Bright!
What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Little dogs who lie at my feet while I paint.
Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Paint.
Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Dub Leffler, Emily Kngwarreye, Bronwyn Bancroft
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
The present, because we have such incredible and inspiring Indigenous artists and illustrators here in Australia.
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
I wrote a story (Crow and the Waterhole) and it was very special to me so I wanted to do the pictures myself.
Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often?
What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
Painting the pictures, because that’s when I get use all my colours.
What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
It’s more work than you think. People are hard to draw. And if you have a little dog, you have to be careful not to drop tubes of paint on the floor or he will take them away and hide them in his basket (he may be especially fond of cerulean blue).
Ambelin Kwaymullina is an Indigenous Australian author and illustrator. Her books range from picture books to young adult fiction and include titles such as How the Frogmouth Found her Home, the Charlie Burr series (co-authored with Sally Morgan, and Blaze and Ezekiel Kwaymullina) and The Tribe trilogy. Her newest picture books are Dream Little One, Dream (Penguin, May 2016) and I Love Me (Fremantle Press, April 2016), both written by Sally Morgan. Visit Ambelin Kwaymullina's website for more information about her books and other projects.
