illustration interview 2007

1. Can you tell me about your background; when and how did you decide that you wanted to be an illustrator?
 
I think I always wanted to do something with drawing. I wanted to do fine art in the beginning but when I got into art college I was sure that I wanted to do something with computers because it seemed like that’s where a lot of the interesting things were happening. Computers seemed to allow more creativity, so I took the graphic design course.
 
 
2. Where were you educated?
 
In NCAD in Dublin, Ireland. I studied graphic design. I finished in 2001.
 
 
3. What material/technique do you use in you illustrations. Has this changed since you started or did you stick with a particular technique?
 
I use pencil and paper most of the time. If I need a particular texture I might use charcoal or ink or sometimes collage. I then scan these in and play around with them on the computer. I probably use the computer a lot more now than I did a few years ago!
 
 
4. I am very interested in animations and moving image, what programme do you work in when you do your animations? How do you go about doing them?
 
I do most of my animations in after effects. I do most of the work in photoshop actually and just make it move in after effects. Its all very very basic!!
I just do a drawing in photoshop duplicate the layer and redraw it in a different position. Then I take that into after effects and show or hide the layers.
 
 
5. Can you tell me about some of the projects you have worked with? Is there any in particular that you found challenging, interesting or exciting?
 
Im very interested in fair trade and im quite involved in the company people tree.
Its very satisfying to get  to do work that I enjoy and is really of use to people.
Working in advertising made me very cynical for a while!!!  They have such a low view of humanity!!!! So I wanted to stop doing so much of that.
I also love to do animations or any work with narrative.
Im doing a childrens book at the moment with a Korean publisher which is really nice to do. Its my first childrens book!
One of my favourite jobs was for a UK government agency called THINK! It was set up to stop young people doing drugs and driving. (Do they really need an advert for that??!!)
They took quite a progressive approach and admitted to themselves that people were going to do drugs anyway. The slogan was ‘Stupid things you do on drugs’ and I illustrated 8 stupid things people do on drugs… and then the last one was ‘GET INTO YOUR CAR AND DRIVE HOME’ I had great fun doing that job!!!
 
 
6. I am very interested in your fair trade project with People Tree, can you tell me more about that?
 
There is a good interview I gave earlier this year…!
That says it better than I can!!!!
 
 
7. Your illustrations seems to have a lot of content and often a message to them, is this important to you? Do you find that your work gets better when you work for a good cause?
 
Illustration and the process of being commissioned is often quite useful because it forces you to  add more and more content to your work. 
If I was just working for myself I would be happy to create work that had one dimension to it but clients are always looking for more and more elements and messages and that ultimately forces me to push in different directions than I wouldn’t usually do.
I worked for a while for a quite creative animation studio (studioaka.co.uk) where I was doing some interesting creative work but in the end I kind of decided there is more important things to do with my life than making commercials for companies I don’t believe in.
I used to spend a lot of extra time on the different projects because Im a bit of a perfectionist sometimes, and then I hated to think that I was spending all my own time and energy (and weekends!) on nothing more than making a very rich multi-national company richer! 
I don’t know if the work I do is creatively any better but it feels a bit better! 
 
 
8. How important do you think moral is for illustrators? Would you work for a company you didn’t approve of if it was a great project/good money?
 
I have only turned down a few jobs because I didn’t agree with the company.
One was for a coffee brand (Kenco) that seemed to want to be seen to be fair trade when it wasn’t. I think they liked the fact that that my style was associated with fair trade. I would not work for anything like that for any amount of money…! Usually I just quote really high for a job if im not that interested in doing it. If they still want to use me then at least we are both happy!
9. How do you start with a new project? What do you do if you get “illustrators block?”
 
To be honest I don’t really get illustrators block…! Im usually too busy!
Sometimes if a project has no deadline it tends to never get started because it keeps getting pushed back. At the moment I have quite a few ideas that id love to work on for myself but im just too busy at the moment. Too many ideas rather than the opposite! That’s one of the great things about working to briefs because it always adds new ideas to your work and vocabulary. Each successful new brief usually adds a few ideas to my head! Most of which I never get around to using!
 
