TALK: Clare Elsom

#interview #illustrator #artist 

Clare Elsom is a freelance illustrator with works behind her such as the Arthur books, Spies in Disguise and Maisie Mae. She spoke to StoryWorld about her working day, favourite artists, and tea & cake.

What's the average day of an illustrator look like?

I’m not sure there is an average day! Today I have: drawn magical forests, cheetahs and an angry lollipop lady, nipped to the post office, eaten tea and cake, experimented with some watercolours, dipped my paintbrush in my tea (what a cliché) and scanned in a lot of drawings. Phew.

In theory, I do try keep my day either drawing based, where I work on a drawing board and a lightbox, scribbling away with pencil and pens on large sheets of paper, or computer based, where I am working on final artwork, using Photoshop to collage textures and add colour to my scanned drawings. I try and keep my entire day either one or the other, as I tend to zone into these tasks. Other tasks such as image research, emailing and web updating creep into the working day too... as well as those essential tea and cake breaks.

What's your background? Have you always drawn?

Yes I have, and written stories - but no more than other children I don’t think. It was a deep love of children’s books, stories, cartoons and characters, and a big, slightly silly imagination that really got me into this! I enjoyed art at school, we had a really inspiring art department, and it just felt natural to pursue that direction of study. I was recently rooting through my parents attic and stumbled across a LOT of old illustrated books I made as a child... so maybe there was always an indication of my career path there!

What artists inspired you when you started to illustrate?

Quentin Blake, definitely, always. I liked quite traditional illustrators, such Shirley Hughes, Helen Oxenbury, Lynley Dodd... I just really admired their drawing. However when I began to look at more contemporary artists that used combined drawn/digital methods - Lauren Child being a particularly famous example - something really clicked for me. These big bold characters, collages, textures, drawn line sitting against digital colour... it definitely influenced the way I work.

Is there any writer you'd love to provide illustrations for?

More of Dan Metcalf’s work, OF COURSE (Aw, shucks! -Dan)

I always think it would be fun to tackle a classic text – something like Peter Pan, fantastical and character based. I would also LOVE to illustrate Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree series. I loved those books as a kid.

Are you working on new anything at the moment?

Ohhh.... if only I could tell you! Well, I suppose I can tell you YES, a few big projects – a colourful, young series for a US publisher, a ‘magical’ new series a bit closer to home, and another project involving some characters from my own sketchbooks... but other than that I have to unfortunately keep quiet for now! I also continue to work on Kate Scott’s Spies in Disguise series, the Set4Sport franchise, and cross my fingers for some more adventures with Maisie Mae...
 
Thanks Clare! You can find out more about Clare on her website: www.elsomillustration.co.uk, her facebook page, or on twitter.