Describe your illustration style
in ten words or less.
Constantly
evolving, fun, playful and thoughtful.
What items are an essential part of your creative space?
I am a
very messy worker! My desk is strewn with everything I need and the rest
stacked in drawers nearby. It’s organised chaos. Essentials are my 3B pencil,
0.1 Unipin fineliner, watercolour paints and pencils, my Wacom Intuos Pro and
favourite eraser and pencil sharpener. And coffee, water and rotating snacks,
of course!
Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Right
now my favourite combination is watercolour and watercolour pencil, edited in
Photoshop to add depth. When I’m working on bigger pieces I adore adding soft
pastels into the mix.
Name three artists whose work
inspires you.
I spend
a lot of time reading picture books (I have two young boys and they tolerate my
voracious appetite to read them!) and these inspire me the most. Three
illustrators whom I find inspiring right now are Anna Walker, Bruce Whatley,
and Freya Blackwood.
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
I
honestly feel so lucky to be around for THIS artistic period where we have so
much history to be inspired by and draw upon, yet we’re also able to play with
technology as a tool in ways we’ve never been able to before. If I could time-travel
I think I’d take a trip all the way through time and marvel at the stages and
changes, but now is an incredible time to be in the art world!
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
I’ve
always wanted to be a writer/illustrator and a few years ago finished my
Masters of Writing. At that stage, illustration had become a dusty dream that I
wasn’t sure I could dust off. But the urge to write and illustrate picture
books was still strong, and so I took myself off to art classes. These classes
gave me enough confidence to keep going, and I was lucky enough to get lots of
encouragement from family and friends. Honestly, it’s the picture books that
fill my home (and their creators) that continue to inspire me. They just make
me happy and I want to do that for others too.
Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
I work
most often in my study. It’s a room at the front of my house, stacked high with
books. My desk houses my scanner, PC, laptop, Wacom, drawing pad and whatever
medium I’m working in at the time. I’m likely to have a couple of little
pallets of watercolour, my watercolour pencils (never placed in any order!), my
3B pencil and favourite eraser and pencil sharpener. Often music will be
playing through the PC speakers and more often than not a child making more
mess on the floor doing ‘craft’ or building a lego creation.
What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
Tricky question! I want to say adding colour, but I also love to work
in black and white. For me it’s in the process itself – it absorbs me and
clears my head of everything else. At the end, I love to sit back and feel
whatever it is the illustration makes me feel – whether calm, happy, sad,
confused – whatever it evokes. Evoking something is very satisfying.
What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
The biggest shift for me came
when I decided to own being an illustrator. I owned it before I had the skill I
thought I needed to ‘be’ that, but without owning it, I don’t think I would
have ended up where I have. So, my advice: Own it. Declare it. Be it.
Erica is a
Melbourne-based illustrator and aspiring children’s picture book writer. She is
also the mother of two young boys and a yoga teacher. She hopes to encourage
children and adults alike to look with wonder and appreciation at their world
and the people they share it with.
