Mick Manning grew up in Haworth, West Yorkshire and studied Illustration at the Royal College of Art in London. Mick have written and illustrated over 70 books with his partner Brita Granström. Their distinctive books have won many awards.
Mick and Brita live in the Scottish Borders and have 4 sons. Their recently book "The Beatles" is a great biography, illustrated cartoon-style about the Beatles story, the critical moments along their rise to fame and beyond. Very dynamic, original graphics with information impeccable. A really beautiful book to all the Beatles fans!
LOVELY RITA: How did you decide to work a biographic book of The Beatles?
MICK MANNING: I've
always loved them and grew up with their music in the 1960s as a boy
and Brita likes them too. We had just finished a book about the
Victorian writer Charles Dickens and so when during the process of that
research had found a great fact ... ( Charles Dickens had caused such a
commotion when he visited New York that such fan-hysteria wasn't
repeated until The Beatles arrived over 100 years later in 1964). we
just had to follow Dickens with a book about the Fab Four and in the
same series. In fact we put a scheduled book about Will' Shakespeare on
hold to do it! Children study the 60s and even The Beatles at school
here in the UK so that was a good reason we used to convince our
publishers.
LR: Can you tell me about your begginings in the art?
MM: We
both went to art school. I went to the Royal College of Art and Brita
went to Konstfack - Sweden's national post-graduate art school in
Stockholm, Sweden. We have been making books together since we met 21
years ago and have made about 70 books now - on themes of art, nature
and history. We always choose ideas for books about subjects that
interest us - and then approach publishers with those ideas. The Beatles
was one we really wanted to do because we love their music - even more
so now we have studied and researched them for 2 years! It must be many a
Beatle fan's dream to be able to write and illustrate their own book
about the Fab Four and get it published internationally..
LR: In this 21 years, what of your books, you consider very special? and why?
MM: Well
The Beatles obviously! Also our book about Dickens as we admired his
work bringing the injustices faced by the poor and destitute to the
attention of the Victorian middle-class. But most of all we have written
and jointly illustrated two books about my mum and dad - and they are
very close to my heart: Tail-End Charlie is about my father's part in
World War Two defeating the Nazis as a tail-gunner in the RAF. Taff in
the WAAF is about my mother's war a listener for Bletchley Park,
helping in the process to decode the Nazi's Enigma messages.
LR: Which Beatle in your opinion get your attention? why?
MM: It
would be both John and Paul - hard to choose between them because they
were a double act and I love that because so are Brita and I in our own
way. So Brita and I understand totally and empathise with the process of
working together and sharing the credit and the creative discussions
Paul and John would have had - and later of course, John and Yoko and
Paul and Linda.
LR: What was your drawing and writing process like?
MM: It
is very much a joint process. We've lived and worked together for 21
years and have four children. We sit down together and work out what it
is we want to say - we usually have an agreed amount of pages from the
publisher so have to be economical with space, which is often a good
thing with a non-fiction book for the young at heart! We spent a year on
initial research, reading many biographies and all the major ones as
well as listening to all the albums. Then we sat down and began to rough
out what the spreads would look like visually, and discussed how we
would present the information on each page. Then Brita began the
artwork. On some books we both illustrate but on this one the amazing
final illustrations are all by Brita - and so I can say in all modesty
that there isn't another Beatle book like this one!
LR: What´s the next project?
MM: It
is Will' Shakespeare's turn now - but let's see if he can compare to
the amazing Beatles - only joking, of course he can, he was a rocker
too in his own way! In his day the troupes of traveling actors he joined
as a young man had 'dangerous', 'bad-boy' reputations. Going to
Elizabethan-age London to be an actor was like telling your mum you'd
been hired as a roadie for Motorhead! A theatre crowd back then wasn't
like the well-to-do folk you see going to Royal Shakespeare Company
shows nowadays. Theatre owners in those days also ran brothels and
bloodsport arenas in fact the first theatres were based on bloody bear
baiting pits. Shakespeare's audience was a mixed bunch; many may have
watched bloodsports the night before the play; bear baiting, dog
fighting, monkeys on horseback fighting dogs... Theatre crowds wanted
plays with violence and bawdyness... if not they would riot! It was a
cross between and rough soccer crowd and a rock festival audience... So
yes Will Shakespeare is the next project, we're about half-way through
it - and we are really enjoying it!
LR: Mick, thank you very much, really a honour to me talk with you, my regards to Brita and love your book
MM: And we
love Beatles Magazine, and have found it invaluable for news and photos
of the Fab four in all their phases - and of course up-to-date news
about Paul and Ringo!.
LR: Thank you so much Mick.
"The Beatles" is available in English, Spanish and Portuguese languages via Amazon other online stores and can be ordered through high street booksellers.
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Beatles-Mick-Manning/dp/1847804519
For More Information on Mick and Brita visit Official Facebook page The Beatles by Mick and Brita here: https://www.facebook.com/Beatlesbymickandbrita?fref=ts
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