JOHN MARTZ
Illustrates a Hilarious How-to on Cat Bathing
by Melissa Fales
Acclaimed Canadian illustrator John Martz has a new picture book, written by Nicola Winstanley, called How to Give Your Cat a Bath in Five Easy Steps (Tundra Books). As the title suggests, the book is presented as a simple how-to guide. However, things don’t go quite as planned for the little girl trying to bathe her cat and Martz’s drawings cleverly convey the escalating chaos that accompanies each step, much to the delight of readers. “It’s a meta book in that the narrator of the book is the voice of the instruction manual,” says Martz. “As the child who’s featured in the book finds that things are not quite working out, she negotiates a new plan and begins to talk back to the narrator.”
Although he was a voracious reader, Martz was especially drawn to illustrations of all kinds during his childhood. “Comic strips, Saturday morning cartoons, anything that had pictures I was interested in,” he says. In high school, he honed his skills, drawing comics for the school newspaper. He studied graphic design in college and later worked at a TV station designing logos and other images as needed. He was earning a good paycheck at that job, but although his bills were paid, his heart wasn’t completely in it. “Illustrations and comics remained my calling,” he says.
Martz felt compelled to make a change. “I decided one day, I’m going to see if I can do this,” he says, leading to a 12-year stretch where he worked as a freelance artist and cartoonist. “It was hard work, trying to make a name for myself, but I was finally able to do what it was I wanted to do all along,” he says.
Several years ago, Martz took his first job illustrating picture books. His first book, Dear Flyary, was written by Dianne Young. “It’s the story of a little alien who gets a new spaceship for his birthday and it gradually begins to break down,” he says. “I love science fiction, so it was a perfect entry for me into the picture book world.”
Since then, Martz has collaborated with a number of authors and has also written and illustrated books of his own, including Evie and the Truth About Witches, Burt’s Way Home, and Destination X. His 2014 book, A Cat Named Tim and Other Stories was shortlisted for Canada’s Governor General’s Award. “It’s an award given out by the Governor General, the Queen’s representative in our government,” Martz explains. “It’s as close to getting recognition from the Queen as you can get. It’s the most prestigious literary award in the country.”
Martz says he enjoys both working solo and working with an author, but he appreciates the freedom that comes from creating his own storylines. “When I’m illustrating something someone else wrote, I’m at the mercy of their text,” he says. “If I’m writing for myself, it’s quite easy to avoid putting things in the story that I don’t want to draw.” According to Martz, automobiles and horses are two of the things that fall into that undesirable category. “I don’t enjoy drawing things with lots of precision,” he says. “I don’t like anything too complex. I value simplicity and efficiency in the work I do in design and images. I think it comes out of my graphic design background. If a text calls for very busy images, that goes against my natural instinct.”
How to Give Your Cat a Bath in Five Easy Steps marks the first collaboration between Winstanley and Martz. “We’ve tried to find a book project to work on together for some time,” says Martz. “For whatever reason, it never worked out until this one came along. When it did, we both said ‘Let’s do it!’” Martz found the manuscript appealing in its simplicity. “By its very nature, a pastiche of an instruction manual, it appealed to my design sensibilities,” he says. “I was attracted to the idea of a book that could be designed as much as illustrated.”
Don’t let the subjects of his books fool you. Although cats are the subject of two of his books, Martz doesn’t have any cats and shares his home in Toronto with his dog, Gary. “There is something quite satisfying about drawing a cat, though,” he says. “If you can draw a circle and two triangles, you can draw a cat.”
“I’m learning something new every day. Like a lot of other illustrators there, I didn’t have any formal education in picture books. I’ve learned from my own experience and have gleaned as much as I can from other illustrators’ efforts. Having a ‘backstage pass’ where I can learn so much from so many others has been quite valuable.”
Martz has held the position of art director at Tundra/Penguin Random House Canada for just over one year. That makes him an illustrator who edits the work of other illustrators. As it so happened, the first book he worked on in his new job was How to Give Your Cat a Bath in Five Easy Steps. “I was contracted to illustrate the book before I had the role,” Martz explains. “It was a nice way to ease into my new position.”
Martz says working as an art director has been an incredible opportunity for him at this point in his career. “I’m learning something new every day,” he says. “Like a lot of other illustrators there, I didn’t have any formal education in picture books. I’ve learned from my own experience and have gleaned as much as I can from other illustrators’ efforts. Having a ‘backstage pass’ where I can learn so much from so many others has been quite valuable.”
For more information about John Martz and his books, visit johnmartz.com.