Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Not realistic, not cartoony, but a variant of all in-between.
What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Pencil, paper, computer and a leafy outlook (ideally without Myna birds).
Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Watercolor. It has a fresh immediacy I like and is unforgiving in a good way.
Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Of kids book Illustrators I like Chris Van Allsburg, commercial illustrators I like Jeff Fisher, painters I like Francis Bacon.
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
Paris at the end of the 19th century. Modernism was still young and there was so much potential and passion in the air.
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
Drawing was second nature to me as a child. I was often asked by my teachers to draw for the class on the blackboard. Becoming an illustrator felt like a preordained career path. My mother would paint the windows at Christmas time, I was enchanted by that…so maybe it was my genes that led me to 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.
This is the painting part of the studio where most of my thinking is done and the larger pieces are made. The ones you see are repurposed 19th century paintings that I’ve been exploring lately in my fine art practice. Light streams in from a long window looking out onto a river and mountains. I have a drop sheet on the floor but the paint always seems to make it to the floor.
What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
I like the idea generation stage mostly, coming up with fresh ways of representing the ordinary and everyday. I also enjoy creating mood with lighting. Drawing, I find a little taxing at times.
What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
While studying one of my lecturers told us that 99% of us won’t make a living out of illustration but if 100% of us continued with what we loved then all of us would live a happy life. For the most part this I feel this is still true, but these days I would have a plan B - maybe learn some code and digital marketing.
Darren is an accomplished illustrator, artist and co-founder of publisher, Wise As Stories. Darren cut his creative teeth at Cato Purnell and David Lancashire Design. He has won major local and international illustration awards and has worked across major brands including CBA, ASX, Myer, Time Magazine and LA Times.
