The Airbrush Master

me aged young and ambitious holding air and sable brushes

I was watching Netflix tonight- a series called Abstract. Looking at the illustrator Christoph Neimann, and it made me think about my influences as a new gal on the illustration street.

When I was a design student more years ago than I care to admit to, there was a guy in the year ahead of me, quiet, gentle, kind and so very talented. His name was (and still is) Nigel Buchanan.

He was the top illustration student- there weren’t formal places you understand, but everyone knew he was the best. There were almost-as-good-as, and they were pretty stunning, but Nigel had that something. A way of looking at the world and producing imagery in a way that we all envied and tried to copy. And on top of that, he was one of the nicest people in the School of Design. Back then, it was Wellington Polytechnic, now it’s Massey University and about as far removed from our faux Bauhaus days as it can be. That might be a good thing, though I have an enduring fondness for the old school that will never fade.

One of the hardware features of our pre-computer-age classrooms, were compressed air outlets for airbrushes. One student did a deal with the then, Niven's Art Supplies (became Littlejohns) and got us a collective bargain on Aerograph DeVilbiss super 63 airbrushes; state of the art equipment. Temperamental as hell and fiendishly expensive; I still have mine, thrashed to death over the years. Nigel bought one, and whilst we, the inept, cursed over splatters and bleeding ink, bent needles and clogged tip assemblies, Nigel started producing the most beautiful illustrations, just for fun and to see what ‘that mechanical hand’ (our tutor Roger Hart’s nickname for his pet hate) could do.

I remember one evening (all our best work was done at night when the tutors had given up on us for the day) watching him spray, remove a mask, spray, remove another mask and again and again until the final reveal. A woman in a 1920’s bathing suit, rosy cheeked, curls escaping from a cloche cap. I was entranced, it was perfect. For Nigel, it was merely a test piece.

A year went by, he graduated. Another year went by, I graduated. I started trying to find work as a graphic designer. I was terrible at it and making no progress at all.  One day I visited Nigel in his studio, surrounded with his airbrush, gouache and illustration board. He told me he JUST did illustration work. ‘What?’ I said ‘no fiddling about with getting things ready for print? No type spec’ing? No Bull gum? No waxer? No overlays?’ (note, only designers over the age of 50 will understand any of this terminology). ‘No’ he said ‘I draw and airbrush stuff,' then pulled out some of the work he was doing. I knew in that instant that if I couldn’t actually BE Nigel, then that’s what I wanted to do, and set about mastering the Devil(biss), by trial and error, practicing, practicing and practicing until I had some idea of what I was doing. It finally led me into all kinds of illustration work from photo retouching and product pictures to book illustration and the occasional portrait commission. I worked through the 80’s and 90’s and retired the mechanical hand when pixels became the paint medium of choice. I wasn’t world famous, but I enjoyed a good and varied living as a commercial artist, TV presenter, writer and illustrator.

My body of work spanning nearly 40 years now, has morphed and changed until it’s barely recognizable from my first ambition (to be him). I still have my trusty old compressor but I use a cheap Trademe airbrush on occasion to work magic on wearable art and props commissions. I could not have imagined, all those years ago, looking over Nigel’s shoulder, in awe, where my creative skills would take me. I never got to illustrate the cover of the New Yorker, but I’m glad I’ve taken the paths I have. Later this year, I've been invited to show a retrospective of my work (more on that in a few months) and I will have fun trying to make sense of my many layered career.

Nigel went onto live in Sydney, than back to new Zealand I believe, and carry his on his work as a highly-regarded editorial illustrator. The airbrush made way for the Apple Mac. His client list includes The Wall Street Journal, MTV, The New York Times, TIME magazine and the New York Observer. He is still a genius in the art of illustration. He’s still my hero and you can see his work here.

Nigel Buchanan https://www.behance.net/gallery/4331127/Total-Editorial

Save me now Neil Gaiman!

I saw a tweet today that said 'I've written a post, does anyone even read blogs anymore? But here it is'. It was retweeted by Neil Gaiman, so I'm guessing, yeah, some will be reading it.

Christmas, New Year and the summer (such glorious weather finally!) has had me nowhere near posting on my blog, so I guess Neil won't be following me at all but if he contacted me for any reason I'd be saying 'Why hellooooo!' with all due deference to his talented wife Amanda Palmer, whose book 'The Art of Asking' I've been reading all week (most excellent I might add- I'm one of those annoying people who insist on reading out bits of it to you when you'd really rather be digesting your facebook feed, or old school newspaper).