 
10. Your illustrations have a unique style, do you have any advice for students that have a hard time finding their own style?
 
I think just keep doing work that you like and keep pushing the boundaries of what you do.
I did an interview that mentions that too…
Take a look here.. 
11. Do you ever find it hard to compromise with the clients you work for? (If what they want is not what you want to do) 
All the time! They ultimately are paying for it! I try and win them around but it can be very frustrating. More recently people have been approaching me because they liked my work from a previous job… which makes it likely that we will have a fairly similar taste ….but not always! The odd time ill put ‘my version’ of the finished piece on my site… so that at least its not a totally wasted effort. 
12. How did you get your first illustration job? Do you have any tips on how to break into the business?
I got into a magazine in Ireland through a friends brother who was designing it.
Id say that just make yourself a site (or even a myspace page etc!) and get it under the nose of as many art directors as you can. The internet is a fantastic way to promote yourself.
 
 
11. What are you working on right now?
 
Im actually in India teaching a course on Illustration. First time I ever taught really!!! Its great though! Really enjoying it
Besides that im doing an illustration for a german arts festival and I just finished an animation for a fair trade company.
 
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Irish Illustration student thesis interview 2007

– How would you describe your illustrative style?
 
Im always asked that but i still don’t have an answer. It is mostly character based illustration. And mainly produced on the computer. I do a fairly broad range of stuff, everything from animation to repeated patterns for textiles.
 
 
– When you did Illustrate for Irish publications, what publications were they? when was it?
 
Ive been illustrating for Irish publications since 3rd year in college. 2000 or 2001 i think. I started doing regular work for dSIDE in college and did that for a year. (its now gone out of business) I did a few images for the Irish Times Saturday magazine but nothing at all regular and recently Ive done quite a bit for Cara magazine. (Aer Lingus’ inflight magazine) To be honest though a lot of the work i do is advertising rather than editorial. Editorial commissions are probably about 30% of the stuff i do. Only 20% of that is for Irish publications.
 
 
– Do you think there is demand for illustrators for magazines or newspapers? (not only in Ireland)
 
Many Illustrators work almost exclusively for editorial commissions but i tend only to skip from editorial to other different types of illustration, so im not really that familiar with that specific line of work.
 
But having said that, I do think that illustration is getting more popular in general. There has been an explosion in illustration and animation in advertising in the past few years. Id imagine its probably thanks to the computer.  It has made illustration easier and more flexible, allowing more control and creativity in the final images.
 
Many articles can be ‘illustrated’ a lot more effectively through illustration than photography, so there will always be a demand for some sort of illustration. The style can be ‘owned’ which is very useful in branding as it gives consistency in branding that photography cannot do so easily.
This is important for brands who want to be easily recognised from their competition but less so for magazines and newspapers.
 
To be honest I myself dont notice if there is a growing or declining trend for editorial illustration. I really dont know which way its moving.
 
One thing i do notice is that with the internet and distribution becoming more global i think it is probably becoming more and more difficult for more local magazines and newpapers to survive. London is a hub for the whole of Europe really for quite a lot of advertising and design. Ive worked on an a lot of specifically Irish ad jobs through London based companies.
 
 
– What is your opinion of stock illustration?
 
There is a very strong reaction against stock illustration amongst some of the established illustrators. But i dont have a big problem with it to be honest. Stock illustration suits some cheaper magazines because its not too expensive and you know what you are going to get. There will always be a market for original and specific images and illustrators and photographers can focus on that. If a specific illustration isnt really needed for an article they shouldnt really have to pay for one.
 
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interview with masala chai (india) 2008

 

1. Have you ever been to India or seen the process in action  i.e. the producers screen printing the t-shirts etc. , what was it like? how do you feel about the impact your designs have on their lives?

