Ladies in Pink - Art Nu Exhibit
When it’s Winter in Tasmania, it’s time for Dark Mofo! Dark Mofo is a festival associated with MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. It’s not your ordinary festival. Timed alongside Winter Solstice, the week or two of events range from curious, engaging and sometimes shocking. There was a guy buried under the road for three days one year. Things get weird. I love it.
The Nolan Gallery and School of Art usually runs an exhibition during this time to coincide with the festival and tons of tourists visiting. No tourists this year though! Melbourne went into lockdown right before it started, so the usual crowd was missing. But the show went on, and I was thrilled to participate in the Nolan Gallery’s exhibit this year.
This year, Nolan Art used the traditional nude figure in art as inspiration for the group show - named Art Nu. Betty writes, “The nude is often a misused genre, still redolent of painted girlie pictures for the upper class. This exhibition ignores this tradition and hands the depiction of the naked body back to the women and the very nice men.”
At first, I wasn’t sure if there was anything I could add to it in time. After all, I am writing and editing ANOTHER graphic novel. My brain basically has zero vacancies during this time. I have so many nude figure drawings spanning many many years and I try to attend life drawing whenever I have the capacity. So Betty suggested using them as inspiration for a pattern. Once she said the magic word, pattern, it sparked an idea.
Patterns are a happy place for me with art. I like to make them for fun, mostly just for myself and for personal use. If I could approach this show with that mindset, I would be able to make something quickly that would feel fulfilling and also not take up too much writing time.
So I worked with what I had - tons and tons of life drawings.
Some more recent ones in ink.
Here are a few on minty green backgrounds. I went through a phase of prepping paper with mint green paint before attending the session. I love the way black ink looks on this and little white highlights.
The next challenge was to clean them all up and arrange them in a pattern. I ended up separating these into two pieces because I realized I had so many pregnancy drawings that I loved and they looked really special together. In reality these drawings are all of the same two pregnant women, but all together in the pattern it looks even more powerful.
The nude figure in art has historically been depicted and dictated by men. In this piece, I aimed to celebrate the female form depicted from life in ink, viewed from a woman's perspective. I've created an interconnected pattern out of my drawings of live pregnant models. They were captured in a moment in time, in the essence of one of the most powerful parts of being a woman.
Here are some screenshots in the process.
Removing background colors, adjusting stuff… etc
Then it was time to figure out some color options! I removed the color from all of the drawings, and now it was time to add some back in!
Digital painting for one of the backgrounds.
After playing around with the colors and placements, I locked it in. To finalize it, I added more textures, contrast and extra black ink marks to unify it.
Ladies in Pink
Ladies in Pink - Pregnancy
Each one is a limited edition print run on stunning museum grade cotton rag which can be bought exclusively at Nolan Art in person or online.
Photo by Giles Hugo from the opening night.
Art Nu
Be sure to check it out if you’re in Hobart!
The Freelance Transition
I was recently checking out Emma Kisstina/Kristina Hultkrantz’s Skillshare classes and freelance life pie charts and decided to share a bit of my journey with this as well. Going full-time freelance was not something that happened overnight. It’s been a gradual transition over a few years to change the slices of pie in order to suit and support the vision that I have.
Here is what two years of semi-full Freelance life has looked like for me:
Australia does their financial and tax year from July to June, so that is why these charts start and begin from those dates. It’s the only data I have. It’s a bit tricky to get a real sense for 2020 because I had two months of freelance gigs lined up in China and Japan which were cancelled. In-person teaching was cancelled for a few months as well as hospital visits with Inscape Tasmania. I was extremely lucky to have other options.
Here is a little bit more about each category:
Supportive Income/Keshet: I worked at Keshet Design in Hobart for several years. I started with about 4 days a week and gradually reduced my days and hours as I gained traction in other areas. At the end of 2019, I officially resigned. It’s important to have a supportive income while on the journey towards freelance so some of the financial pressure is reduced. I was lucky enough to have a supportive income as a creative art director so I used my skills in that area of my life too.
Teaching: Before moving to Hobart I was a full-time teacher in a school. My pie chart was about 90% teaching and 10% freelance and gigs during the Summer vacation. When I moved to Hobart with the intention of eventually going freelance, I serendipitously found an opening at The Nolan Gallery where a former teacher of theirs had just moved to New York City. I initially taught three sessions per week with some workshops and things here and there. I still teach there with reduced classes and love the students that I get to interact with regularly. It’s an important part of my pie because it is SOCIAL. Freelance life does not often incorporate dealing with people face to face.
