Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Bold, electric, bright, haphazard, retro, messy, chaotic, funny (I hope!)
What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Sophie Beer is a children's illustrator and author from Brisbane. She completed a dual degree in Law and Creative Industries with distinction at Queensland University of Technology, but found her true calling in children's and editorial illustration after being caught doodling in law textbooks too often. Reveling in color, shape, and texture, she lives by one simple rule: Art should never be boring. She has worked with lots of clients over her freelancing career including Disney, Google, Scholastic, Penguin Random House, Hardie Grant Egmont and more. When she's not illustrating and writing, she thinks a lot about equality, nature, books, and Aldi choc-chip biscuits.
Bold, electric, bright, haphazard, retro, messy, chaotic, funny (I hope!)
What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Lots of posters to inspire me!
Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Digital. I have such short attention span that I get frustrated working on paper! I need the freedom to do something quickly, delete it and go over it again!
Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Digital. I have such short attention span that I get frustrated working on paper! I need the freedom to do something quickly, delete it and go over it again!
Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Jon Klassen, Mary Blair, Roger Duvoisin
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
The 1950s and 60s! The golden age of children’s book art.
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
I was in the final year of my law degree and really wasn’t enjoying it. The only thing that made me happy was painting, so I took that and ran with 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.
You can see all the posters on my wall, as well as embroidery from my friends, art from others, and inspiring quotes. I keep flowers around my studio all of the time, plus houseplants. You can see my Wacom tablet and my Mac as well!
You can see all the posters on my wall, as well as embroidery from my friends, art from others, and inspiring quotes. I keep flowers around my studio all of the time, plus houseplants. You can see my Wacom tablet and my Mac as well!
What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
When you find a colour combination that works and it all clicks together.
When you find a colour combination that works and it all clicks together.
What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Practise, practise, practise, and in the words of JK Rowling: “ I believe in hard work and luck, and that the first often leads to the second.”
Sophie Beer is a children's illustrator and author from Brisbane. She completed a dual degree in Law and Creative Industries with distinction at Queensland University of Technology, but found her true calling in children's and editorial illustration after being caught doodling in law textbooks too often. Reveling in color, shape, and texture, she lives by one simple rule: Art should never be boring. She has worked with lots of clients over her freelancing career including Disney, Google, Scholastic, Penguin Random House, Hardie Grant Egmont and more. When she's not illustrating and writing, she thinks a lot about equality, nature, books, and Aldi choc-chip biscuits.
