What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Can’t live without pencil & paper. Music or a good podcast for my ears. My Mac, which is where the magic happens after the pencil & paper bit.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Currently I work digitally on Final Art, but I love the initial exploration of a story in pencil; finding out who the characters are, how the scenery might look etc.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
I admire many illustrators but I tend not to scrutinise their work too much. As for past artists, I am a big fan of Turner especially, but also many other artists. I tend not to lean to other artists for inspiration, instead allowing the story text to drive much of that.

Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
I love the period we are in right now. I feel if I went back in time, the many negatives would outweigh the artistic positives. Now is fine thanks. Also, I think my family would probably miss me… probably.

Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
A very nice lady introduced me to illustration when I was pretending to be an artist. I thank that lovely lady very much.

Welcome to my studio. Firstly, you’ll note the large size sketch pad front & centre, working on my next picture book, roughing characters & storyboarding the pages. Left of the Mac is my scanner, very important for transferring roughs to Photoshop, where all the colour work happens for the Final Art. Obviously hard not to notice the big 27inch Mac, which I love working on, the big screen is perfect for viewing complete spreads when producing a book. Wacom tablet from which I paint up the final art in combination with Adobe Photoshop. & it all sits on my table, which is perfect for sitting or standing, & given I spend so much time here it is really important to look after my body.

What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
This is a little tricky to answer, as each part of the process of putting a book together has it’s own challenges & pay-offs. I do really love the initial exploration of what the characters in a story might look like, how they feel they might be if they could walk off the page. Equally, that final moment when you have completed the finished art & look back into this world you have brought to life, that is pretty cool.

What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Don’t stop. You’ll feel like giving up many times, honestly, it’s something that never goes away, questioning if you are up to the job, but that is the challenge. Also, read a lot, read a lot of whatever tickles your fancy, reading is good imagination food.

Lastly, remember to have fun.

 

Victoria, Australia, where he lives with his wife and daughter and cat

and plants. Connah has written and illustrated six picture books, and illustrated

many more stories written by Australian authors. While it is true that

dogs like books, Connah illustrates books mostly for people, some of

whom happen to be temporarily short.

For more information, please visit Connah’s website or follow him on instagram.