'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Thursday 24 August 2023

Meet The Illustrator: Anna McGregor

Name:
Anna McGregor 

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Stripped back, vibrant and textural.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My to-do list and pomello timer to keep me focussed and a large corkboard filled with bits of inspiration.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I’m primarily digital and love my iPad Pro and the Procreate app. However, recently I bought an airbrush and I’m loving it. I like to misuse it with the nozzle protector on, so it spatters and then I scan it and layer it into my digital composition.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Carson Ellis, Felicita Sala and Jon Klassen

Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
I love mid-century art and design, but given the opportunity I would choose to visit 10 years into the future to see where we’re heading with AI.
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
Becoming a mum and rediscovering picture books.


Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
Unfortunately not; our whole house is currently packed up in boxes, as we’re about to move house. I’m very excited to have a new studio space to make my own. Instead, I can share a window display I recently installed at The Little Bookroom in Fitzroy North.


 What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
The moment in the beginning when I realise I have something that could be a story and I see the path forward.


What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
If publishers aren't calling you with a project, be proactive and create a book yourself. If writing eludes you, try a simple concept book, there is so much you can do with numbers, alphabets, animals, shapes, weather etc. Bring an original visual narrative to it. All my opportunities have come from being proactive in creating my own stories. Even the ones that will never see the light of day have led to opportunities.




Anna McGregor is a creator of modern, quirky, innovative stories with humour and heart.
Having begun her career as a graphic designer, Anna is now emerging as an award-winning Author/Illustrator. Her titles include Colouroos, Anemone is Not the Enemy, A Pair of Pears and an Orange and her newest title, Who’s Afraid of the Light?

Anna’s driving purpose is to delight and entertain children through timeless storytelling. She explores evergreen issues through a child’s lens and allows them to gently interpret the stories in their own way.
Anna has a deep curiosity about all things and finds her ideas by turning the mundane on its head, merging ideas or exploring wordplay — but always with a story that connects to the human experience.

Anna lives in Naarm / Melbourne, Australia, with her Husband and Son.



For more information, please visit Anna's website or follow her on instagram.