Cover Reveal! WORTHY: THE BRAVE AND CAPABLE LIFE OF JOSEPH PIERCE & Interview with Illustrator Youa Vang

I’m thrilled to reveal the cover of my next picture book, WORTHY: THE BRAVE AND CAPABLE LIFE OF JOSEPH PIERCE, illustrated by Youa Vang! It’s a nonfiction biography of a Chinese boy who was sold to an American ship captain in 1855 and raised by the captain’s family in Connecticut. The boy was renamed Joseph Pierce and given a home and education. Joe also encountered discrimination and hatred against Chinese people. Despite these injustices, Joe enlisted in the Union Army, fought valiantly in the Civil War, became a U.S. citizen, married, and raised a family. He knew his worth and fought for his rights — what could be more quintessentially American than that?

Isn’t that the most gorgeous cover?! And I can’t wait for you to meet artist Youa Vang, who has been working in the entertainment industry as a visual development artist for a long time. I’m honored that he chose WORTHY to be his debut picture book!

Andrea: Hi, Youa! Welcome to Picture Book Builders! Can you tell me about the process of creating the cover for WORTHY? How many sketches did you do?

Youa: Too many to count! Throughout the whole process, I was always toying with the idea of creating something that tells the story but is a little bit more iconic. So I did a lot of quick little thumbnails, including one that shows the memorabilia that Joe might have collected through his life.

So we would see one of the only existing pictures of Joe in a frame on the right, his queue that he cut off, the American flag, his cap, his canteen, etc. That was the original idea, but then I thought, this image is already in the book. It might not be smart to use it again.

Andrea: It’s a really powerful image and I’m so glad it was included in the book. I love how it asks the reader to consider “What makes a life?” and “What legacy do we leave behind?” Here is the final image from the book’s interior:

Youa: So then I started playing with the idea of East versus West, wondering what was it like for Joe to have these different stages of his life. In this sketch, you see the grown-up Joe on the battlefield on one side, and on the other side is kid Joe in Canton Harbor, just before being sold.

Andrea: Oh, that’s so interesting. And you use the spine of the book as the divider, so the front cover shows Joe in the Civil War, and the back cover shows young Joe in China. Seeing front and back together really emphasizes the contrast between Joe’s two worlds.

Youa: I kept toying with that idea and merged it with the memorabilia idea. Here is a different version that shows the different phases of Joe’s life in a cracked frame. There’s old Joe with a beard, young Joe, and Joe in the Civil War. The cracked frame is laid on top of his citizenship card, the medal and stripes that he received, his queue, and other memorabilia.

But the feedback that I received was that it was a little bit too busy. So I thought about finding a moment in the story, which made me think about how Joe was sold and didn’t know where he was going to end up. He’s been traveling on a ship and is finally coming into New York and seeing the Statue of Liberty. He’s still a child at this moment, so capturing the expression on his face was going to be very important. It should show both his anxiety and his resolve. I wanted to light the piece so that Canton, which is shown on the back cover, has faded into the night. And America is Joe’s new future, so it’s shown in the morning light on the front cover. That all led to the final piece, which included Captain Peck on the back cover and just a hint of his arm on the front.

Andrea: Wow. This image conveys so much information and symbolism. I think you nailed Joe’s expression — he looks so…pensive. Talk to me about why the Statue of Liberty is shown the way she is.

Youa: Well, I did some research and it seemed like the Statue of Liberty wasn’t built yet, but I was praying that I was wrong. I asked the editor and art director to look into it and I think you also got involved. And it turns out that there was only an old fort on the island, which at the time was called Bedloe’s Island. We have to be historically accurate, so I wondered how to show that Joe is coming to America aside from the little flag on the fort. Our editor suggested that I put the Statue of Liberty in the clouds, kind of like an Easter egg, but also, maybe, a foreshadowing of what’s to come in the country and the world.

Andrea: That gives me goosebumps — like it’s saying to Joe, “Your freedom is on the horizon.”

Youa: Yes. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to pull it off without the statue being too dominant or eye-catching, or taking away from Joe. It still had to be a second read, which was challenging to do. I was shooting for an N.C. Wyeth feel. I was channeling N.C. Wyeth, Norman Rockwell, and Gustav Klimt for this book. So that’s why, if you look through the whole book, a lot of things are suggested and not rendered out. I wanted the audience to fill in that space with their own imagination.

Andrea: That is amazing. Now I have to go back through the book and look at the art from that perspective. Thanks so much for talking to me about the cover, Youa! I absolutely love it and I can’t wait for everyone to see the rest of your wonderful illustrations when the book comes out on September 9th! (You can pre-order the book here.)

Born in Thailand, raised in Minnesota, and currently residing in Los Angeles, Youa Vang lives with his wife, three kids, and a wandering cat. He works in the entertainment industry as a background painter, designer, and visual development artist. Most days are spent creating for studios, evenings chauffeuring his kids to soccer or basketball practices, and most nights on crafting stories and designs for picture books and graphic novels. And…in his sparest of spare times, he tinkers with music boxes and automatons. See more of Youa’s work here and follow him on IG: @youa.art.