Braden Hallett is a teacher-turned-freelance-illustrator from British Columbia. He aims to combine words and pictures in new and shocking into books that kids think are neat. He draws and writes to create the kinds of books his younger self would have enjoyed. In his spare time he plays pen-and-paper role-playing games (like Dungeons & Dragons!) and runs around outside.
In this interview, Braden leads us on a deep dive into Secrets of Ravenbarrow, his vividly illustrated, action-packed horror comedy series for kids!
The illustrations in the series are both creepy and laugh-out-loud funny (often at the same time!). How do you balance the laughs and scares in your illustrations?
Good question! I DON'T try to balance the laughs and scares. When you have five different characters, each with drastically different reactions to danger, fear, and terror, at least one of them is going to respond in a way that is funny or absurd to a scary/toothy/monstrous/evil scenario.
No matter what, I try to exaggerate whatever the emotion is in the text with the illustrations as much as I can. When you dial terror and hilarity up to 10 at the same time, sometimes you get emotional noise, but sometimes you get a new synthesis of emotions like terror AND hilarity. Terrarity. Hilaror? Something like that. It's hard naming new emotional elements.
With the dogged effort of my ever-patient sleepless editors—it seems to work out. Sometimes it doesn't, but you don't get to see those images! My studio is littered with failed synthesized emotions. Makes a terrible mess.
Teddy faces off against all kinds of creatures in this series (including horrible hamsters, weird worms, and fiendish felines). How do you approach designing the creatures of Ravensbarrow?
Creature design is something I love and also need to learn much more about!
There are lots of neat choices that can go into designing monsters. Different shapes tell different tales, and if you pick the right shapes your monsters can tell stories to the audience with just a quick glance. 
The hamsters needed to be cute and cuddly, but ALSO terrifying. Rounded shapes such as circles, ovals, beans and such are often read immediately as safe, soft, and approachable. Think of Mickey Mouse. All circles. Pointy shapes such as triangles, or anything jagged, are often read as sharp, predatory, and dangerous. So the hamsters are made up of a soft bean-shape and rounded ears, but jagged teeth and pointy little claws. I REALLY exaggerate their razor claws.
I always try to do 50-100 little thumbnail designs before I land on the one I want.
Illustrations and text blend together in the pages of the series. What is your process for designing a page? Do you create the layouts yourself or work with an editor?
There are three moments in time that I always try to keep in mind when designing a page as an illustrator. The moment before something happens (suspense) the moment during the event (ACTION!) and the moment after (consequences). The suspense should always be right before the reader turns a page. ACTION after suspense should always try to be AFTER the reader turns the page (known as a page-turner).
If I had infinite pages to work with, that's how I'd always do it. BUT I DON'T! Such is the struggle of an author/illustrator. I'll hold back the tears somehow.
What follows is a lot of teamwork between me, the editor, and the designer, to try to finagle the text in such a way that the really important illustrations are in the right place. Things get shifted around. Spot illustrations are added to bump pictures to the right place. Big illustrations are cut to give everything some breathing room. Whole groups of pictures that are really REALLY cool are cut to serve the ever-demanding page count. There are dogs and cats living together. MASS HYSTERIA!
In the end, our powers combined, we have designed the pages. Then, with EVERYTHING figured out, I get to illustrating. Then sometimes change again. The whole process is fun in its own frustrating way!
The illustrations carefully depict Teddy working through his fears and emotions. What do you hope young readers take away from reading about Teddy’s experiences with anxiety?
I hope that readers know that lots of people can feel the way Teddy does, and that's okay.
I hope that readers know that it's okay to ask for help from friends, family, or even perhaps a doctor if they feel the way Teddy does all the time, or if it gets in the way of them living their life. Anxiety is a natural thing (it helps us avoid becoming food for other things), but sometimes it can be overwhelming!
I also hope they know to stay away from dog-haunted trainyards and to always approach hamsters with caution.
Finally, what can you tell us about the latest book, Teddy vs. the Snuggly Menace?
I think by far it's the funniest, scariest book out of the three. Everything got ramped up. It was SO much fun to write and illustrate!