Meet The Illustrator: Luciana Navarro Powell

Name: Luciana Navarro Powell

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Stylized but realistic, whimsical, accessible, rich in texture and colour.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
A plastic surfaced table that I don't need to worry about spilling paint on for the analogue artwork. Plenty of natural light. A table for my Mac Studio desktop, Wacom tablet and a good scanner.


Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I have tried them all at different points in my career, but I’m really enjoying pan pastels used with stencils right now. Watercolours and acrylics are always part of the rotation as well.

Meet The Illustrator: Jenni Barrand

Name: Jenni Barrand

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Soft, warm, emotive and evolving stiil!

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Paper, pencil, ipad pro, apple pencil, printer and wall space.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I like sketching ideas quickly with pencil and paper then working from those on my ipad in proceate, where I use digital brushes of charcoal, pastel, watercolour, pencil and pen.

Meet The Illustrator: Gigi Moore

Name: Gigi Moore

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.

Vibrant colours, rich textures, whimsical movement, and diverse techniques.

What items are an essential part of your creative space? 

My iPad Pro 11 inch, Procreate, and my MacBook are my essential tools.

Do you have a favorite artistic medium?

Digital art has been my go-to since I taught myself back in 2005. Before that, during art school, watercolour was my favourite. I still try to revisit watercolour and experiment with gouache when I can.

Meet The Illustrator: Natalie Herington

Name: Natalie Herington

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Traditional watercolour, soft natural colours with texture and splats!

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Plants, light, music and my locally made handmade paints.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Watercolour. The day I discovered Ruco hand-made paints I was obsessed.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
There are too many to mention but the books on my desk are by Jeannie Baker I have been captivated by since childhood, Freya Blackwood for their pencil lines and Rod Clement for his accuracy and detail.

Review: Into the Ice: Reflections on Antarctica

If you want to experience Antarctica without actually going there, Into the Ice: Reflections on Antarctica will take you on the journey of a lifetime.

It's a beautiful non-fiction book by award-winning author-illustrators Alison Lester and Coral Tulloch.

Both Alison and Coral have visited Antarctica more than once, including as Arts Fellows and tourists. Their stunning artwork is an important centrepiece for Into the Ice.

From paintings, sketches and working drawings, to pen and ink and watercolour drawings, children's picture book illustrations and photos, this is a cornucopia of the great, ice-covered continent south of Australia.

Meet The Illustrator: Dow Phumiruk

Name: Dow Phumiruk

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Colourful, playful, with a predominance of girl characters.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Currently, I use a Wacom Intuos Pro pen and tablet (right hand) along with a Tourbox shortcut tool (left hand) at my main desk. I have Prismacoulor pencils and paper at a secondary desk.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Yes, I am happiest with colored pencil (Prismacolor) and digital tools (Photoshop).

Meet The Illustrator: Lorena Carrington

Name: Lorena Carrington

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Many-layered photographic montage, often using silhouettes and natural elements.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Practically speaking, a camera, lightbox, computer with a Wacom tablet, and a very organised digital filing system. Also coffee, then herbal tea (always, with a different flavour every cup I make), a window to stare out of, and the floor-to-ceiling very full bookshelves that surround me on two sides like a looming papery hug. And my dog, who makes sure I go out into the bush every day to look for interesting leaves and mushrooms.

Meet The Illustrator: Lara Porter

Name: Lara Porter

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Playful, colourful digital illustrations with a traditional and textural feel.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My sketchbook, IpadPro and MacBookPro. As well as a huge bookshelf for inspiration, music or a podcast to listen to, a cup of tea and my sausage dog Daisy by my side.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
It used to be pencil and watercolour – it’s now digital in order to keep up with publisher’s turnaround expectations.

Meet The Illustrator: Torey Butner

Name: Torey Butner

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Energetic colour, animal adventures, a hint of mystery, nostalgic tones

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
A myriad of collected books, a smattering of traditional tools, and my trusty iPad.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I love working digitally on my iPad with the app Procreate.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Bill Peet, Richard Scarry, Julia Sarda

Meet The Illustrator: Karla Alcazar

Name: Karla Alcazar

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Simple, colourful, character oriented, perhaps a bit reflective.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Snacks! I always must have tea and a sweet treat to start sketching. Markers and a rusty orange pencil are a must as well when I’m working analogically, otherwise my iPad and apple pencil are my go to tools whenever I’m working on editorial projects.

