As someone who went to art school without an illustration or children’s book program at the time (the Cooper Union in NYC) I’m always interested to discover book creators who came out of art schools today that do have such offerings. And wow, if 2024 MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) grad Amelia Bothe is any indication, these programs must be doing something right. I caught up with Amelia to learn more about her newest title:
Me: Congratulations on MIA’S CHEETAH (Clarion Books, Sept. 2026)! Kids are going to love Mia’s fantastic journey. What inspired you to create this book?
Amelia: Thank you so much, Jonathan! I was primarily inspired by the phenomenon of this common roadside imagination game, visualizing a person or creature zooming alongside the car outside the passenger window. It was fascinating to me that so many kids come up with this game independently, and then learn later in life that others did it, too. It really passes the time once you come up with it or learn about it. I also just love big parade images with tons of subjects, and this seemed like a great opportunity to indulge in that.
Me: I teach a unit on mythic creatures in which students combine real animals to create their own imaginary ones (as people have been doing probably since art began). Your book is a masterclass on this! How did you go about your animal design?
Amelia: Wonderful! You will HAVE to show me some of their creations! I have always loved to combine animals, it is such a fun exercise. I like to reach for two or more animals that look like they will have interesting textures and/or colors once combined. The dragon on the jacket has a bit of a pig nose, and long lion fur against the sort of fishlike scales. I particularly like to do fur and feather combinations, like the hummingbird-like griffon creature. The butterfly cheetah has those dusty wings and the short glossy fur, but the main inspiration was the speckles and stripes of the wings paired with the cheetah spots, of course. Even if the textures and colors are what inspire the creature, I always try to create fun, interesting shapes first and foremost while sketching, for the textures and colors to sit on top of later.
Me: Your illustrations are stunning! The pages can barely contain all the intricate details and colors, yet there’s such a readable cohesiveness. Not an easy thing to balance! What can you share about your process?
Amelia: Thank you so much! I will say you’ve touched on precisely the hardest aspect of these big, busy paintings, and I’m not sure I always get this right. One of my main considerations is always silhouette, making sure the edges of each creature are clear and readable. This book was fun because I could paint a lot of animals in perfect side profiles, which automatically have very clear, recognizable silhouettes. Value is also paramount to readability, so I’ll often toggle the painting into black & white to check how light and dark the animals and backgrounds are and if they need tweaking. I paint in Photoshop, and the bigger paintings have 200+ layers by the end, since I keep each car, animal, and background element layered out for easy adjustment. This helps a lot.
Me: Wow, that’s a lot of layers! How did you get into creating books for kids?
Amelia: I have always loved picture books, often re-reading my childhood collection until I was far too old to be the target audience anymore. I felt willing to become a jack-of-all-trades sort of illustrator after school until my senior year at MICA, where I took a picture book illustration class and sort of fell into the publishing world headfirst with a manuscript I had done for class that got picked up very quickly (Ellie Has a Secret.) It was quite a surprise! I had hoped to illustrate picture books at some distant point in the future but never thought it would happen so fast, or that I would ever be the author as well. From there I have just fallen more and more in love with both the writing and the illustrating aspects of making books for children, and I hope I get the opportunity to make many more!
Me: Can you share what you’re working on next?
Amelia: I am close to finishing up the interiors for my third book, Three Runaway Wolves, slated for fall 2027, I believe. It is in a different style than my first two books; I used graphite and digital color, and there’s no humans this time. I’m SO excited about it.
Me: Can’t wait to see it! Thank you so much for chatting, Amelia. Wishing your book much success!
Amelia: Thank you so much for reaching out and for the thoughtful questions! I’m so glad you like my book!
To learn more, please visit www.ameliabothe.com.
