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Pop-Up Perfectionist
Robert Sabuda talks about creating pop-up books
Robert Sabuda transforms white paper into three-dimensional adventures.
Scholastic Art: What is your job?
Robert Sabuda: I am a children’s book illustrator and pop-up book designer.
SA: How do you make a pop-up book?
RS: I always write the story first. Then I think about the book visually—almost like I’m watching a movie. I visualize what will happen with each turn of the page. Will it be a big moment—like a car chase in a movie—or a quiet moment? After planning the book, I start making the pop-ups.
SA: How do you make the pop-ups?
RS: I cut hard stock paper and fold and glue the pieces, building the scenes so that they will pop up when the page is turned. I start with a rough version of it to get the mechanics down. Then I make a more finished version.
SA: Then do you illustrate them?
RS: Not yet! After all the pop-ups are refined and working properly, I take them apart and flatten them. They look like pop-up roadkill! I scan all the pieces into the computer to make patterns so the manufacturer can make hundreds of thousands of copies of the book. Then I print out new copies of the pieces and illustrate them all by hand. These are also scanned and sent to the manufacturer.
SA: How did you first learn to make pop-up books?
RS: I taught myself by taking apart a few pop-up books. I felt guilty about it, but I wanted to understand how the different bends and angles made things move. Then I started experimenting. There was a lot of trial and error.
SA: What is most challenging about making a pop-up book?
RS: When someone is working on a traditional 2-D book, they can illustrate anything they want. But I have limitations because my pop-ups have to flatten when the book is closed. Sometimes, I’ll try something that doesn’t work, and I have to keep reworking it to get it to fold and open the right way. But the most challenging scenes to design end up being my favorites.