I think others have been reading it too because with January not even cold in the calendar (except in the northern hemisphere), I've been getting requests. Some are for commissions all of which earn me a living (I love those!) but others that popped into my messages and inbox just made me want to reach down the internet and throttle the sender I was so frustrated.

In fact, if I was Chuck Wendig I'd probably say something like this:

So, you always wanted to be a picture book writer? I mean you're a writer yeah? You've edited the Badminton Club newsletter and got three half assed short stories on the subject of Finding Your Lost Chakra nominated for awards no-one ever heard of except for the website which you paid $10 to enter their writing competition. You put it on your literary CV. Good on you. Right above your junior school swimming certificate and award for being a great maths monitor. Awesome dude!

You have this idea for a series of picture books and you just need an illustrator. It's the first time you've ever tried your hand at this but your stories about a kitten and duckling are so unique, if Golden Books had ever thought of publishing anything like that they'd have made millions. Imagine! AND you wrote it in verse! O.K some of the words didn't rhyme unless you pronounced them in a Canadian accent, and in the second verse, a Scottish one, but essentially, if you hold your head on one side and sort of force it to fit, it's brilliant. And your nieces LOVED it. Especially with the candy you got them to suck on whilst you read it out loud.

And you thought that it would really come to life (because it's barely got a pulse right now) with some incredible illustrations. And you thought that we could like, partner up and I could spend like 6 months creating the stunning pictures and then you'd submit it to a publisher and we'd all get rich and famous. Just....like....that.  I thought once that I'd quite like to be a surgeon because I cut up gravy beef for the dog real well. Give me your leg and I'll practice on you!

Sorry who the f*ck are you again?

And so on. I do Chuck a great disservice- he writes a whole lot pithier than this and uses a huge amount of epithets which I totally adore. Some of you right now might be thinking I'm a bit harsh, and a bit up myself and a bit like some Tall Poppy literary chick that has got too big for her award winning boots. Who on earth does she think she is, speaking her mind? Has she lost it? You might wonder. 

Well now that I have your bristly attention I want to explain a few things. Us writers and illustrators try to educate others (for free) in our art, but it seems everyone with a notion of becoming a children's book writer never thinks to do any kind of research on the topic. Melinda Syzmanik's blog is a great resource for learning about this stuff. She is very patient; much more so than I. I'm all squawk and feathers whilst she is a quiet fox. And both of us know that seriously playing at being a writer is a long game, and it helps to know a few of the rules and strategies, otherwise you'll end up on the Monopoly Board with 2 utilities, mortgagee sales and no cash to pay the exorbitant rent being extracted by the hotels on each corner.

I have written novels, columns and blogs. Picture books are harder to write than most forms of fiction. No room for waffle, no exposition, no sermonising, no patronising, NO SPARE WORDS. Just a few good ones. And preferably not in rhyme unless you are a genius at scansion. I had a verse column in a major magazine for 8 years and know quite a bit about rhyme, but I don't do it for picture books. In fact I don't write them at all. The thing is...I can't think of one story that would delight and enthral a kid (or me and my inner kid) the way that a good picture book will do, so I leave that to the ones who are good at it and I do the illustrations.

On with the illustrators hat...

These are the things to know when asking an illustrator if they will do some pictures to resuscitate that dead duckling you've been carrying about with you for the last few years (or dashed off over a glass of pinot one Christmas evening after watching too many reruns of Home Alone).

A picture book takes 3-6 months to illustrate depending on the complexity of the pics. If it's a book about 10 different animals at 20 different parties, many of which include bicycles and differing sizes of dystopian cities, then yeah, that's probably the six monther. Maybe a year.

What do you earn in your capacity as something other than a hobby writer? Anything I'm picking from between $25,000 (low wage hospitality) to $100,000 (business analyst ) a year. An illustrator has usually spent 4 years in training at a design school and amassed probably around the same loan as you did for your commerce/other degree. Then gone out and interned for free, built up a portfolio of clients over the years by writing proposals, marketing themselves and  pitching for the work. They also pay studio rent, buy their own stationery, materials and coffee. They go through a lot of coffee. The real stuff. That's not cheap (nothing good ever came out of instant).

So you'd expect that an established illustrator who can come up with the right solutions might reasonably need between $15,000 (living on lentils in a scummy flat) and $50,000 (can afford a holiday and pay mortgage) income for six months work. 