Inscape Tasmania: I could categorize this as a freelance gig, but I feel like it deserves a category of its own, especially because I have regularly worked for this organisation for a few years. This work feeds my soul and is an important part of the pie chart. It’s also important to recognise that this is a paid job and not volunteer work. I only do this once or twice a month and it’s just the most wonderful job an illustrator could ever have.
Books/Advances/Royalties: This includes anything involving books from work for hire situations, advances for book contracts, and royalties for published books of the past. It’s certainly hard to predict this category each year, but it’s the one I’ve been focused on growing. I work with a wonderful agent, Claire at Painted Words, and without her, I would not have received such wonderful offers. This piece of the pie significantly grew when we sold my graphic novels in a three-book deal. Not only does it grow the chart, but it means that this pie piece will stay for a few years as I create the rest of them.
Things that are so insignificant that I wouldn’t include in a chart: Sales from my website, Redbubble, Society6 and Spoonflower where people can buy work of mine on various surfaces and objects.
Anyway, thanks to Emma Kisstina Illustration/Kristina Hultkrantz for inspiring me to do this. Anyone else out there pie charting their freelance life? I would love to see it.
Self Motivating During a Global Pandemic...
2020… The year I went FULL-TIME freelance. Wow, what timing!
The pandemic has changed my life completely, but not in the most visible ways. At the end of 2019, I was transitioning into full-time freelance work, so typical office life was already gradually disappearing. I was riding on the high of starting to work on my dream project, a graphic novel that would take up most of 2020. I moved into a local co-working space in February 2020 as I’ve learned in the past that I don’t do my best work at home. By mid-March, I was back in my home studio where all of the reasons that working from home doesn’t work for me escalated. Feeling isolated, stuck, and separated from my mom was of course never the plan.
I think everyone went through some kind of baking phase. I busted out Lucy Knisley’s book, Relish, and tested out the “Best Chocolate Chip Cookies” recipe among many others.
I was also scheduled to go on tour with Terrapin for all of April and May in China and Japan for the children’s theater show that I was a part of in October 2019. I would be working on my graphic novel during the day and drawing live in the children’s show in the evenings. With all travel and shows being cancelled worldwide, it was, fortunately, the only big financial hit for me.
During the lowest times in the pandemic, my life still looked the same from the outside. I was still working on my huge graphic novel project and a picture book which I felt extremely lucky to have been contracted for in 2020. The huge project, Big Apple Diaries, takes place in New York City before and after September 11, 2001. It was surreal to try and capture the essence of the city recovering from that shock at the same time the city was suffering again two decades later. A lot of the same themes were there - fear of the unknown, lost loved ones, and the strange mutual understanding that everyone has. Somehow the diaries I wrote when I was twelve have financially supported me twenty years later when the world is in crisis.
Small panel in Big Apple Diaries that suits the mood, watching the world crumble.
Self soothing activities during lockdown included Animal Crossing and an ongoing Catan tournament with our housemates who live downstairs. (My score has greatly improved since this photo was taken.)
I honestly don’t know how I would deal with 2020 without dogs…
Starting full-time freelance in 2020 has been intense because it feels impossible at times to self motivate when the world and everyone you know is hurting in some way. I somehow found myself in 2020 with a contracted job to do, without kids to worry about, with universal healthcare, extreme covid restrictions which led to zero covid around me, food on the table and much more to be extremely grateful for. It’s the non-visible stuff that has changed - the wondering, worrying, news refreshing, social activism-ing, and more. I started collecting some images in a “Pandemic” folder as a form of memory keeping in hopes that one day I can come back to make something out of it. At the moment it is still too ongoing and raw. My mom is still in New York in her own covid fatigue chaos.
My sketchbook reserved for “travel only” had to be used at some point this year when we were finally able to “travel” within Tasmania again. We drove four hours north to Derby, a mountain biking haven. Living on an island closed off to the rest of the country and world has been a blessing and a bit scary… mostly a blessing though.
A pretty great place to be isolated.
Binalong Bay Area, Tasmania - another pretty amazing place to be isolated.
In many ways, living in Australia this year has also put me in an incredible advantageous point to self-motivating for book work. In June I was able to move back into my co-working space and life has mostly resumed to relatively normal capacity. The worries and fatigue are still there as I look to all of my friends and family in the US. I am honestly not sure if either of my books would have been completed if I was still stuck at home and worried at the same time. For all of the other sensitive artistic souls teetering on the edges of poor mental health in the best of times, I don’t know how you do it!
