Process for Let’s Do Everything and Nothing
Written and illustrated by Julia Kuo
pub. March 1, 2022
Purchase from Bookshop
I wrote this book as I was training for a guided ascent of Mt. Rainier in 2019. I’ll never forget looking into deep, yawning crevasses and watching the sunrise from the top of Mt. Rainier.
Looking back, it wasn’t just the otherworldly views that I loved; it was the months of careful preparation and training with my friend and my future husband. It was sharing an uncomfortably small tent on the snow and experiencing moments of fear and exhaustion together. Afterwards, we found complete satisfaction in the emptiness of having nothing left to plan for. This may sound like an oxymoron, but I have come to love these big adventures particularly because they help me to appreciate the quiet details of everyday life among those I love.
I wanted to create a story where exploring the world feels just as magnificent and precious as the peaceful hours at home when it is done with loved ones!
This book is not explicitly about anything Asian American or Taiwanese. But these characters eat shrimp chips, practice their bopomofo characters, wear cute house slippers and have chopsticks drying in their dish rack. They look like me, live in a house that would be familiar to me, and do activities like me, because this is my reality! People who look like me relax with their dog and sometimes have tea and orange slices as an afternoon snack. They also climb mountains, swim in lakes (if it’s not too cold), and catch fireflies. Because who else would I write a book about?
Here’s how this spread evolved from sketches to finish. I’ll take any excuse to draw people of color climbing, so I had to get a scene like this into my own book. This scene is inspired by the sea of clouds we saw coming down from the summit of Rainier in 2019. Apparently a 4 year old and a 7 year old have both climbed Rainier before so this is not totally impossible, although ideally you’d want an adult on both ends of the rope ;) But daughter is all geared up with her ice axe, gaiters, crampons, harness and helmet - no slacking here! Some of our own alpine adventures that inspired this trip are below.
Sharp eyes might notice that the sun becomes oblong instead of round. Did you know that the sun gets flatter as you go higher up in elevation? JUST KIDDING, it’s to accommodate for what we call “the gutter”, the parts of the two facing pages that get caught in a book’s binding.
Some artists are just gifted, but I have to draw from life when I’m drawing people, especially in certain styles. So thank you to all the friends who shared pictures of their girls as reference for this book! I initially asked for general pictures, but it turned out to be even more helpful when the moms posed with their girls. Here’s one example where I showed them an early sketch so they could see what I was looking for!
Thanks here especially to Chris, Mona and Artemis - but also to all the other moms (you know who you are)!