And here you are with your badly written manuscript, no credentials, offering to give the artist 50% of the royalties, after they've done the illustrations and after you've found a major publisher who has never seen a rhyming book about ducks before in their life, and likes the style that the illustrator has come up with. Too bad the artist has only ever drawn tractor and never animals, they can draw right?

O.K, I'm being freakin' brutal with you, but someone has to be because you just have to stop right there!

Royalties pay 10% on the retail price of a book, so you'll get around $2 per copy which you'll split with the illustrator (remember they spent 6 months on your masterpiece that you did in that weekend writing course).

The average first print run for an unkown author by a well known publishing company is 3000 copies. Not all copies sell and not all sales pay out the full 10% (book clubs, promos etc). So you are offering the illustrator a MAXIMUM of $3000 should the book ever get into the bookshop and sell any copies. Most books are remaindered.

Forgive me if we seem a little rude in our super polite replies.

Forgive us if we are crass enough to say we would certainly illustrate your book for $15,000 up front. No problemo. In fact, we'd put down our own manuscripts and start yours tomorrow. True.

There are always exceptions to the rule though. If Neil Gaiman emailed me and said, 'I have this great idea for a picture book, would you do a couple of sample illustrations for me to show to my publisher?' why, I'd be there and panting. Because he's Neil Gaiman, and he's a talented writery god and because of that, doing a book for such a person is money in the bank. And at the end of the day, however much we love our paintbrushes, the bank loves our payments more.

My next post will be about the much safer and less contraversial subject of fracking.

Over and out.

5 things to do before...

I have been busy and it's getting busier and I have 5 things to do before the New Zealand Post Children and Young Adults BookAwards on the 23rd June:

One:

Walk the St Clair Half Marathon in Blenheim this weekend with gal friends and take some important hand sewing with me to do in the evenings whilst the others are playing 500 and drinking Marlborough Sav, because...

Two:

I have to finish my World of WearableArt  garment- I'm putting two in this year so one is done and the other is occupying my studio, the lounge, the kitchen and the basement in various stages of construction. One place for sewing (the kitchen), one place for painting (the studio) one place for sawing, sanding and bolting (the basement)  and one place for evening stitching in front of the telly (the lounge). It's the madness that overtakes me at this time of year and I have to pack it up and send it off for judging early because...

Three:

I'm touring Southland for a week for the Book Award Festival. This excites me hugely because I have not been to that part of NZ for such a long time and I get to go to Invercargill, Gore, Ta Anau, Milton and Dunedin. The Catlins are an area I have not explored at all and it is a particularly beautiful part of the country so I will be taking my sketchbook as well as my camera. Meeting the students and teachers, librarians and public on tour and showing them handy tips from Wearable Wonders will be right up my creative alley! I'm doing some other school visits too (thank you Creative New Zealand for your support to The Book Council) Then I fly home for one day to unpack my touring things and pack up the WOW garments and deliver them to Mainfreight (WOW's wonderful sponsors), then pack again because...

Four:

I fly out to New York the next day! Such is the life of the rich and  (moderately) famous. This is an indulgent detour along the way to Boston; well Amherst University actually for The Illustration MasterClass. A week long residential where I will be in a focus group learning model making and creating fantastical characters with Brian and Wendy Froud. You may remember The Dark Crystal and The Labyrinth? Froud created the art, sets and costume design for those films. He's an English genius from the world of Faerie (and an illustration hero of mine) and I just can't wait to immerse myself in the studio environment and learn everything I can because...

Five:

When I get back I have three days until the book awards evening and by that time my next book 'Ghoulish Get-Ups' (Scholastic) will be at the printers and an advance copy not too far from my hands. And I will be on fire from the course (or utterly broke from New York) and will be ready to create new things for the second half of the year in my work. At this stage I have no idea what they are, but I can assure you, something will brew, because... if you feed the mind, nourish the soul, and look after your health both physically and intellectually, then the rest follows xxx

Show him the money!!!

 

I generally keep my political opinions to myself and my friends, but on this occasion I cannot be quiet about how sad, angry and horrified I am about the closure of Learning Media. Our Government seems to know the price of everything and the value of nothing. 'Show me the money!' is the exhortation. The primary reason for Learning Media's existence (formerly School Publications) in the first place was to provide educational resources to New Zealand territories, not chase international markets and distribution in a profit making capacity. I'm sorry but an ROI is not necessarily measured in dollar terms.