 

I have actually been to India three times now, I love India! Unfortunately I never made it to meet the actual artisans yet, the first two times i was there i was just backpacking around and i hadnt started working with People Tree then. And the last time it was a bit of a rush. Ive been around a fair bit of the country, i think ive spent about 4 months there all in all.
I have met many of the people who have set up the workshops when they come to London and they have a lot of stories about their projects, they are doing really great work there. It makes all the difference to think you are doing work for projects and companies you really agree with…
The last time i went to india was three months ago, i taught a 3 week course in illustration at Srishti college in Bangalore. I was really impressed with the college, they’ve a very forward thinking approach. The teaching staff were all really passionate and very good at what they do, it was very inspiring.

 

2. Do you take any design influences from Indian culture? If so, what are they?

 

I really love Indian folk art, Madhubani and Warli paintings and also a lot of the textiles. When I was in 3rd year in college I went backpacking around India for the summer and when I came back I went through a phase of being really crazy about Indian folk art. I bought a lot of books on Indian painting and textiles, it was very fresh and inspiring for me to see that then. I spend quite a bit of time in the British Museum and the V&A in London (when i feel burnt out) they have some really nice work … although ive been visiting the african and pacific island section more often than the indian one recently… they have some amazing stuff in there.

 

3. Who are your favourite artists/illustrators/designers ?

 

I like a lot of folk art mainly and get a lot of inspiration from visiting museums in London. David Shrigley’s work is always outstanding, also I really like Sara Ogilvie, Neal Layton and Tom Gauld. Michel Gondry and Traktor have done some great short films and videos. I worked for a year at a very good London animation studio a few years ago and was very lucky to meet some really inspiring animators in there, Grant Orchard, Ben Bocquelet and Steve Small are all doing really amazing work.

 

4. Do you really , honestly love vegetable fried rice? 

 

Not really actually… ive gone right off it! I was living in Hong Kong when i set up the site. I was living in a youth hostel and i had no money at all (and im vegetarian) so it was a running joke that the only thing i cooked or was seen to eat was vegetable fried rice. I used to boil a huge pot of rice and freeze so it would last for the week.

 

 

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Textile student thesis. Interview about fair trade

Does your work for Fair Trade companies differ much in terms of style from other projects you have worked on?

I try to approach every new project from a different angle. Every project has a different aim or objective, so a different approach or style is needed.

With the work I have been doing with People Tree I wanted my imagery to fit in with the rest of their collections so I drew inspiration from the beautiful folk art and textile designs that they produce and tried to create illustrations and designs that echo those designs.

I have actually been a huge fan of asian and african folk art and textile designs so it was something that i really wanted to use in the designs.

 

What is it that interests you about designing for Fair Trade companies?

I believe in the work they do. I had been too long working with advertising companies and other design jobs, and i found it very frustrating and unsatisfying to work for companies and products that i don’t agree with or believe in.

 

Do you feel restricted as a designer when working on Fair Trade projects?

Not at all. The only problem I have had is sometimes the standard of production is not as good as it could be. But thats because fair trade is sometimes about training unskilled workers to give them a help onto the first step of the ladder.

They need help to improve their skills and People Tree and other fair trade producers work closely with them to do that.

Having said that, many of the artisans that People Tree work with are first class highly skilled artisans and many of the products have come back looking twice as good as I had imagined. It depends on the project. People Tree’s workers come from many different backgrounds and skill levels.

 

Where does your inspiration come from for your work with People Tree?

I had actually been a huge fan of asian and african folk art and textile designs and i had travelled around asia before working with people tree and collected all sorts of designs and inspiration. When I was asked to do some t-shirts for people tree to start with i looked back at these images and also went to the british museum to pick up some inspiration there.

 

What image/message are you trying to create for Fair Trade? 

I hope i am helping to create a more modern and fashionable image for fair trade.

Because of their lack of money and their non design-led background some of the fair trade brands are not as well designed as they could be. Most of the fair trade brands come from an activist background. They are often affiliated to charities or development groups whereas most fashion brands are set up by designers. I hope I could attract some people that wouldn’t otherwise think about buying fair trade. 

