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Annelise Peters |
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| Annelise Peters née Voigt, was born in
Bellville, South Africa and grew up in Bloemfontein where she attended the
University of the Orange Free State and obtained the BA (Fine
Arts)-degree. In 1995 she moved to Stellenbosch to enroll for the BA
Honours (Fine Arts) degree with specialization in illustration.
Annelise has always loved children’s books, and she says that the time she spent |
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| working at the children’s library in Bloemfontein opened her eyes to a wonderful world. t was therefore no surpise that, when she got the chance to study further, she did it in children’s book illustration in Stellenbosch. | |
| She considers her most successful book to be The red dress, because she says, "it is a beautiful story of the love of a grandmother for her grand- daughter." It also takes place in a part of South Africa that she loves. She enjoyed illustrating the book and the children’s response to the book was also good. What she most enjoys in her other book, Why birds with coloured feathers cannot sing, is the detail of the illustrations. |
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| Annelise loves positive
stories with happy endings. Although she has no system for how she
develops ideas for illustrations for children’s books, things she may
see or hear might trigger something in her imagination, she says. Annelise
has visited Namibia, Lesotho, Czech Republic and the U.S.A. However, it is
the nature of South Africa (in particular the North-West Cape, Western
Cape and Free State) that influenced her a lot, as well as Namibia where
her grandparents lived. She doesn’t know whether now living in Germany
will have an influence on her current style.
She likes the illustrations of Nicola Bayley, Gary Blythe and Graham Oakley for the detail and storytelling quality of their illustrations. She has also been influenced by Maurice Sendak. |
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One of the biggest problems facing
the illustrators of children’s books in South Africa, according to
Annelise, is money. She says it’s difficult to make a living just
illustrating, especially if you are working in a realistic style with lots
of detail. Also, publishers can only publish a certain limited number of
books because it’s too expensive to mass produce books. She says that
people don’t buy enough South African children’s books, they prefer to
buy popular books from America about cartoon characters on television.
She believes that the making of children’s books is an art form that deserves as much attention and recognition as an adult book. |
| Children’s books are not just for
children, she says, there are lots of adults who love picture books for
both the story and the illustrations. "With children’s (picture)
books it is more difficult to tell a good story because one has to say a
lot with a small amount of text, and still try to have an impact".
She also says "with a good picture book - the text should leave
enough of a ‘gap’ to the illustrator to tell part of the story. There
should be a play between the text and the illustration, and the
illustration should not just repeat what the text said. This is easier if
the illustrator is also the author of the book."
The techniques used by Annelise are painting with coloured inks on stretched paper, or, painting with oil on gesso prepared wood, she likes both techniques equally and describes her work as : "realistic with lots of detail." Aside from illustrating children’s books she also does oil pastel drawings. Except for art and children’s books, Annelise’s interests include archaeology, anthropology, nature and reading. She belonged to both the South African Children’s Book Forum and the South African Archaeological Society, before she and her husband immigrated to Germany in 1999. They are now living in Hannover. She is expecting their first child. Annelise was awarded The Vivian Wilkes Award in 1997 for The red dress. Her illustrations had been exhibited by Unisa’s Children’s Literature Research Unit in Bologna, Vancouver, Ottawa, Kyiv and Toronto. Books published that include Annelise Peters’ illustrations are as follows: 1997 : The red dress. Durbanville: Garamond.
Published in English, Afrikaans, 1998 : Why birds with coloured feathers cannot
sing. Cape Town: Anansi. 1998 : My dog. Pretoria: Kagiso. (Beginner
reader) Published in English, 1998 : Kliprug. Pretoria: Kagiso. (Beginner
reader) Published in English, |
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© T.B. van der Walt, CLRU, University of South Africa. 2001
