The Sky Is Falling: An Interview with Rebecca and Ed Emberley

Ed: Here we are, father and daughter, and we haven’t worked together for 20 years, 30 years. And we start working on things, and along come chickens with great big eyes—chopped up chickens and hens—and there were turkeys flying all over the place. At the beginning, we said, “We’ll try this out for a day and just see, number one, if we can work together and if anything comes out of it.” And then 10 days later, she sold the book.

Rebecca: No, no, no.

Ed: Eleven days?

Rebecca: Nooo. He’s exaggerating.

Rebecca, I heard you’d been thinking of giving up illustration. Why?

Rebecca: I have a repetitive-use injury in my right hand and thumb and first finger from using an X-acto knife and a pair of scissors for 25 years. My hand kept blowing up like a balloon. I’d have to ice it every couple of hours. Chicken Little really started as a venue for experimenting with a new style of artwork for us.

What was it like when you started working together?

Rebecca: We sat down one day and he said, “You probably can’t do it.” And I said, “What do you mean I can’t do it?” And he said, “Oh, it’s too much.” And I said, “Can’t do what?” And he said, “Just cut me out some birds.” He handed me brown paper, and I said, “I can’t use brown paper. You’re going to have to find me colored paper.” And he said, “Why?” And I answered, “Because I can’t think with brown paper”—that’s how my brain works. For years I’ve been using colored paper. But I cut out some big loose shapes and pasted them onto paper, and he scanned them into the computer.

Ed: Rebecca cuts out the brown paper. I turn it into colored paper. If occasionally Rebecca wants me to make a head or an eye, then I’ll make one. But it’s her vision. I’m only the facilitator.

Rebecca: That’s not really true. It’s a collaboration.

Given your differences, how do you work so well together?

Rebecca: We’ve worked out a formula: he tells me it’s not going to work, and I say, “Who cares?” and we go ahead and do it anyway. With Chicken Little, he kept asking, “Why are the eyes two different sizes?” Every time I left the room, he kept trying to straighten everything out. I’d come back, and everything’s all lined up and the eyes would be identical, and I’d say, “What did you do? Don’t touch it.” So now we have established a formula: we only work when we’re both in the room. The only thing that gets done outside of his studio is the writing, which I do. Although I think he works on things in the middle of the night and just doesn’t tell me.

Ed: I’m not going to tell you now.

It sounds like you both found this project extremely invigorating.

Both together: Absolutely!