Meet The Illustrator: Mirelle Ortega

Name: Mirelle Ortega

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less:
Colourful palettes, emotive characters, magical realism and vintage vibes.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Pen and paper, artbooks and my Cintiq and computer.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I love being able to create digital work, I think it gives me a kind of freedom to experiment or change things around that I really enjoy.

Meet The Illustrator: Andrea Zupcsan

Name: Andrea Zupcsan (Zoop-shawn)

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Digital with chunky shapes and painterly textures.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
I need either a good sketchbook and a soft pencil or my ipad! I also love having access to my art books for inspiration.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I do most of my work digitally but my favourite traditional media is coloured pencil.

Meet The Illustrator: Liv Lorkin

Name: Liv Lorkin

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Whimsical, textured, fun, pink and flowery.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Lots of natural light, inspiring art, crystals and enough desk space to get creative.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
It depends on the day and week. I work digitally 99% of the time and the rest varies on the inspiration. Right now it’s watercolours and oil pastels.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Riley Sheehey
Felicity Buchanan Designs
Jenna Oldaker

Meet The Illustrator: Ramona Davey

Name: Ramona Davey

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
It's becoming more bold, bright and simplistic. Less equals more!

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Sketch book, pencils and tracing paper for initial ideas, then I move onto my ipad with an apple pen and work in the Procreate art app.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Digital because mistakes can be amended quicker and as I'm a late bloomer I need to work faster to catch up.

Meet The Illustrator: Tara Hân-Trần Johnson

Name: Tara Hân-Trần Johnson

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Graphic and illustrative; big shapes, small details and textures.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
A pile of art books to browse for inspiration, a mug of tea, my planner/journal to jot down ideas/sketches and of course, my Cintiq (a drawing tablet).

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I mainly work digitally but traditionally, I love working with a watercolour + coloured pencil combo.

Meet The Illustrator: Jeanette Stampone

Name: Jeanette Stampone

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Digital with the traditional look of collage or charcoal sketch.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
All I need is my ipad, my Apple Pencil and a comfy chair.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I love digital collage. It’s the beauty and texture of collage without all the mess! Perfect for for art on the go, or when you have limited time.

Name three artists whose work inspires you. 

Meet The Illustrator: Blithe Fielden

Name: Blithe Fielden

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Fun, playful, colourful, scribbly, imaginative, narrative, child-like, nostalgic

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
If there is one thing I have learnt since my move from England to Australia 18 months ago, it is that it's possible to work almost anywhere as an illustrator. As long as I have a sketchbook on hand, a pencil case filled with an assortment of colourful pencils and somewhere to sit down - whether that is a table in a park, a blanket on the grass or a bench in the city, I can happily sit for hours, scribbling away.

Sometimes, I love to listen to music or have a TV series on in the background (admittedly, I watched all six series of Gossip Girl whilst working on ‘Dinosaur in my Pocket’ over the two and a half month time frame).

Meet The Illustrator: Imogen Hartland

Name: Imogen Hartland

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Bold, bright, and playful cobblings of colour!

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Scissors and glue! Also, good quality paper.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
It’d be a tussle between printmaking and collage...

Meet The Illustrator: Rachael Robertson

Name: Rachael Robertson

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.

Bright, bold, textured painted paper collage with mixed media madness.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?

I require very little space to create. My first book, My Amazing Animal Alphabet Alliteration Book was created on my kitchen table. 

My wonderful husband has since created a tiny little work desk in our bedroom for me. We have a small character home, so having a little space to create is lovely and my two daughters come in a lot to create alongside me. It’s very special that they are involved and I love it. 

Meet The Illustrator: Rebecca Timmis

Name: Rebecca Timmis

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Varied! Often cartoony, but depends on the tone required. 

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Photoshop, my Wacom tablet, some music and a glass of ice-cold Pepsi Max. Coffee is for grown-ups.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I love working digitally – it’s so fast and I never worry about wasting expensive paper. Though I do miss the smell of pastels and paint sometimes.