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Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Hand-drawn, detailed with fun and a sense of humour.
What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My iPad is becoming pretty essential. I’ll always love traditional mediums (especially gouache) but Procreate is so much easier when it comes to juggling mum-life with illustration. At the moment I’m enjoying drawing with pencil on tracing paper (I like the texture) scanning that in and then adding colour in Procreate. This gives me a balance of traditional and digital. So- pencils, tracing paper and my scanner are essential too.
Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
PENCILS! Especially freshly sharpened pencils. I love them for adding itty-bitty details.
Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Some of my favourite illustrators working now are:
Rebecca Green. Sarah Ogilvie. Briony May Smith.
They are pulled from a pool of hundreds! It was very hard to choose just three. There are so many fabulous and talented people out there that it can be equal parts inspiring and intimidating.
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
As a MASSIVE history nerd, I might be a bit boring and say the Renaissance. But… Leonardo Da Vinci? Michaelangelo? Botticelli?? I saw ‘The Birth of Venus’ by Botticelli in Florence once and it was such an emotional experience. It was just so big and breathtakingly beautiful. Renaissance artists were doing something so radical and inventive. Not just in Italy, but in Hans Holbein working in England and Albrecht Dürer in Germany- so much going on in the 15th/16th century.
But you’d have to guarantee that I wouldn’t come down with any plague, sweating sickness, or smallpox if I were to visit.
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
I’ve ALWAYS loved drawing and telling stories with drawing, but it took me a while to connect the dots. Somewhere along the way, I got the idea that I had to get a sensible adult job, but all my meeting notes ended up covered in doodles. I finally realised I HAD to give it a go or spend the rest of my life wishing I had..jpg)
Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
I am lucky enough to have a little studio space at the front of our house. We haven’t had the chance to do anything with it yet, so my desk (built by my husband) currently sits amongst an old bed base and drawers (it’s essentially a storage dumping ground.) BUT one day I have dreams of it being a wonderful creative space. One that I can run workshops out of and after school art classes. Watch this space.
What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
There are two bits I like the absolute best. The first bit is the first bit, I like when it’s all possibilities and ideas and excitement. And you’re day-dreaming and coming up with mood boards and fun preliminary sketches. I also like the bit near the end when you’re adding in the final details, the blush on the cheeks, the glint in the eyes, the freckles on the nose. The in-betweeny parts are part of the fun, especially when you get in a flow state, BUT sometimes they can feel quite stressful when things aren’t working out exactly as you’d pictured in your head.
What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Firstly, to do this as a job you have to reeeeeaaaaally love it. Because really loving it is the only thing that gets you through all the rejections and disappointments.
Secondly, never stop learning. There’s always room for improvement, there’s always something you can explore, learn or grow from.
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HP Fryer (Hannah Powell Fryer) is an author/illustrator who loves stories, children and the magic of imagination. Her debut picture book ‘Ogg’, published by Scholastic Australia, showcases her playful humour. With degrees in history, philosophy and illustration, she blends big ideas with fun art to tell new stories.
For more information, please visit Hannah's website or follow her on instagram.
PENCILS! Especially freshly sharpened pencils. I love them for adding itty-bitty details.
Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Some of my favourite illustrators working now are:
Rebecca Green. Sarah Ogilvie. Briony May Smith.
They are pulled from a pool of hundreds! It was very hard to choose just three. There are so many fabulous and talented people out there that it can be equal parts inspiring and intimidating.
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
As a MASSIVE history nerd, I might be a bit boring and say the Renaissance. But… Leonardo Da Vinci? Michaelangelo? Botticelli?? I saw ‘The Birth of Venus’ by Botticelli in Florence once and it was such an emotional experience. It was just so big and breathtakingly beautiful. Renaissance artists were doing something so radical and inventive. Not just in Italy, but in Hans Holbein working in England and Albrecht Dürer in Germany- so much going on in the 15th/16th century.
But you’d have to guarantee that I wouldn’t come down with any plague, sweating sickness, or smallpox if I were to visit.
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
I’ve ALWAYS loved drawing and telling stories with drawing, but it took me a while to connect the dots. Somewhere along the way, I got the idea that I had to get a sensible adult job, but all my meeting notes ended up covered in doodles. I finally realised I HAD to give it a go or spend the rest of my life wishing I had.
.jpg)
Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
I am lucky enough to have a little studio space at the front of our house. We haven’t had the chance to do anything with it yet, so my desk (built by my husband) currently sits amongst an old bed base and drawers (it’s essentially a storage dumping ground.) BUT one day I have dreams of it being a wonderful creative space. One that I can run workshops out of and after school art classes. Watch this space.
What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
There are two bits I like the absolute best. The first bit is the first bit, I like when it’s all possibilities and ideas and excitement. And you’re day-dreaming and coming up with mood boards and fun preliminary sketches. I also like the bit near the end when you’re adding in the final details, the blush on the cheeks, the glint in the eyes, the freckles on the nose. The in-betweeny parts are part of the fun, especially when you get in a flow state, BUT sometimes they can feel quite stressful when things aren’t working out exactly as you’d pictured in your head.
What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Firstly, to do this as a job you have to reeeeeaaaaally love it. Because really loving it is the only thing that gets you through all the rejections and disappointments.
Secondly, never stop learning. There’s always room for improvement, there’s always something you can explore, learn or grow from.
.jpg)
HP Fryer (Hannah Powell Fryer) is an author/illustrator who loves stories, children and the magic of imagination. Her debut picture book ‘Ogg’, published by Scholastic Australia, showcases her playful humour. With degrees in history, philosophy and illustration, she blends big ideas with fun art to tell new stories.
For more information, please visit Hannah's website or follow her on instagram.
