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Peter Carnavas, Author/Illustrator,
Brisbane (Australia)
Describe your illustration style in ten words or fewer.
Pen and watercolour, preferably small. (I fear big backgrounds.)
What items are an essential part of your creative space?
The most essential items for me are the usual things – brushes, pens, papers.
Describe your illustration style in ten words or fewer.
Pen and watercolour, preferably small. (I fear big backgrounds.)
What items are an essential part of your creative space?
The most essential items for me are the usual things – brushes, pens, papers.
I draw everything with 2H pencils first, building up the illustration. (See the progress below)
Otherwise, all I need is just a comfortable chair, a good lamp, cups of tea and my dog Florence.
Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I’m a creature of habit. When I started out, I thought, ‘Well, Quentin Blake uses ink and watercolour, and so do Stephen Michael King and Bob Graham. So I’ll try that, too.’ I haven’t veered since. I like the immediacy of it and the slight unpredictability.
Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Quentin, Stephen and Bob, mentioned above, were early inspirations. These days, I love Gabriel Evans’ work, and Peter Cheong. Kelly Canby always produces beautiful and interesting work. I’m suspicious that they’re all from Western Australia.
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
I’m not much of an art history buff. However, I wouldn’t mind peering over the shoulders of early filmmakers at the start of the twentieth century, as they discovered new ways to tell a story.
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
Quentin Blake was always the first inspiration. It also helped that Mum and Dad loved my pictures as a kid, so they inspired me a lot to keep drawing.
Tell us about your creative workspace or part of the area where you work most often.
We’ve recently moved from a house to a small unit (for now), so my workspace has become either squashed or mobile. I usually grab moments of time at the dining table, and sometimes venture to the State Library of Queensland. Lately, though, I’m finding myself scribbling away in hotel rooms as I travel around talking about Kid.
It’s important to have a creative home but I’ve come to accept that it’s also important to be flexible. The perfect time and place isn’t always available so I’ve learned to work wherever I happen to be.
What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
I love sketching roughs in my sketchbooks, splashing on a few blobs of watercolour and trying to discover the character or the energy of the scene. It’s always a challenge to maintain that looseness in the final illustrations.
What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Study the illustrations and books you love, soak it all up. And use the white space of the page.
Peter Carnavas writes and illustrates books for children. He has created many picture books and novels, such as The Elephant, My Brother Ben and Leo and Ralph. Peter's work has been published widely across the world and won many awards, including the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. His latest book is Kid, a novel about a small goat’s journey up a mountain to find his family. Peter lives in Brisbane/Meanjin with his family and a small dog called Florence.
Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I’m a creature of habit. When I started out, I thought, ‘Well, Quentin Blake uses ink and watercolour, and so do Stephen Michael King and Bob Graham. So I’ll try that, too.’ I haven’t veered since. I like the immediacy of it and the slight unpredictability.
Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Quentin, Stephen and Bob, mentioned above, were early inspirations. These days, I love Gabriel Evans’ work, and Peter Cheong. Kelly Canby always produces beautiful and interesting work. I’m suspicious that they’re all from Western Australia.
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
I’m not much of an art history buff. However, I wouldn’t mind peering over the shoulders of early filmmakers at the start of the twentieth century, as they discovered new ways to tell a story.
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
Quentin Blake was always the first inspiration. It also helped that Mum and Dad loved my pictures as a kid, so they inspired me a lot to keep drawing.
Tell us about your creative workspace or part of the area where you work most often.
We’ve recently moved from a house to a small unit (for now), so my workspace has become either squashed or mobile. I usually grab moments of time at the dining table, and sometimes venture to the State Library of Queensland. Lately, though, I’m finding myself scribbling away in hotel rooms as I travel around talking about Kid.
It’s important to have a creative home but I’ve come to accept that it’s also important to be flexible. The perfect time and place isn’t always available so I’ve learned to work wherever I happen to be.
What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
I love sketching roughs in my sketchbooks, splashing on a few blobs of watercolour and trying to discover the character or the energy of the scene. It’s always a challenge to maintain that looseness in the final illustrations.
What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Study the illustrations and books you love, soak it all up. And use the white space of the page.
Peter Carnavas writes and illustrates books for children. He has created many picture books and novels, such as The Elephant, My Brother Ben and Leo and Ralph. Peter's work has been published widely across the world and won many awards, including the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. His latest book is Kid, a novel about a small goat’s journey up a mountain to find his family. Peter lives in Brisbane/Meanjin with his family and a small dog called Florence.
