Meet The Illustrator: Dani G

Name: Dani G

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less:
Quirky, fun, bold colours, colourful, Australiana, stark, different, organic.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My desktop computer with the Adobe Creative Suite, Ipad and Apple pencil. Walls printed with photographs of my inspiration.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium
Although I work digitally, I do love traditional media such as printmaking using lino tiles and ink. I also love working with paper and oil pastels and getting messy with a mixed media approach.

Meet The Illustrator: Michèle Dodd

Name: Michèle Dodd

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less:
Semi realistic, quirky, colourful and totally original

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
A beautiful view, Lyra pencils, watercolours, scalpel, Lyra .25 lead pencil, a make-up brush to remove dust, paintbrushes and a Staedtler rubber.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Pencil and watercolour.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Van Gogh, Maurice Sendak and Julie Vivas

Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
Would have to be when The Heidelberg School artists were in full swing creating amazing Australian landscapes at their artist camps in the Heidelberg area - late 1880’s to early 1890’s.

Meet The Illustrator: Mirka Hokkanen

Name: Mirka Hokkanen

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Happy, positive, cute, soft, nature centric and colourful.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
No interruptions, quiet, writing/drawing tool and something to write on. It could be digital, or it could be pencil and paper. Lastly, some items of inspiration for a jumping off point. That could be an illustration I like, a book, a photo or a memory.

Meet The Illustrator: Peter Baldwin

Name: Peter Baldwin

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Earthy, expressive, narrative-driven with nature and character at heart.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Books and comics for inspiration, Dungeons & Dragons miniatures for painting and storytelling, tidy art supplies for focus, and my computer to pull it all together. My miniature ecosystems—terrariums and aquariums—bring the outside in. They help me slow down, stay curious, and dream up the wild worlds I love to draw.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Hand-drawn inking is definitely my favourite. I enjoy the control and expression that ink pens and brushes offer. I also use pencil, coloured pencils, crayons, and watercolours to add texture and colour. My lightboard, Wacom, and computer help me refine and finish the work digitally. It’s a balance between traditional techniques and digital tools.

Meet The Illustrator: Esther Siam

Name: Esther Siam

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Detailed everyday observations, inspired by nature, flowing with whimsical imagination.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Watercolour paints and cold-pressed cotton paper. Lavender, I love its calming scent. A cup of freshly brewed coffee is always close by!

Meet The Illustrator: James O'Hanlon

Name: James O'Hanlon

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Expressive animal characters in absurd situations. Blending science with silliness.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
1- Tea with milk and sugar
2- Pencils and paper for sketching, any kind will do!
3- Drawing tablet - Wacom Cintiq
4- Electric pencil sharpener. Once you get used to them, it’s hard to go back to manual sharpeners or whatever they’re called. Acoustic sharpeners?

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I love using watercolours over ink line work, but for most projects I find myself working digitally.

Meet The Illustrator: Novia Heroanto

Name: Novia Heroanto

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Emotive, expressive, character-driven storytelling with quiet emotional depth.

What items are an essential part of your creative space? 
Skim latte, my sketchbook which also serves as my notebook, and a trusty iPad.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?

I love the spontaneity, fluidity, and the transparency of the watercolour, but since I have a curious little toddler around me, I feel more comfortable with blending digital and traditional media. Especially digital pencil and gouache or watercolour textures that still feel organic and ‘homemade.

Meet The Illustrator: Elizabeth Misek

Name: Elizabeth Misek

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Whimsical worlds, full of warmth, wonder and movement.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
My paint tins. I have one that holds my signature colours as well as a larger storage tin, that holds random accent pans.
I then add one or two fresh colours to my signature tin, depending on the project.

Meet The Illustrator: Natasha Carty

Name: Natasha Carty

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Whimsical, textured and detailed - with an emphasis on light and shade.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
A cup of tea, comfy clothes, a tidy work space filled with beautiful things and a podcast in-ear.

Meet The Illustrator: Allison Black

Name: Allison Black

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Playful, bold, and colourful art that engages, delights, and tells stories.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My computer, Wacom tablet, notepad and pen, a glass of water, and a pet - whether a dog by my feet or a guinea pig in my lap!

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
For most commercial work, I prefer to create art digitally using Illustrator and Photoshop. This allows me to experiment, develop multiple versions, and edit quickly. However, I love painting murals and hope to do more work in this area.

Meet The Illustrator: Evie Barrow

Name: Evie Barrow

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
A hand-drawn celebration of warmth, texture, and imperfection.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Books, pencils, paper and a comfy chair.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Graphite of all kinds and coloured pencils. I like buttery, soft leads like Prismacolour Premier, Derwant Drawing and Caran d’Ache Luminance.

Meet The Illustrator: Lucia Masciullo

Name: Lucia Masciullo

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.

Whimsical characters, dynamic composition and traditional media.

What items are an essential part of your creative space? 

A large table, a wide bright window and lots of paper and art supplies: the more the better.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?

Probably not: I love experimenting with new media whenever I start a new project, so I spend some time deciding what to use. I really enjoy the spontaneity of watercolour mixed with pencil or ink, as well as the consistent colour palette of acrylic or acrylic gouache. Deadline sometimes dictates the media I can use, because I feel more confident and achieve quicker results with watercolour or acrylic.

Meet The Illustrator: Caroline Magerl

Name: Caroline Magerl

Describe your Illustration style in 10 words or less.
Loose, emotive and painterly.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
For starters....space!
I am messy when I work, so I will say for starters, a broom and a big bin. I love music and my little portable speaker is essential. 

In my workroom, I love to have picture books, books on painting techniques, novels and books with covers that I particularly like. I just enjoy having book piles, it makes the space mine. 

Meet The Illustrator: Suzanne Houghton

Name: Suzanne Houghton

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Clean and neat with strong use of colour.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My watercolour paint/paper and Polychromos pencils. Scanner and computer.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Watercolour and pencil

Review: Plantabulous! More A to Z of Australian Plants

‘I wonder what that plant is called?’ Ever heard yourself or your kids saying this? Me too! I often find myself walking through the bush curious about the name of plants. 

Plantabulous! More A to Z of Australian Plants not only helps me identify plants with indigenous, common and genus names but also captivates with its vivid illustrations and inspiring information. 

Plantabolous! details 26 native plants and follows up from, Plantastic! A to Z of Australian Plants. It also includes a glossary and a map with a list of plant ecoregions. 

A botanist with a passion for Australian native plants, Catherine Clowes has created a thoughtful book which exudes her enthusiasm. For each letter of the alphabet, a plant is listed with striking illustrations, an activity and facts. For example, did you know that the native palm called burrawang, is a plant from before the dinosaurs! 

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.

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).