Worlds and the worlds within worlds have always captured my imagination. From the nonsensical dream worlds we try to cling to and recall when waking, to the natural world, imagined worlds and worlds that can only be seen under the lens of a microscope or from afar by a telescope. So perhaps, this is why within my own illustrations, I’m always striving to create a world filled with nature and magic. A place that is joyful, whimsical and welcoming.
I wonder too, if childhood is a world, a place, a Neverland. A chaotic place, full of not only adventure, noise and clashing colour, but also of gentleness, silent absorption and wonder.
As children we dip in and out of worlds as effortlessly as blinking. Falling into our own imaginations and getting lost in distant lands. It’s this wisdom and naivety of childhood that I hope to cultivate in my own drawings. The joy of make-believe.
In my own childhood I grew up moving from place to place, journeying from Paris to Asteroid B-612, England to Hundred Acre Wood, and America to the riverside home of Frog and Toad. This transitory upbringing gave me an early glimpse at life’s ephemeral and liminal nature, and lead me to treasure concepts like home and friendship all the more. Characters searching for and finding these things became cornerstones within my visual storytelling.
Animals and the unlikely friendships they form has also influenced my work greatly. From the symbiotic relationships between wolves and crows, coyotes and badgers, clownfish and anemones, or of course, human and dog. This art of living together, side by side in harmony always felt like a special kind of magic, a wonder of nature, like living in a fairytale.
All these things became the seeds I used to grow my own illustrations and stories. But still I’m striving to capture and convey those intangible moments. Friendships and feelings that need no words to shape them.
For these reasons I begin most illustrations with a character, an emotion and a single image in my head that slowly turns its self into a rough sketch on paper. Once I’m happy with the composition, I draw in all the fun details, then go over it with black line pen. Next, I scan the drawing into Photoshop, fix any mistakes and print the line onto heavy paper. This allows me to add colour without the fear of the ink running, and if I make a mistake or change my mind in the colour stage, I can always print the line work off again.
For colour I use acrylic paint pens. I enjoy the bold, opaque colours they come in and try to use them in a way that combines the techniques I developed while learning Chinese brush painting, hand-cut stencil screen-printing and Japanese Woodblock. I try to fill each page with hidden details and emotive colours to entice and embrace the viewer into a world of animals, forests and magical realism, where anything is possible.
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