Sid Sharp is an artist and illustrator from Toronto who makes drawings, paintings, and comics. Their interests include folklore, horror stories, mysterious and unknowable things, and finding good sticks for their stick collection. Sid went to OCAD University, works in a bookstore, and published The Wolf Suit, their first graphic novel for kids, with Annick Press in 2022. Their new book with Annick, Bog Myrtle, came out in October 2024.
We caught up with Sid Sharp to ask about their interest in folklore and bringing stories to life in graphic novels.
Your graphic novels have been described as “contemporary folktales”. Like any good folktale, they’re also slightly scary stories. Did you grow up reading folktales and horror? If not, where does your interest in folktales come from?
I got a cute yellow illustrated paperback from the 50s called Favourite Fairy Tales to Read Aloud when I was a kid, I think from a library sale, and that’s where my folktale obsession began. My favourite folktales were always the creepy ones, and that definitely turned into a love of horror as I got a little older.
I love the way that the plots of folktales twist around in a way that’s not quite expected, held together by a different kind of logic than we’re used to. I like the feeling that there’s a ton of mystery in the world, things that don’t work the way you expect them to. That yellow book is still in my studio, held together by tape, and it’s very special to me. Bog Myrtle is very very loosely inspired by a really unsettling story by Hans Christian Andersen called “The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf.”
Both of your graphic novels tell deeply compelling stories with very few words on the page. How do you know when an illustration is “saying” everything you want it to say?
I love words, but I don’t really think in words; I always think in images. It feels to me like there are a lot of thoughts and feelings that I can’t quite communicate through text, so I need the pictures and colours and textures to be able to express what I mean more fully.
I also read a lot of books about art and design, and I went to university for illustration, so I’ve learned a lot of “rules” about how to make an illustration say what you want it to say. Consequently, a really fun part of the job for me is picking and choosing which of those rules I’m going to follow today and which rules I’m going to totally break for fun.
Behind your storytelling is a belief that children are capable of grasping and contending with big ideas–about environmentalism, capitalism, labour rights, etc… How have young readers responded to the big ideas in your books?
I’ve loved the responses I’ve got from young readers, especially the thoughtful and caring questions they ask. Kids are fantastic with big ideas – I think it’s because they have just as much creativity and passion as adults do, but they aren’t super limited by cynicism the way we tend to be. I liked the idea of labour rights as a theme for a kids’ book, since kids are no strangers to being bossed around.
You’ll be touring for the upcoming Canadian Children’s Book Week and talking to students about preserving nature and sparking stories. What are you looking forward to about touring for Book Week?
I’m so excited to see the art that everyone makes! My favourite part of making books for kids has been seeing the wonderful drawings and crafts made by readers, and I figure hosting a drawing workshop is a great new way to see a bunch of curious, clever new masterpieces.
Sid Sharp will be touring as part of Canadian Children's Book Week 2025. Keep up to date with her latest projects by following @sad_sharp on Instagram.
...
Written by Spencer Miller