Strong and quirky.
What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My computer is my #1 tool. Creating my illustrations on one piece of paper was harder. The computer allows me to work quicker and gives the option to alter art when (notice I said ‘when’) the clients request it.
My office window. Looking out at nature reminds you there’s another world other than the one you’re wrapped up in. I love to see chicks inside their nest that chirp frantically when their parents fly over.
A piece of cake and cup of tea. Yummm.
Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Electronic. I know it’s a strange answer, but graphics programmes have so many cool effects built into them, they make anything possible. It also makes it easier to send art to clients.
Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Wendy Pini (Elfquest - comic)
Matthew Inman (The Oatmeal - comic)
Brian Gordon (Foul language - comic)
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
The 16th century would be interesting...maybe in a hazmat suit! If the nasty diseases didn’t get you, the paints or beheading-inclined clients might. What if a bad-tempered king commissioned you to do his portrait and didn’t like it? Tough gig!
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
The box of comics I had when I was five. It was the early 70s and they were printed badly. I wanted to create comics that looked better.
Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often?
This is how the characters feel in my head. (I don’t care if the Doctors call them voices; I call them characters-so there!) Robot School was a comic that ran for six years in the School Magazine.
What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
When the image for the project I had in my head looks better on the computer screen. Yes!
What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Don’t fall into the trap of comparing your work to others, its soul destroying. Try to focus on what YOU have achieved. (Easier said than done!)
Veronica Rooke is an artist, graphic designer and cartoonist. Her work includes illustrations for books such as Parramatta Rosie: Colonial Girl and On the Wrong Foot: A Not Cinderella Story by Teena Raffa-Mulligan and the Robot School comic in the School Magazine. Visit Veronica's Fishbitten website and Facebook page for regular updates on her comics and other illustration work.
