve loved drawing since I was little — that kind of helps. I was a solitary child, small for my age and easily bullied. So drawing stories allowed me to be my own companion, and it quickly became my favourite thing about myself.
Growing up, I never thought of it as a career choice. I had the usual parental and societal pressures around me, and didn’t have much experience of choosing things for myself. I was good in many things that didn’t involve numbers or spreadsheets, and ended up doing a lot of stuff that I felt reasonably confident about. But somehow, I would always find a way to fit drawing in everything I did.
It took me a while, but I eventually felt able to live according to my own desires — and drawing was right there! I was in my late twenties when my husband said that I was good at it because I loved it so much, and that I should make something greater out of it. That was the last push I needed.
Then it was just figuring out what kind of illustration I wanted to focus on. The fact that I had unofficially worked with it before helped me filter my options. Having previously worked with marketing, journalism and cinema, I had given a go in commercial illustration, editorial and animation — which were fine, but not really my cuppa tea.
It seems a bit obvious, but once I reconnected with the child I was I understood I really wanted to draw stories! And here am I.
Would you agree that illustration is the queen of all forms of story telling? If you do, what would your reasons be?
I might be biased, but yes I do! There are many factors that would give all of the advantages necessary to win the race against other forms of story telling: it’s intuitive, universal, fast, flexible, expressive, diverse, effective, objective, moving, solo, shared, fluid, historical, timeless, etc.
But there is one factor that makes it extra special: we are all born with it.
Illustration has been present in all times, in all forms of tribes and civilisations that never had a connection apart from being of the same species — and it’s all because it is naturally and exclusive of our kind.
Drawing is a fundamental part of human expression. Artists will develop their skills and technique but drawing will emerge naturally to any toddler who can hold a crayon. We communicate and read first with drawings. We express ourselves through them before even forming words, before even knowing who we are.
Illustration is present in all humankind, regardless of age, background, or culture. If we know the first thing about story telling and its origins, it is because of illustrations on a wall.
What are the core principles of illustration pure from your own point of view and in your experience?
Every branch of drawing will have their own specifications such as skills, technique, media, and different visual styles. But if we talk about illustration as a whole, it is widely an art concept that communicates with much freedom.
In essence, a drawing becomes an illustration when it expresses or communicates any thought or feeling. So I think the most important principle, especially within books, is that an illustration must tell a story. A drawing can be nice and pretty, well designed and show good technique. But it becomes irrelevant in illustration if it doesn’t fulfil a narrative role.
I’d say that an illustration’s core is its story telling abilities. It must provokes a reaction, an inquisitive thought or learning. When I am mentoring emerging artists, I usually say that when looking at an illustration we must be able to tell that something has happened, is happening, or is about to happen.
How has AI impacted illustration as an industry so far? Are illustrators right to be worried about AI?
Most illustrators are concerned about being replaced by AI, but that is not the issue. Technology innovations always existed and we’ve always been able to adapt. When digitalisation arrived, traditional artists felt threatened by fearing obsolescence, and anyone drawing on a tablet was seen as a villain. Time passed, we learned ways to deal with it, and digital art did not replace traditional illustrators. Instead, it opened up a market ramification and brought some improvements to the industry — like how illustrators can now virtually share their artwork with publishers (I enter a sense of shock every time I think we used to post our original artworks by mail).
Now, most illustrators have embraced digitisation by combining their traditional skills with its practicalities (eg.: scanning, retouching, and layering different elements of the same composition). I, myself, have saved time, money and materials by drawing some roughs digitally before I traditionally render them with expensive watercolours. So I think the same will happen with AI and we’ll be fine.
Now, for the real issue: intellectual theft and copyright infringement. Artificial Intelligence cannot create original artwork, it needs to be fed with existing images in order to generate an image. Let me emphasise this: AI does not create, it will generate images by merging what it’s fed in accordance with the commands received. The issue is that some companies are scraping image data from artists’ personal websites and social media to generate AI images based on their signature style, and they are doing it without consent. That is intellectual theft.
So until very recently, if a publisher wanted to sell a book with my illustrations, they would have to hire and pay me. Without regulation and copyright protection, my artwork could potentially be used for someone else’s profit at my own expense. There is already a lot of competition within illustration, the only thing that sets my art aside is my ability to make it uniquely mine. I cannot be unique if I have to compete with a digital version of myself that not even I can control.
In the light of this and other trends ands and innovation, paint a picture of what the near future looks like for both experienced illustrators as yourself and newer artists?
Personally, I am mildly concerned, but not really letting myself spiral in fear. I won’t stop creating, so I will do all I can to try and protect my art. I can only focus on what’s within my reach, and hope the rest will sort itself out.
I do feel concerned about the devaluation of art in general, in the sense that this kind of thing normalises art as a purely commercial product instead of a human need of connection and self expression.
In reality, technology serves as a tool as much as any other. Like a knife, its benefits depend on who’s hand it lies upon, a surgeon or a burglar. If there is appropriate legislation around it, it will protect and support creators who are motivated by human connection. If not, it will protect and serve exploitation.
