The theatre informs my process. As a performer, you start with the written word, which you deliver to an audience using your own set of tools. Illustration is the same. There is the written word, which must be translated and served to the viewer using a set of tools. As a children’s book illustrator, I draw inspiration from my roots in the theatre. Characters are central for me, and environment finds itself in a supporting role. I find comfort in the way space gets defined by flat planes. There is familiarity in the simplicity of the theatre’s compass points: stage right, stage left, upstage, downstage, center stage. In “Bottom’s Dream” (from A Midsummer Night's Dream), the the iconic transformation of Bottom is positioned center stage. He listlessly reclines, dazed, while Titania’s infatuation with the creature he has become overtakes her. It is this moment that gives birth to the central question of Shakespeare’s play. When did the dream begin and when did it end?