 

What is your opinion of other existing Fair Trade design?

I think it is really improving, if you asked me that five years ago i dont think anyone was really doing anything too interesting design-wise. There are some great new independent designers choosing to work with fair trade. 

 

What would you change about the way Fair Trade is marketed to help it become more mainstream?

I think it is doing quite well as it is. The commodities (bananas, tea, coffee etc) are doing really very well with almost no advertising, it’s incredible how far they have come. Most of the coffee sold in the UK is now fair trade and ten years ago it was less than five percent. I think clothing/manufacturing needs more work to compete with that, there are a few things holding it back. Firstly its is much more difficult to certify as there are so many parts all made in different areas and also the designs and brand names are not there yet.

 

What do you think the future for Fair Trade fashion holds?

 The future of fashion I think has to be fair trade and more environmentally aware. The whole of the fashion industry is completely unsustainable, high street fashion is almost entirely branding with little thought to anything else. Most of my fashion design friends are very disillusioned with the industry. The turn-around for clothing is so fast, there is little consideration for the environment, cotton is probably the single most polluting farmed crop the way it is currently farmed and dyeing and manufacturing are also a real problem. The way that the industry works is so wasteful, one year knit-wear is fashionable, the next year its out. And the whole knit-wear industry in asia behind the making of those knitwear items is suddenly out of work.

I think if we as consumers could see the damage that we are doing with out spending habits we would all be buying fair trade. The job of fair trade and the trade justice movement is to make people aware of these issues. 

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Interview with Bas Maliepaard Dec 2011

Someone told me Dick Bruna was an inspiration to you. why do you like his work? What did you learn from his work?
 
Yes, i went to visit his show at ‘the museum of childhood’ here in london a few years ago
i love all his work, his earlier graphic work for book covers as well as Miffy. Its very very graphic and deceptively simple. There was a story in the London exhibition about how he came up with the idea for his first book, it mentioned that he was 28 on a rainy beach holiday. I was actually 28 at the time so it resonated with me somehow, I had been promising myself for a number of years that i should do a picture book and it reminded me that i should try and give it a go. In fact it took me nearly another year to come up with the idea!

 

Are there other artists who are a source of inspiration? Leo Lionni? Eric Carle?
 
Yes i especially love Leo Lionni, every time i try to make something simple i try to look to his work.. he has so much character from so little, it makes it magical. I really like the russian animator Yuri Norstein for his simple characters too. I like lots of contemporary artists too, olivier tallec, kitty crowther, marc boutavant as well as animators (i worked in animation for a while)
 
 
What does it feels like that A BIT LOST is ‘Picture Book of the Year’ in the Netherlands?
 
im very excited, i have a dutch friend prina who studied with me in university in dublin and she is always sending me updates and pictures of mama kwijt in shop windows. she is a designer herself in holland.
http://www.prina.nl/  I love the animation that was made and all the exciting that have been done around this award. Another irish designer friend lives in amsterdam and is also keeping me up to date with sightings and events! Im particularly proud that it is doing so well there as im a big fan of dutch graphic design and the standard of design over there is so high.

 

Do you make your illustrations on the computer?
 
i always draw everything first in pencil but the majority of the work happens on the computer. the computer is a very powerful tool because of the flexibility it allows. Things can be changed endlessly so sometimes its hard to know when to stop.

 

What was the most surprising/satisfying reader’s reaction on A BIT LOST?
 
One mother wrote to me to say her baby’s first words were ‘Uh-oh!’ im not entirely sure if she was joking or not!  Another mother said that when her daughter sees the book she always says ‘uh-oh’, for her first birthday she baked her an owl shaped cake and she knew it was a success because when her daughter saw it she said ‘uh-oh’!
i got some lovely letters from kids too
Many parents have told me that their son or daughter has spotted the mummy owl hidden in the background before they did.
 
