What's this
illustration for?
This
illustration is I guess for my son Oscar- because the boy in it looks a bit like
him(or looked like him-he’s grown a bit in 6 months- but also Oscar doesn't have
the hat- has a red winter sleeping bag thing that’s a bit like the wizardy coat
he has there in the picture). It was during one of those periods where I try to
generate a lot of ideas and base drawings/thumbnails for images.
It’s
yet to be coloured, but I quite like it as black and white.
Do you have to
wait for a flash of inspiration - how do you
start?
I
find if I starve my brain of distraction, it starts generating ideas (because it
then has to generate its own entertainment).
For
me growing things from the idea is crucial. Generally if I plan to do my own
work /ideas- I'll spend a half day looking at art books and reference books,
anatomy- basically art cramming trying to memorize/remind myself of all the
details to pay attention to when i draw a particular thing (mind you I don't
know what at this stage so I try to cover anything that interests me). Then I
put everything away and start. Often putting on evocative music is good at the
start to get fired up.
How did you
get your start as an illustrator?
I'm
pretty much self taught. (I grew up in Townsville where a coconut with a sunset
painted on it was regarded as art.)
I was
given a book when I was 6 called "The Complete book of Drawing and Painting" by
Hugh Laidman-that guy could really draw and looking at it now I can see how the
drawing in that one book affected me (even to my taste in women I suspect). I
suppose other childhood influences would be Asterix, Richard Scarry, Brian
Wildsmith and Ronald Searle, Jules Feiffer- but I'm not sure how much of that
manifests itself.
Who or what
has influenced your work?
In
terms of artists I admire there are many, including the usual ones you might
suspect (Klimt,Schiele, Ingres, Mucha, Singer Sargent, Rackham, Rockwell) but
also slightly more modern people like Yoshitaka Amano, Brom ,Katsuya Terada and
Juan Gimenez for example. I also quite like Shaun Tan and Ashley wood as
Australian creative role models, and James Jean as a foreign one.
What's your
favourite media for creating
pictures?
For
ideas a pencil or a ballpoint is fine. I tend to use my Cintiq tablet and
photoshop. Initially when I bought the Cintiq I stopped drawing with pencil
because I couldn't bear the thought of an expensive piece of equipment lying
idle,- that’s worn off now and I'm back using a ballpoint pen of all things
(when not doing 'work' work )
Do you
experience illustrator's block - if so, what do you do about
it?
Actually
I find certain restrictions/limitations imposed force you to think creatively to
find a solution, and help you narrow the solution space as it were. The problem
tends to be more how to stage it or fit it on a page.
Bike
riding is good because of the stimulation of exercise and the lack of mental
stimulation- so your mind can wander (except of course those bits where trying
not to be killed by traffic has your attention.)
I've
cut and pasted some notes to myself at the end (originally for a
talk).
What's the
worst thing about being a
freelancer?
Isolation,
plus I've recently found that illustration is not actually regarded as art but
as a trade - like a plumber or a house painter, except clearly there is a
financial and work hours gulf between the illustration 'trade' and the plumbers.
I
guess for me after years for working "for the man" it’s a slower than expected
process of finding out where myself and my work ought to be.
And the
best?
At
this early stage,- being at home to see my kids first years- I know now that I
missed quite a bit of the first year and a half of our first child when I was
working in computer games. Creatively and long term art career wise I think it’s
the only way to go.
What are you
working on at the moment?
Primarily
on a series called "Little Mates" for Scholastic, (but also some personal projects, and
refurbishing my website and blog, working on t-shirts....the list goes on. On
the "to do list" was a plan of entering the Waterhouse prize this year and using
work for that for a book on Australian Dinosaurs...we'll see).
I'm
currently looking for new projects and work though.
Where can we see more of your
work?
I'm
listed on the Style File and Illustrators Australia, and the American SCWBI (but
not on the Australian).
My blog, which is fairly frequently updated http://lach-land.blogspot.com/
and website http://lach-land.com/ (which currently needs updating)
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