Bill English says Learning Media is not financially viable anymore. I'm barely financially viable myself after work has been stripped away systematically from my career path. Advertising agencies losing government work = no illustration and design work, TVNZ's Good Morning Show moving to Auckland in a scaled down version of it's former self = no TV work. Learning Media closing down = no writing and illustration work. And that's just me, never mind the hundreds of other writers, illustrators, designers and TV production people out there. In 2011 the RH Paula Bennett said in relation to the arts:

'Now's no time to be thinking about a dream job.'
"This Government's priority is getting people off welfare and into work and right now that means get a job, any job because that's the first step to a better job." 

I'm sorry, how exactly is shutting down Learning Media getting people off welfare and into work?  At 53 years old with two tertiary degrees and 33 years of hard work forging a career for myself, I am not interested in having a 'dishy' job at $14 per hour, working alongside my son in a local cafe. We are hardly going to pay off his student loan like that now are we?

So, Mr English. What do you propose we all do in this latest slash and burn? Retrain? Sorry we can't get financial assistance to do that under the new rules. Work in elder care? What don't YOU wipe 90 year old bottoms? You've already wiped the floor with us.

For more on Learning Media's demise read Mandy's blog here:

Blown off Course- creative adventuring

from The Silver Thimble Story Book by Rie Cramer

I was asked to speak at the NZLA conference this past week and I wondered what direction I'd take. I decided upon 'Blown off Course; diverting adventures in Children's Literature.'  I wanted to impress upon people how a small girl encouraged in reading and expressing herself both through words and pictures could end up on a myriad of creative paths, often by accident. 

At five years old, I was all set to be a nun (inspired by the Sound of Music) but realised that a) I was not Catholic and b) I would not necessarily be allowed to wear makeup, jewellery and great frocks. I had to rethink my career. At this time I had in my possession (and still do) The Silver Thimble Storybook by RieCramer; retellings of Hans Christian Anderson tales with exquisite illustrations.  I copied these drawing again and again to see how they were done- and it was the first book I can remember reading 'All by myself'. My parents also provided me and my sisters with weekly comics and annuals. I learned to read and interpret visual and written text through the English editions of Robin, Bunty and June. 

I drew and made things all the time as a kid; it was a place of comfort for me, and by the time I was in high school I knew I wanted to be an artist, but didn't want starve in a garret- I wanted to be rich and famous. So on leaving college I went to Wellington Polytech Design School where I majored in illustration and advertising. I was all set to go to Auckland and be a junior art director in a flash advertising agency and make lots of money but instead I fell in love and followed my heart, not my plan and moved to Christchurch. 

I couldn't get a job anywhere- the old case of not enough work experience for the cool jobs and too creative for the uncool jobs. So I went freelancing. I did a bunch of piddly jobs, including illustrating water wings for dogs and designing posters for friends. I knocked on doors, talked to every designer and illustrator in town, took my portfolio to ad agencies repeatedly. Luckily I was young and cute so the art directors didn't mind giving me the time of day. I was broke but looked good in op shop chic.

Just when I was about to give up and get a sales job at Whitcoulls, a copywriter from What Now called and asked if I would like to art direct a club magazine. (I had been doing a few graphics for the programme). My motto is that if something is offered that is above your skill set, then someone has offered it because they see your potential. So say yes. You'll learn on the job.I art directed, illustrated and sent things off to print on that mag for 2 years until they ran out of budget. Then the producer asked if I'd like to do art and craft spots on the show (because of all the arts and crafts bits I did in the mag) and I said..yes. I'd never done work to a camera before and there was plenty to learn. That became 7 years of regular TV spots. In that time I had 2 babies, tutored design and illustration at Christchurch Polytechnic, illustrated children's books and did lots of illustration for advertising and design companies. 

Eventually I got fed up with TV land (yes you can) and resigned my contract. One day I wrote a poem and doodled an illustration and send it to Next Magazine with a note saying that I saw they didn't have a regular verse column and this would be a good idea. The editor took it up and this became an 8 year monthly column.  At this time I also started entering the World of Wearable Art.

In this time we moved to Wellington, I wrote a junior fiction novel (Verity's Truth), moved to Bristol for 2 years and moved back to Wellington where upon I did a Masters in Creative writing at the IIML. As part of my work placement requirement I did a stint at Weta working on Jane and The Dragon coming up with storyline ideas. Then I decided on my bucket list was working on making things, so politely campaigned  Richard Taylor with my Wearable Art portfolio until he gave me a job in the workshop on The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. I sewed metres of fabric and riveted things and drank a heap of coffee. In this period of my career, I wrote and had a two more junior fiction novels published with Scholastic, Janie Olive and Glory.

