"When I first drew Spot I realised that when I came to draw the spot on his body and the tip of his tail I was copying the markings on an aircraft. I grew up drawing aircraft – that is how I learned to draw," Hill said. "I am quite convinced now, as I look back, that the actual training of drawing cartoons – which is, of course, my style – led to my producing Spot.” (Flood, 2014)
|
The quote above from an interview of Hill in the Guardian talks about the visual inspiration for Spot. This connects Spot to Eric in that Spot’s design came from a different time in Hill’s life. During World War II many artists created based off of war material (of course an artist reacts to the things in their surroundings that are there to stimulate them). Hill was one of the artist that did this. He worked in drawing graphic designs and comic strips while working, and grew up drawing aircrafts for practice. It was through this mental muscle reflex that Spot--on a subconscious level-- came to have a similar design. Hill notes that it was an unconscious decision, but that he came to realize that he had in fact ‘created a ready-made trademark of its kind, with the essential spot on the body and a bit on the tail’ (Flood, 2014).
|
"When he shows excitement on Christmas Day and cries 'Yippee', that's me in there. I love the character, he's my buddy and I'm at ease with him. Subconsciously, I see things from the dog's point of view, so Spot is within me." (Eccleshare, 2014)
|
Spot is a part of Eric Hill. In a video in which Hill does a reading of his first book (see tab: Books by Eric Hill), this is exemplified. They way in which he reads the book is playful and casual, similar to the way Hill represents Spot. He also seems to read the book to the plush puppy he has in his lap, having the toy turn the flaps and attempt to help with page turning. Hill interacts with the dog and the book as he goes along. In watching videos of Eric Hill, such as his interview from 2007 that can be seen on the homepage of this site, the viewer can observe Hill’s kind and spirited manner which is reminiscent of Spot. |
I had noticed during my various book signing tours that many of the buyers were grandparents and they were all very enthusiastic over Spot - so I included them as my tribute for their constant and solid support.
|
Grandparents had a great impact on Hill’s work in a roundabout way, as they inspired the creation of Spot’s own grandparents and Spot’s sister Susie. Hill received a letter from a reader’s grandparent saying that Spot needed a sister, which was the starting inspiration for the character. As well, the inclusion of grandparents in the books helped to build the family aspect of the stories. In turn this helped Spot to grow into a more life-like, rounder character that children could connect with.
|