What's this
illustration for?
This is an
illustration I did for Flame Stands Waiting, a picture book
written by Corinne Fenton, published by Black Dog Books.
Do you have to
wait for a flash of inspiration - how do you
start?
Well
inspiration does strike, and it’s really great when it happens. I find myself
drawing much faster with better images better produced. Unfortunately you can’t
always count on being inspired, sometimes a deadline will be looming or a
project may have lost some of the appeal it once had and i find myself having to
rely on discipline and self motivation.
Usually the
beginning of a project is the most inspiring time for me. Which is great because
the beginning is when you need to produce all your concepts. I usually start by
reading the source material or the brief, and then sketching out anything that
comes to mind. Sometimes i think of an artist i love that does work in a similar
vein to the brief i am working on and i will spend some time going through thier
body of work for inspiration.
How did you
get your start as an illustrator?
Well the first
project I’d ever done was a book cover. The publisher had seen some of my
student work and contacted me about doing some work for them. As is always the
case, the work lead to more work, which has lead to more work again. I think
getting the initial exposure as an artist is the hardest part, once you have a
bit of work out there then its much easier to get more
work.
Who or what
has influenced your work?
There are so
many artists that I love and who influence me that it would take many pages to
list them all. Like most everybody I am influenced by my life, by movies that I
love, comics that i read and my goals as an artist.
What's your
favourite media for creating pictures?
That is a
tough question. My favourite media for finishing a brief is definitely digital.
I can experiment much more boldly, I can sketch and paint much more quickly and
I can deliver work to clients much more easily.
However the
most satisfaction that I feel is definitely when I have finished a traditional
oil or acrylic painting. When I can sit back and look at it right in front of
me. I can hold it and smell the paint. There is something really satisfying
about that.
Do you
experience illustrator's block - if so, what do you do about
it?
Sometimes a
job is very hard to get into. Even if I have some really potent ideas, sometimes
my hands don’t want to co-operate and my sketches just come out looking pretty
bad.
The trick for
me is not to get too precious. Not to start heavily doubting myself and
convincing myself that I’ve somehow LOST the ability to draw. it’s important to
recognize when i am having trouble, so i can tell myself to just 'draw through'
the block. Eventually my sketches will start to improve and i can get back on
track.
I read
somewhere that every artist has a thousand poor drawings inside them and the
sooner you get them out, the better. I think of that sometimes when I am not
feeling like my work is the best.
What's the
worst thing about being a freelancer?
The worst
thing is not knowing what will be happening down the track. Right now I am
completely flushed with work. It’s great; I have one project after the other to
do. but what about January next year? I have absolutely no idea what I will be
doing then, I don’t even know if people will still be giving me work. That is
easily the worst part. Who knows how things will ebb and flow in the future.
That uncertainty that you get as a freelancer can be
scary.
And the
best?
There are a few things
that are really awesome about being a freelance artist. I can set my own hours,
if i feel like doing work at 4am i can. Working from a
home studio is also really great, I don’t have to worry about my workspace
messiness offending any other employees, I can listen to music as loud as I
want, that sort of thing. It’s a sense of freedom, of being my own
boss.
The very best
part of being an artist is getting paid to draw. I remember finishing a piece of
work, it was a giant T-rex skeleton being ridden by a medieval warrior. I
remember finishing that and sitting back and thinking, I cannot believe someone
is paying me to do this!
What are you
working on at the moment?
At the moment
i am working on a batch of book covers and a whole mess of black and white
interior illustrations for various publishers. The most exciting thing I am
working on is a proposal for a graphic novel. A writer friend of mine named Earl
Leonard approached me with a really amazing idea and we are putting together a
package to pitch to publishers, it is just a lot of fun to be working
on.
Where can we
see more of your work?
