UPPER WEST SIDE — To the urban under-10 set, Mo Willems is a celebrity whose name conjures up his beloved characters: Knuffle Bunny, Pigeon, Cat the Cat and Elephant and Piggie.
A new exhibit at the New-York Historical Society, "The Art and Whimsy of Mo Willems," lets readers go behind the scenes of his work to learn how these icons came to life — delving into the writer's inspiration as a dad in Park Slope to his passion for drawing.
A prolific children's author of more than 50 books, Willems was initially told his ideas were too "unusual" by publishers. He'd had his artistic start after college in the adult animation and sketch comedy worlds, and he still brings that sense of fun and irreverence to his writing and drawing, he said.
Adult comedy meant keeping up with the culture, something he wasn't interested in, whereas in creating content for kids you could focus solely on "anxiety, neurosis and pain," Willems said.
Thus, in 2003, after a publisher finally took a chance on him, the bold and ornery "Pigeon" character was born. The book, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" which follows a New York City pigeon's quest to drive a city bus, won a Caldecott award.
To the casual observer, Willems' drawings might look like they were whipped up in a flash, which means he's succeeded, he said Thursday at a preview for the exhibit.
"Being simple is not the same as being easy," he said.
A Charles Schulz devotee, Willems considers himself a cartoonist and "a line guy."
His lines have to "evoke emotion," and so he might do one drawing 50 times until the feeling is right, he said.
The exhibit delves into the process of how a book comes into being, from the very first drawings to the final proofs.
Just as Sesame Street, where Willems briefly worked, broke ground by depicting city life, Willems also was unique in using New York City as his landscape, he said.
"There really weren't that many urban picture books," said Willems of his 2004 publication "Knuffle Bunny, A Cautionary Tale."
The story is set in Park Slope, where Willems lived with his family, and depicts a trip to a laundromat gone awry.
At the time, "there was concern that people wouldn't know what a laundromat was," he said of readers outside the city. But Willems was happy to teach them, he said.
Willems had his own guess Thursday about what makes his characters so loveable. "The characters have to learn something every book, yet remain ignorant," he said.
Fans of the duo Elephant and Piggie will be sad to learn the last in the 25 book series is coming out this May, but it means Willems can look towards other projects — such as a rock opera about his character Naked Mole Rat that's in the works.
The exhibit opens Friday and runs through Sept. 25.