On a brighter side, there are many AI features that artist can embrace in the sense that it is a tool that might help them expand their creative time and mental space. Use AI to create publishers’ mail lists, query letters, and work timetables so you can spend your own energy in your art. In the near future, I want AI to do my taxes so I can have more time to draw, not the other way around.
How confident are you that there will be appropriate legislations around Ai before it goes irredeemably wrong in the hands of the “burglar”?
The reality is that technology evolves a lot faster than legislation, and some companies are already profiting within this time gap. But organisations like the AOI and the SOA are constantly fighting for creators’ rights and finding ways to increase intellectual protection. The art community is also a strong and connected one in raising awareness and calling out publishers and companies that scrape.
It is still early and easy to profit on AI, but I am sure legislation will happen a lot faster once scraping start biting large companies back. Once they see that their own products are in danger of being copied, money will speak loudly. There is a reason why Youtube won’t allow you to use just any kind of music in your videos.
The self righteousness coin is another powerful factor in the internet. There is nothing faster or more devastating than cancelation culture. Scraping awareness is rising, and big companies are already losing money because there is a negative reaction to it by the general public. The more publishers, competitions, and organisations that include “ No AI” in their guidelines, the better. And creators should opt out of any scraping possible, and add a clause in their contracts against it.
What are the biggest lessons being an illustrator has thought you about life in general?
I learn a lot about myself when I illustrate. I think it’s such a deep connection with my sense of self that it comes out in the shape of my feelings and my core beliefs. Illustration keeps me company, keeps me heard and seen— and that happens even before I put a pencil on a sheet of paper. Because when I do it, it also keeps me happy.
Like any art form, illustration is a very self involved exercise. When you make that into your career you expose yourself to the world in such a raw and honest way that you must generate your own resilience. There are no right or wrong equations like in maths or formulas like in chemistry. It’s just you and your art, and if you sense that people won’t like it you are left alone to deal with your ego and self perception. When you look for other people’s approval of what you create you are secretly hoping to be approved and loved. That’s a trap, because what you end up giving away is power and responsibility that should be dealt within.
With illustration, I understood that all the shames and fears we have about what we create are projections of how we feel about ourselves. So when I decided that I was creating art simply because I loved it, I was able to overcome the need for external validation. By making illustrations I am already fulfilling my goal, anything else was a plus. This made me much more comfortable with sharing, which made me open to criticism, which stimulated my production, which resulted in more opportunities to illustrate.
That perception changed my life in a professional and personal way. With my illustrations, I am never lonely and I feel always wanted. So, I think the biggest lesson I learned with illustration is self acceptance. If art is self expression, it will only be as good as my relationship with myself.
What is an illustrators equivalent of a writer’s block and what does it feel like?
For me personally, a block might have a different meaning. I have ADHD, so when I hear ‘writer’s block’ I think of the normative neurotypical (people without any neurological dysfunctions such as ADHD and Autism) meaning of it, which is being stuck without ideas. I don’t experience that, because one of ADHD’s traits is hyperactivity of the frontal lobe — where ideas come from. Sounds great, right? Now try to fall asleep… My issue is to filter and repress the majority of them, ha!
What I do experience, is having an action block, because of the executive dysfunction side of the ADHD coin. It’s being so overwhelmed with thoughts and ideas that I start dreading the thought of the action, avoiding the simplest task like the plague. That’s my kind of block! It’s the executive side of it. The neurotypical block is having power over actions and no ideas, whilst the neurodivergent one is having ideas with no action power.
(This happened, for example, with this interview. Poor Ray is trying to get some answers and I am stuck wasting my writing time overthinking every single question, envisioning the perfect but also impossible answer.)
In a more general way, (one that all illustrators and writers can relate to, independently of neurology) a general block comes as an obstacle when we envision the finished product as a holy piece of perfection. Then it becomes impossible to face it. It feels awful, because we feel like we are awful.
Nothing is perfect, so by definition when you try to make things perfect you end up producing nothing. For that, I usually take the approach of giving a go with making the thing I’m working on simply exist, even if I think it’s not good (let alone perfect). When it start existing, I soon start seeing what I can change. You can always edit your work, but you cannot edit what doesn’t exist.
If the goal is just to produce, then you can start with something, and in most of the times it really helps me to go somewhere. If you are lost, you can either become stuck because you are afraid of not ending where you want to be, or just start walking and your feet will take you somewhere. It may not be where you wanted, but it’s a lot better than being stuck or lost.
Give your top three creativity tips/advice for any budding illustrator.
1- Don’t compare yourself with others, compare to your former self. You may admire people’s career levels and work around you, and if that inspires you to evolve that’s a positive thing. But most of the times we compare ourselves to others it’s in a negative way that brings us down — and that only delays the process of growth and self fulfilment. So don’t race others, work on your own marathon.
2- Make it your goal to have fun. When joy is your first priority when creating, your result is authenticity. It’s the most certain way find your signature style and narrative style and being different from what’s already out there. Put on your favourite song and treat the paper like a dance floor. Be your utter, most unfiltered, authentic self and let it flow!
3- Something that brought me inner peace and a lot of wonderful opportunities in my career: Stop trying to convince the world to like you for your art. Look for people who like the kind of art that you do. The world is much bigger and more interesting than you think. Try to find your people instead of trying to fit in.
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