Film work is exhausting and I left to write another novel and illustrate more books. Then I was asked to come and talk about wearable arts on The Good Morning Show and do a craft demo. This led into 6 years of weekly spots; fantastic stuff. In the past few years, I've worked on The Hobbit as a costume illustrator, had garments in every WOW show (since 1995) - WOW have toured me around the countryside to give inspirational talks to designers, I've run workshops at schools and festivals, illustrated more books- the last two in particular I'm really proud of; The Red Poppy by David Hill and Far Far From Home by Elizabeth Pulford.

I'm nowhere near rich, I probably never will be. But I'm a little bit famous and I will never die wondering. I have a ridiculously diverse portfolio and CV which has made me unemployable in the ordinary world. And that's o.k, because being creative isn't an ordinary thing to be.I've found being blown off course each time I set sail, one can transform from  a mere deck hand into an adventurer. In literature: reading, writing, poetry, blogging. In commercial art and illustration. In costume design and props making, in film, television and radio. In teaching and handing on the knowledge you've gained to new, young explorers in the worlds ocean. 

In Wearable Wonders, my new book, all my past creative experience comes together. It is a safe ship. I hope to interrupt linear navigation and have young people set sail, following their hearts, not the map drawn up by others. To find courage in the stormy seas and serenity in the calm waters of a creative life. 

­­

Listen to Kate Di Goldi's review of it here :)

Baby Blues

I've been down in my cups lately; a combination of factors in our household. I can most often get through all the hurdles by doing the thing that keeps me sane. Writing, drawing and making things. Happy and bouncy with a million things on the go and juggling them all with heart racing and eyes gleaming at the challenge, my days are always too short. I fear that I will die before I get to finish all the things I want to do in life; and the women in my family live a long time- so my demise isn't imminent. But right now I can't get motivated at all and I sit staring out the window feeling blue.

Surrounded by writery and illustratory friends last night over a pot luck dinner (after Melinda Syzmanik's book launch of 'A Winter's Day in 1939' which you MUST buy for your kids and then read it yourself) I realised why I have felt so deflated and unable to build enthusiasm for my next project. Creating a book is a very visceral thing. You pull out everything from your heart and soul and pour it in; there is hard work, self doubt, more hard work and more self doubt. You get it done and send it off and wonder if this baby will grow to be a good and useful member of society or be the victim of cot death before it has a chance to focus and smile. Writer friends understand this. They know that being a creative is not necessarily a happy, rose filled vocation. We are driven; and sometimes that sends us a little bananas. Luckily we all sit in same fruit bowl.

The latest book which is now off to print took me 5 months all through spring and summer. A shortish gestation really but is the culmination of years of my art practice. It's the sharing of 80% of everything I know to date- the other 20% is too advanced for the age level of the intended readers. But it took 100% of my effort; gathering resource, writing, illustrating, creating, photography, digital work and revisions. My head feels empty now- like I've transferred the contents of my hard drive to a cloud and lost the password.

I'm worn out after the labour and still in a tired haze. I did too much too soon after giving birth and possibly have a little post natal depression. I'm going to cut myself a little slack and scale back on getting back to work in a hurry. The book is due in July by which time I'll be full of motherly love for it and proudly show it off everywhere.  I've named it already; 'Wearable Wonders.' I hope it's a good baby.

PS

The  illustration is from a poem I wrote for Next magazine when I had my regular column there some years ago. It's called Cry Baby.

Yes, hello there Doctor,

Have you got a moment free?

(Oh God I need to see you,

Please spare some time for me).

Well, it's really for my baby,

He's crying quite alot,

(He screams all day and night

And I'm about to lose the plot).

The grizzling's fairly steady,

I was wondering, is it ears?

(Mine are fairly ringing

And I'm constantly in tears).

 Is there something I could give him

To help him settle more?

(Like a massive dose of morphine,

Or is that against the law?).

Yes, I know it might be teething,

But I just can't get him down,

(And if I don't get some sleep soon,

I'll go screaming round the town).

O.K, I'll try and rest, thanks,

Yes, it might just do the trick,

And thanks for your advice to me,

(What a useless #@*!&)