 
What do you think about the fact that your book got a slightly different title in Dutch? ‘Mama kwijt’ is short for ‘I lost my mommy’.
 
Its hard for me to comment as i dont speak dutch, i think editors do need to make decisions about what will work best in their language. I was perhaps a little dissapointed that the quote was not used in the Dutch version though. In the original versions i have a little epigraph by Robinson Crusoe on the title page which says: ‘Thus we never see the true State of our Condition, till it is illustrated to us by its Contraries; nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it’ (in summary: you dont know what you’ve got, until it’s gone) Although it really only speaks to the adult reader i quite like that its there. I quite like the contrast between the 17th century classic and a funny little book about a lost owl. I have a similar quote by a stoic philosopher for my next book Oh No George! (stoute hond) which is about a dog trying to be good. 
 
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Irish Independent Interview 2010

When did you leave Ireland? I went to London in 2003. Im always coming back though. I usually spend a few months of the year here.

 

Where did you study Graphic Design and Illustration? NCAD

 

Highlight of your career to date? I was listed in Time Magazine’s DESIGN 100 a few years ago for the fair trade work i have been doing with the company People Tree, also I have just won the Gold AOI Best of British Illustration Award in the Childrens book category this year for my first book A Bit Lost which came out last month.

 

Do you intend on publishing more children’s books? 
Yes definitely. I have nearly finished another one about a bad dog. Its called OH NO! GEORGE! He eats a cake and chases cat and digs a big hole but he feels terrible about it afterwards.

 

Have you ever illustrated a book for another author? No

 

Book illustrator that you admire (Irish or otherwise) 

 

I really love Beatrice Alemagna’s work. Un Lion a Paris perhaps is my favourite. It is about a lion that takes the train to Paris, she wanders around the city and falls in love with Paris and finds here home as a famous Lion statue in the heart of the city.

 

Also Tara Publishing in India do some great unique (even screen printed!) books. Catch that crocodile is perhaps one of my favourites of theirs

 

 

Cho Sunk Yung is a huge inspiration for me also. His books are quite different in tone than my own. His Underground Garden is about a man who plants a garden in the middle of a dark city and it bursts through the walls and takes on a life of its own. There is a beautiful poetry in his writing and there is always a metaphor and meaning behind the stories. 

 

 

Awards your work has won? 
I have just won the Gold AOI Best of British Illustration Award in the Childrens book category this year and got the Bronze in the Advertising category 2 years ago

 

Proudest achievement to date? 
Im very proud of the work I have been doing with fair trade. I have been working with People Tree a UK based fair trade clothing company. I have just started doing work with a fantastic company called Mahaguthi in Nepal too. They are an organisation with an incredible history and were originally started by Gandhi and his friend Tulsi Mehar in the 1920s. I had read about their work and philosophy and I was very proud to work with them and contribute to some of their handicrafts and products.

 

Favourite project to-date? 

 

My book is definitely my favourite. I had wanted to write and illustrate my own book for many years and do something with my own characters and story. In the end it had to be wrestled from me by my editor. We worked hard on the design of it and the details… i think i was probably driving my publisher crazy but we got there in the end. Im really happy with it.

 

Any other interesting / quirky facts that you can share e.g. How many countries have you worked in over the last year? What you wanted to be when you were young? Career ambition? 

 

I worked in India and Nepal for eight months this year before coming back to London. I have been doing fair trade work with some organisations there. I have been making and designing fair trade rugs and soft toys (an Owl too!) amongst other things

 

When I was young I wanted to be an archaeologist because I loved dinosaurs.

 

I hope to continue to make picture books. I hope to do some non-fiction books for older children too.

 

Advice for budding graphic designers / illustrators in Ireland today?

 

Keep working hard on varied projects that interest you and try to keep pushing and expanding the types of work you do is the best way of learning and developing interesting work. Do a lot of research and be aware that no matter how good anyones work is, it can always be improved on.

 

 

Why you feel it is important to develop creativity and self-belief in children.