Making a Theatrical Debut in China!
Wow, where to begin recapping my recent trip to China… 4 weeks, 4 cities, 24 shows performed, 5 or 6 workshops.
It all started when I was hired by Tasmania’s amazing Terrapin Puppet Theatre Company to be a part of their production of You And Me And The Space Between. This show is part play, part picture book/animation with a moving set controlled by a puppeteer. Terrapin describes it best:
“From the mind of Australia’s most accomplished children’s playwright, Finegan Kruckemeyer, comes a tale of wonder and invention that is brought to life in unexpected ways. Storytelling, choreographed projections and live drawn animation explore the plight of refugees fleeing environmental change through the eyes of a child.
Step inside a picture book with an artist and storyteller, amidst a paper set that is cut, ripped, patched and manipulated live to create a world of play.”
Live drawn animation - that’s where I came in!
Photo by Dean Stevenson right before we opened the first show of the tour.
The main cast was made up of four people on stage and some very important off stage characters:
Dean, the tour director, composer and live musician
Nicole, the amazing narrator from Shanghai
Rosie, the fabulous puppeteer controlling the set
Me, illustrating live from the ipad which is projected on stage
Simon (seen below) , the doer of all things including the very important stage lighting
Julien and Regina (seen below), our tour managers who we could not survive without
Celebrations in Zhengzhou above after opening night.
This photo was taken during the first show in Xi’an.
Considering I have never been on stage for anything since middle school (where I was a nameless role on stage with one line in Annie), it was pretty scary at first. Luckily we were performing for mostly children and hearing them laugh and gasp in the audience made this an extra special experience for me.
Performing this in China means that the entire show was in Mandarin! So literally all of our cues were in Mandarin too. Luckily I had an earpiece for other cues. It was pretty amazing to witness the poetry, humour and emotional side of the story translating seamlessly from the English version.
We performed in a diverse set of cities and venues! First we were in Zhengzhou’s Little Dreamer’s Theatre which hosts children’s performances from around the world for their regular members who are treated as family there. It was really a special venue and getting to know the staff and kids made us feel extra welcome.
Next, we traveled to Suzhou! It’s the Venice of China with artists sketching everywhere, a history of amazing embroidery work and much more! We got to explore a little bit on our days off. I really enjoyed that many people were wearing or renting traditional outfits from different time periods as they strolled around the museums and shopping areas. Nicole rocked her Tang dynasty outfit with us tagging along asking for translations every 5 minutes. One particularly special moment was when we stumbled into a Tea & Whiskey shop where the owner brewed us a special 20+ year old oolong tea. We watched him transfer the water from vessel to vessel until the tea finally made it into our tiny porcelain cups.
The venue we performed in was massive! There were museums, movie theatres, gigantic broadway show theatres and more inside. One of the small joys was having real coffee available right outside of our small theatre.
When we walked up to this the first time I think we were all in shock. Especially me, being an introvert accustomed to working in a silent solo cave.
Above photos inside and outside of the Suzhou venue.
Then we got on another train and went to Xi’an! It’s hard to decide which one was my favourite city on the trip, but Xi’an is definitely up there. On our days off we checked out some of the sights and ended up in artistic visual delight heaven! Ink brushes, calligraphy, handicraft galore! My eyes and brain hurt from absorbing it. Plus we went to see the Terracotta Warriors which was just unbelievable to process.
The venue we performed in Xi’an was spectacular. Walking up to it for the first time was definitely another shocking moment. Like are we performing in a palace?! China certainly knows how to light up an entire area with a million lights and this was one of them. The Shaanxi Opera House is just one of MANY buildings in this long strip of museums, theatres, shopping malls and more.
I had to grab some aerial views off of the internet because my photos just do not do it justice. Our hotel was in walking distance so it was wild to absorb this in between shows and do some people watching.
For week four we were sent to Urumqi, all the way in China’s northwest Xinjiang region. Although it ended up being a week of workshops instead of doing the show, it was an eye opening experience for all of us. Xinjiang borders many other countries/territories including Russia, Tibet, India, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. WHAT?! With all of the different ethnic groups it was definitely a different atmosphere. There was a lot to process and some difficult issues to witness, but putting that aside we had an amazing week.
The Helen O’Grady Drama School hosted us during the week, taking us to shows and amazing meals. (Scroll down for food highlights later.) We did workshops with kids loosely based on the show and it was wonderful meeting so many families and the super hospitable staff at the theatre school.
