By JAMIE FALGIE<\/p>\n
Have you ever heard of a pickle vampire? Well, neither had I\u2014that is, until I read the children\u2019s book, \u201cPeter the Pickle Vampire.\u201d The spooky, playful story centers around a vampire named Peter, who is not quite like the other vampires.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the story itself is an entertaining read, one of the most fascinating aspects of the book is actually the father-daughter duo behind it. Nicholas Niosi is the author, while his six-year-old daughter, Ava, is the sole illustrator.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had many questions for the pair, but first, I wanted to know what inspired them to take on this project.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was kind of my idea to do the story together,\u201d Nicholas said, \u201cbut I was really inspired by Ava\u2019s artwork. She drew this fantastic picture of Spider-Man for her younger brother\u2019s birthday, and seeing that, I was like \u2018Oh, I really would like to see what else she\u2019s got in her and how well she can draw\u2026\u2019 A lot of it is just trying to foster her creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then pitched Ava the idea of doing this project together, to which she enthusiastically agreed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeter the Pickle Vampire\u201d was born from various bedtime and campfire stories, Nicholas said. \u201c[My kids] will give me ideas for characters like a werewolf or vampires, and I kind of fill in the blanks. \u2018Peter the Pickle Vampire\u2019 started off as a really simple story, and then when we decided to do the book, I kind of expanded on that writing and had Ava drawing all the pictures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next, I wanted to know how long the book took to finish and how the process went.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[The book] took like one and a half years,\u201d Ava said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we definitely didn\u2019t rush it out there,\u201d Nicholas added. \u201cIt was more about the process and the project and just having something fun to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the illustration aspect, Ava mentioned that she illustrated the entire book on her iPad. Currently, Ava\u2019s favorite media to draw with are crayons and markers. This was her first time illustrating on an iPad, and it came with some challenges. \u201cOne thing that was a little frustrating was that every single time you lean or shove your body onto the iPad, it leaves a mark or a dot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nicholas also stated that although it was a great experience overall, the duo did come across a few creative differences. \u201cI gave her a lot of feedback on the drawings,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes she rushed through some of them; sometimes she drew things that weren\u2019t related to the story at all, which is fine, but it was one of the reasons it took a year and a half to work on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked Ava if she wouldn\u2019t mind talking about her enthusiasm for illustration.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy passion for drawing started as soon as I could hold a crayon!\u201d Ava told me. As a result of her passion, Ava mentioned that she is considering a myriad of different career paths, including as an illustrator and an animator. She also very much enjoys reading and writing, but informed me that when she\u2019s working with her dad, she only wants to illustrate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe did not want a writing credit,\u201d Nicholas laughed. \u201cShe was very adamant that she was the illustrator.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, I wanted to know what their favorite part of doing the project was.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project has just been a lot of fun to do together,\u201d Nicholas said, \u201cand then just all of the community support, all her friends and family. Ava\u2019s school had her pulled up on stage with a traveling author, and she spoke to everyone. She got to read to all the classrooms\u2026 She even inspired a few of her friends to write.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ava also proudly noted that the book was donated to both\u00a0<\/p>\n
her elementary school library and her local little free library as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If readers are curious about future projects, the pair assured me there is a possibility for more projects on the way, even hinting at \u201cPeter the Pickle Vampire 2.\u201d \u201cWith radioactive pickles!\u201d Ava chimed in. She also had in the works story ideas for potential books 3 and 4.<\/p>\n
If you want to check out the story, \u201cPeter the Pickle Vampire\u201d is available on various online platforms, including Amazon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JAMIE FALGIE Have you ever heard of a pickle vampire? Well, neither had I\u2014that is, until I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[457,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-78193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-books","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}