 

I think creativity has come to mean the arts but it is essential to every part of life. It is a way of looking in a fresh way at the world. The best breakthroughs in any field come from creative thinking and self belief. Whether it is in science or the arts, any sort of problem solving can benefit from creativity and thinking about things in a new way. There is no-one in the world better suited to viewing the world from a new angle than children.

 

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Interview for amateurillustrator.com 2008

Published in 2008 on amateurillustrator.com

 

Firstly, tell us a little about yourself and how you came about to do art?
I studied graphic design and illustration in the National College of Art in Dublin, Ireland. While i was there I was always trying to get work in magazines and other bits and pieces here and there. After that I wanted to take a break and get out of Ireland for a bit so moved to Hong Kong with two friends, we started off with teaching English but after only a few months we managed to find freelance design and illustration. I ended up traveling around and about in Asia for two years before moving to the UK in 2004 to work for the London based animation Studioaka. I left there to work again on smaller more creative freelance projects. I illustrate for several magazines and newspapers I have just recently started making hand-made prints and designs for clothing and stationery with the fair trade company People Tree. I always loved drawing I don’t know how it started really. In Dublin I had been doing a few very small jobs for terrible money and I never really thought it was possible to make a living out of it but when I got to Hong Kong the first job I got there was this International advertising campaign. I couldn’t believe the money they wanted to pay me. So I threw in the English teaching job and that was pretty much it.

 

Tell us about your original and strongest sources of inspiration and what you do these days when you’re in need of a little creative spark?
I love Japanese prints and Indian painting and in fact most Asian art has something ornate and very beautiful about it, which is part of the reason I wanted to travel in Asia. I used to be crazy about Rousseau’s work until I saw a book on Bengali painting which just blew me away. The patterning and colours are just awe-inspiring. I’m living in London at the moment and I visit museums pretty regularly at least once a week. I live quite close to the British Museum and I’d go in there quite often, its an amazing place anyway, I love work with a naivety to it. I’ve kind of used this for the work I have been doing for People Tree.


The standard of design and illustration I think is really very high in London so its very inspiring just walking around the high streets over here. I spend hours in bookshops too… I had to do my Christmas shopping last month and I think I bought more books for myself than I did presents for other people. Having said all that drawing from life and observing people doing everyday things is pretty good too. I used to always listen to a Walkman on the bus until I discovered that listening to other peoples conversations is much better.

 

How do you go about approaching any given piece of art, i.e. what do you do first/ how do you set the mood?
I usually have an image in my head that i scribble down very quickly. If i don’t do it quickly it loses something, its weird but i think its really true, there’s a good book called ‘Zen mind, Beginners mind’ which i think kind of describes that kind of unconscious process really well. I always start out on paper, never on the computer because the first images are quite important to get down right and I’m quicker on paper than I am on the computer. I always do lots of drawings first and usually i scan them all in and attack them in Photoshop. Usually the image looks really cluttered initially so i start whittling it down… it ends up quite stark by the end of all that. I end up not using most of the work that I do in the end which is a shame… but less is usually more in a lot of ways. Thats the great thing about digital images, its so easy to change and have complete control. When I started out doing illustration I was doing original pieces and sending them off to be scanned in. But I was never really totally happy with the images i was producing, there was always some part of them that i wanted to change. On the computer the images are so much closer to what I want.

ell us more about your distinctive visual signature and how important you think a distinct style is for upcoming artists?
Its funny a lot of friends always ask why i have such a distinctive style and why do i always draw in the same style, but the truth is half the time i approach a drawing I want to do something completely different and it always ends up looking exactly the same as all my other drawings. It does in some way make my portfolio look stronger when its put together rather than if they images were very different to each other. If your portfolio is a bit of a random mix I’m sure the art director might be a little concerned about what they’re going to get. I think its much more important to produce work that you are happy with, if you are continually trying to push yourself a style will naturally follow i think. I used to love to kind of slavishly copy other illustrators work when i was in secondary school (high school), some of them I’d love their line drawing, others for their humor etc and eventually I think all of that just ended up merged into one style. I don’t really know…! I never really thought about it before.

