Illustrator R.W. Alley on how he brings Paddington Bear to life

Transcript

Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Amna Nawaz: Well, he’s been a familiar children’s figure for decades, but the origin story of Paddington Bear is one born of darker times and one worth noting on this Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Paddington’s creator, author Michael Bond, recalled seeing Jewish refugee children during World War II arriving in Britain with name cards around their necks and suitcases in their hands. Those memories inspired the bear so beloved by generations. Bond died in 2017, but, for the past 30 years, it’s been an artist in Rhode Island helping to keep Paddington’s story alive.

Ocean State Media’s Pamela Watts has more as part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Actor: Hello.

Pamela Watts: For almost 70 years, Paddington Bear has entertained generations in books, on stage, on TV, and in live-action movies. Even the late queen of England herself was bemused by the beloved bear.

However, Paddington Bear hibernates here in Barrington. That’s because illustrator R. W. Alley has been looking after this bear, as the story goes, for decades.

R.W. Alley, Illustrator: There are very few children’s literature characters who have Paddington’s range and depth. I think it’s because the basis is kindness and acceptance.

Pamela Watts: That warm spirit of inclusion incubates in Alley’s sun-drenched book-lined art studio at his Barrington home where he gets into the storybook.

R.W. Alley: I have to be the character I’m drawing. I have to be in my head saying the things that the character is saying to get the expression on the face.

Pamela Watts: In order to do that, Alley uses pen and ink, colored pencils, watercolors, and:

R.W. Alley: Sometimes, for Paddington’s fur, some coffee.

Pamela Watts: Is that legit?

R.W. Alley: Well, sometimes, it is a mistake, I have to say, because a coffee cup in the water jar are sometimes too near each other.

Pamela Watts: Coffee-stained, furry Paddington Bear was first created by the late British author Michael Bond in 1958.

R.W. Alley: This is the original story that you see.

Pamela Watts: Translated into dozens of languages, Paddington’s adventures charm families worldwide. Alley is the fifth illustrator for the series and the longest-serving. He currently draws reissued stories or Bond’s unpublished works.

Did you always want to be a children’s literature illustrator?

R.W. Alley: I’m an only child. And I would make up stories. And before I could read, I drew out the stories.

Pamela Watts: He was illustrating for Hallmark, but then:

R.W. Alley: There is a card company in Pawtucket called Paramount Greetings, and they were looking for someone to oversee their humor department.

Pamela Watts: Alley finally decided to try his hand at book illustration full-time while working on the “Detective Dinosaur” series, he had a fateful meeting with the creator of Paddington.

R.W. Alley: I had discussions with the author, who gave me some insight into his vision of the character.

Pamela Watts: What do you think is Paddington’s enduring appeal?

R.W. Alley: I think it’s really simple. I think that he’s not a character who judges. I think he’s a character who we would — who the reader would like to be.

Pamela Watts: Which inspired a new chapter in Alley’s career, writing and illustrating his own “Breezy Valley” comic book-style series, with animals representing the workers in your neighborhood.

R.W. Alley: What I’m trying to do is explain to young kids how important that a whole variety of jobs in their community is and how all these jobs interact with each other and how they’re all necessary to building this whole community.

And to do all this, I relied on local experts. This is fun. I really enjoy drawing the little tools here and trying to fit all the human construction gear onto an elephant.

Pamela Watts: The third edition in the series will be published in June. It’s based on a real local construction project that happened once upon a time.

And back to that staple of children’s libraries, Alley says he’s drawn a lot from Paddington Bear.

Has he influenced you?

R.W. Alley: I think so. It makes you less cynical about the world. It makes you more optimistic about the people you meet. It makes you feel kinder and gentler to the folks you may disagree with.

Pamela Watts: For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Pamela Watts in Barrington, Rhode Island.