Chris Van Allsburg Quotes
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I love the idea of a tiny window between the back stoop and the pantry, where the milkman would pass through the cheese. But of course, there is no milkman anymore. So somebody coming by the house and seeing the window would say, 'Oh, that must be original, because that's where the milkman passed the cheese through to the pantry.'
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I don't know if what kids really want is a hamster. What they want is a dog. So the hamster ends up being a substitute: 'Well, would you accept this?'
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I'm sensitive to the things I see.
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In the same way that a mundane object can have a personality somehow, I try to suggest that a mundane setting can have some menace behind it.
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The Polar Express is about faith, and the power of imagination to sustain faith. It's also about the desire to reside in a world where magic can happen, the kind of world we all believed in as children, but one that disappears as we grow older.
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There was a great deal of peer recognition to be gained in elementary school by being able to draw well. One girl could draw horses so well, she was looked upon as a kind of sorceress.
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As long as I can remember, I've always loved to draw. But my interest in drawing wasn't encouraged very much.
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Even the most complicated stories start with a very simple premise.
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I'm not a perfectionist. I'm just very observant.
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The whole idea of being mesmerized and not in control of your own actions is fascinating and a little spooky. I remember hearing about someone who'd gone to a magic act, and a person in the audience had become hypnotized by observing too closely what magician was doing on stage, and thought it was spooky to lose your consciousness that way.
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A good picture book should have events that are visually arresting - the pictures should call attention to what is happening in the story.
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I like the gizmos that transport people.
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Following my muse has worked out pretty well so far. I can't see any reason to change the formula now.
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I think most people agree there is a component of skill in art making; you have to learn grammar before you learn how to write.
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The general effect of viewing 'Jumanji' is thrilling. I was able to see on film a thing that at one point had only existed in my imagination. I got to see the images from my book come alive.
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I sculpted for four or five years. Mostly for my own amusement, I decided to do a picture book, and that was kind of a turning point.
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If I'm not working on something, I'm eager to work on something because it's so gratifying.
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When somebody says, 'This must be a children's book,' basically they're saying, 'You must be a child.' And so my answer is, 'Well, yes, I guess I am a child.' But I don't think of myself that way.
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As the years went by I became a writer and illustrator, although exclusively of fantasies.
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Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the population. It's a fact that most of the true believers are under eight years old, and that's a pity.
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I believe that there will be many things that happen to me in my life that I will not be able to explain. Some of those might be magic. I'm not sure.
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There's definitely a value in being literate.
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I have very positive memories of reading biographies of unusual Americans as a child.
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The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stands still, where people talk and I tell them what to say, is exciting and rewarding.