Artist interview: John Megahan to illustrate Into the Thicket

February 6, 2024 — Can I get a virtual drumroll please? Ba-dum-bum-CHING! In fall 2024, we’re aiming to self-publish a new children’s picture book titled Into the Thicket. The story is a highly fictionalized retelling of the real experience of my youngest son finding an injured baby rabbit in our backyard one summer during his childhood. We delivered the little creature to a wildlife rehabber for help. The story encompasses an appreciation for wildlife, compassion, overcoming fears, loving  — and letting go, and demonstrating how even small acts of kindness make a difference in a great, big world.

I am fortunate to have worked with another incredible artist during my time at the University of Michigan (another touch of serendipity). Over the years, John Megahan and I talked about collaborating on a book someday. Being in communications, we worked closely together on many projects. I was really happy when he mentioned (at my retirement lunch in fall 2022) wanting to move forward with our plan in the near future. We find ourselves in that near future and he’s been sketching ideas for the paintings. I wrote a little about this manuscript in a previous blog post and how I fine tuned it years ago with a professional book editor, who I also encountered serendipitously. 

This week’s post features my interview with John: 

You’ve mentioned that this is a fun project for you. What makes it fun and why did you decide to illustrate Into the Thicket?

Just the simple act of creating art is fulfilling for me and that goes for any project that I work on. But creating children’s art has the added benefit of being simply fun! These are stories that I can get into. As I work through them and visually refine the personalities of the characters I get more and more involved. Then the images start to flow and it is no longer work, its play!

What’s your illustration technique for this book?

I’m not entirely sure what technique I want to use yet. I know it will be a water-based medium but whether I use acrylic, watercolor or gouache (basically an opaque form of watercolor), I haven’t decided yet. 

What do you hope future readers, especially children, will take away from Into the Thicket?

I think one of the more important themes of your story that I hope kids will understand is to devote themselves to a cause bigger than themselves. Having empathy and caring for those in need are wonderful lessons for all of us. And using that empathy to overcome obstacles that may be in your way can make you a stronger, more caring, humane individual.

Do you have any personal experiences with rescuing abandoned or injured wildlife?

I have several stories but one of my favorites is about Felix and Oscar. I was probably about 11 or 12 years old and my brother and I were riding our bikes in the local park and we found two ducklings that were lost and did not seem to have a mother. We watched them for a while and then, not knowing what to do, we decided to get our Mom to come look, just like your story.

She agreed that the ducks needed help. So we were able to capture them by offering food and they became part of the family. This was in the early 1970s and “The Odd Couple” was one of my parent’s favorite movies. So they were named after the main characters. Oscar was the big clumsy one and Felix was the smaller delicate one. I recall that the first couple of weeks were dicey and we didn’t know if they would make it. They didn’t want to eat and seemed somewhat sick and lethargic. Then my Mom found that they loved tuna cat food. I don’t know if that’s what you are supposed to feed a duck but they did great on it and grew really fast.

They soon became my pets and followed me everywhere. I had a great time playing with them. But then it came time to release them and I remember being totally broken up by that. But Mom and Dad made my brother and I realize that it was best if they lived life in the wild with their own kind. We released them in stages by taking them to the park several times. The first time they wouldn’t leave our side but after a few tries they eventually swam out to the other ducks on the pond and didn’t turn back. We visited the park several times after that and twice they came back to us for food but then went back with the other ducks and I realized that was the way it should be. That was the way of nature and they were happier.

Without giving too much away, do you have a favorite illustration you’re working on for the book?

All the illustrations are a work in progress right now so it’s hard to say what a favorite is. I kind of like the imagery of Patrick working up the courage to walk through the thicket. But right now all the images are in flux so we’ll see.

What wildlife do you see in your own backyard and surrounding area? 

Let’s see, we live in the Mallet’s Creek area so we have a few acres of forest just down the road. We’ve seen the normal assortment of local animals like squirrels, rabbits etc. We also have occasional turkeys, deer, raccoons, skunks. We occasionally see pileated woodpeckers along the creek in the summer. One of the most interesting animals I’ve seen here was a mother gray fox raising her young under the neighbor’s porch. I was actually able to set up a camera and get some cool video of her and her kits as they started to explore the area! That was about 14 years ago and we have never seen any gray fox since.

Image credit: Anne MacKinnon

Thanks to John for his creative collaboration with me, especially when I know he has manuscripts of his own (and many other projects) he could be working on! Other children’s picture books John has illustrated include W is for Waves, An Ocean Alphabet (Sleeping Bear Press) by Marie and Roland Smith and Thumping on Trees (Woodland Farm Books) by Richard D. Alexander (one of the late Emeritus Professors from my former UM EEB Dept.) and The Red Fox and Johnny Valentine’s Blue-Speckled Hound, also by Alexander.

If you visit his website, linked above, you’ll see his stunning artwork and read more about his interesting background. John fits right in with my most recent blog post about childhood interests predicting a future career path. This is excerpted from his website biography: “My career has always been directed by my love of art and nature. As a kid I spent all my time outside exploring and often drawing what I saw. In college I studied biology and art. Both subjects interested me and, fortunately, I found the profession of science illustration where I could combine them.”