After a month in China we flew to Shanghai to begin the long journey home. Our one night in Shanghai just so happened to be on my birthday, so it was pretty special. It was hard to believe it was all over! There were a lot of laughs over the month to recap with funny translation fails, spa visits, different customs, interesting foods and more. Hopefully I can return to China one day and spend a bit more time in Shanghai!
Rolling in my 31st birthday in a spectacular way!
And now, a very quick recap on what I will miss most of all… the food. Oh the noodles and dumplings… and things I never knew of or tasted before. So cheap, so delicious…
Until next time, China!
Consistency in a series from an illustrator’s perspective.
As an illustrator, it is my job to create the images that help enrich books for children. When I first receive the text for a story, my initial process involves reading it over and over again. I sit, lay, walk and drive with the text in my mind for a period of time to start putting together a visual narrative. This visual narrative is inspired by the text of course, but it also goes beyond that. It is a non verbal language that adds another layer to the story that the text doesn’t explicitly say. This perfect combination of text and additional narrative is the great achievement than any children’s illustrator strives for.
After the initial stage, I start imagining the characters and the world they live in. For the Lucia The Luchadora series, their family heritage was front and centre for me as I began the process of their visual depiction. I set out to find cultural references and colours to inspire their world. For the Amelia Chamelia series, I tried to figure out how to make her stand out yet also be relatable to other eight year old Australian girls. Before any pencils hit paper, a lot of research and thought was involved. I feel as though I truly know the characters before I start to draw them.
To provide consistency to these characters across multiple pages and books is a unique challenge as well. While they need to look like the same person with the same proportions, their body language and emotional range needs to be as diverse as the readers themselves.
Amelia Chamelia faces a huge challenge of public speaking when her teacher assigns her the role of narrator in the school play. Her best friend Willow also faces a fear of heights during the school swimming test. Portraying these very real emotions in visual form can help engage early readers along the journey.
Creating consistency in style can be an interesting challenge too, especially when illustrating a series. Lucia the Luchadora set the style for the sequel, but I still tried to introduce new colours and characters into the culturally rich world they live in. Amelia Chamelia is simple black and white interior illustrations, so even though the artistic style doesn’t change throughout, the characters and expressions are diverse.
Each book is an exciting opportunity to explore style, consistency and nuance of character for visual storytelling. An illustrator’s work is never over! Stay tuned for more of my illustrated books coming soon including My Singing Nana!
Inscape Tasmania
The new resident artist at the Royal Hobart Hospital with Inscape Tasmania!
I have recently added a new title to my list of ongoing freelance gigs - Resident Artist at the Royal Hobart Hospital through the beautiful Inscape Tasmania program. I am a part of their meaningful Tribute project which links illustrators and visual artists with patients on the Acute Older Person's Ward.
Hard at work in the Arts & Music room on the ward.
Here's more about the program:
Inscape is a Hobart based non-profit organisation that supports artists to work in healthcare and other non-art settings, with the aim of promoting a sense of wellbeing for health care providers, patients and families.
The Tribute Project: Through meaningful conversation our artists capture the memories and life of patients; providing a tribute to patients and visual cues that encourage greater connection between hospital staff, patients and families. The artworks provide staff with a way to recognise the person and their lives as well as to attend to necessary medical procedures. The patient and/or their families keep the artwork as a memento; and, with their permission, a copy of their artwork is exhibited in a public space at the hospital.
I spent time with each of the following patients and spoke with them about some of their favourite memories. Here are some of the tribute paintings I have created for patients at the RHH:
A piece for Susan, who loves reading, chocolates and other special things that are hinted at in this piece for her. I mix and match traditional or digital painting depending on the piece. This one is digital.
This piece for Clifford was painted in acrylics and based on this man's love for his pets and a lifetime of giving to others even when he had nothing for himself.
This painting was a special combination of dear memories, each represented in panels from her favourite cathedral in England. I also painted this one in acrylic as it suited her story more than a digital work.
This tribute piece was for a younger patient at the RHH who has traveled the world and explored different cultures on his own and with family. This one is a digital piece.
I am looking forward to meeting more amazing humans and hopefully giving them a small piece of joy during their various hospital encounters. Joining this team and hearing these stories has been one of the highlights of my freelance life. One older woman just couldn't believe that I was doing this just for her. I hope she felt as special as I did creating it for her.
More coming soon!