 

 

What is it about your work that you like best?
I like it when its very subtle but gets the point across. If its too literal or obvious its a little bit cheap, and likewise if its too abstruse nobody can figure out what you’re getting at. I don’t like punchlines very much. I usually prefer drawings that say something more than they seem to on first glance. But they’re the hardest to do. I tear photos out of the newspaper that I like, that are usually just of people with weird expressions on their faces. I got a good one a few weeks ago from the TV section of moses standing there with a staff ready to part the sea but he has this look on his face that makes him look like he’s not sure whats going to happen next. If I manage to convey that sort of feeling in an image I’m pretty proud of myself. I did one lately for the Guardian that I quite like.
I’m very proud of the recent work I have been doing with the fair trade clothes company People Tree, the work they are doing in developing countries is fantastic so it’s great to think I’m helping them out.
I remember I saw Tomato (London based design group ) give a talk about design and they said that as a designer ‘you get the work that you do’, which i think is a really good piece of advice.
If you start out doing fashion illustrations and have nothing more than fashion illustrations in your portfolio or on your site you’ll find it hard to get hired to do editorial pieces.
Art directors are naturally unwilling to take a risk so you&
rsquo;ll find that the only way to get out of that side of the industry is to take a bit of time off and create the work yourself.


The best thing to do is to work in your spare time and find a way of working that you like and enjoy and then take that to the art directors.
A friend of mine had an agent for Children’s book illustration. She advised him to produce work in particular styles that she thought would sell, so he followed her advice but he still found it hard to get work and he didn’t enjoy doing work in a forced style. It wasn’t until he produced a body of his own work that he felt comfortable with did he start getting serious work.
If your work is unique you definitely will get better and more interesting work.
Having said all that probably the most important thing to do is get your work out there, I went to college with a guy who does really really great work but he is quite shy about showing his work off and as a result hasn’t got half as much work as he should be getting. Illustrators are pretty good at this I think, compared to photographers. Every fairly successful photographer I meet is a born extrovert who has no problem at all with selling himself and his work but most of the illustrators I’ve met are all really very shy and modest.

 

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Walker Books

As a child..
I grew up in dublin. i wanted to be an archaeologist because i was crazy about dinosaurs. my uncle gave me a trowel which i used to carry around. I also liked the muppets.
i went through a phase of making airplanes. ever since i remember i was good at drawing. i loved factual books with pictures and diagrams i could understand and i hope to do some of my own non-fiction soon.
 
As an adult..
I went to art college in Dublin. I moved to Hong Kong in 2001 and worked as a teacher. I also got some of my first illustration work while i was there. I traveled around a lot and settled in London in 2004. I got a full time job in an animation studio and also started working for people tree. I became a freelance illustrator in around 2005, mainly working for magazines. I went to the Bologna fair to look for a publisher and ended up meeting a korean publisher to make my first book.
 
10 Things you didn’t know about Chris Haughton
  1.  i travel a lot have lived and worked in lots of different cities
  2.  when i first moved to london i was the handy-man in paddington station.
  3.  in san francisco i worked in an american diner. my name badge said ‘jesus: guatamala city’
  4.  i stayed on the bottom bunk in a hostel in hong kong for 6 months.
  5.  in hong kong i was a teacher of very small children for a year. i taught art and drama.
  6. i started to illustrate while i was in hong kong and thats why i called my website vegetablefriedrice.com
  7.  i lived in kathmandu for 6 months to work on fair trade projects and helped set up pecha kucha kathmandu.
  8.  i think nepal is the most beautiful country in the world
  9. my book book A BIT LOST first came out in korean and i made it in seoul.
  10.  i also make rugs!
……………..
A video is about chris’s work in 2010 work
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/11102357 w=500&h=283]
A video panel talk about getting into childrens books
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/33015277 w=500&h=283]
 
By |2020-05-13T12:50:07+00:00February 10th, 2009|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
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