Awesome Erica came to my attention when I saw her cute art prints over at endemicworld. She's only recently moved to Auckland, after 7 years in London working for Usborne as a book illustrator.
COOL JOB!
Tell us about your ‘day job’ - it seems like every young illustrators dream!
I guess I am one of those very lucky people that loves their 'day job'. It certainly doesn't feel like a regular 9 till 5, that's for sure. I have always loved to draw and actually, I had a lot of the Usborne ‘How to draw’ books as a child. I did art through school and college and when I went to art school, I was considering taking the path of fine art as I was good at portrait paintings, but it was my graphics teacher who had plans to make a designer and illustrator out of me!
I think I then convinced myself, that maybe illustration was the way to go, when Robert Crowther, a fabulous pop-up book illustrator and paper engineer, came in to do a workshop with us. He pulled out my work up at the end of the week as one of his favourite pieces, and said that one day he thought that I might be a children’s illustrator too.
That was it, from that point on I put down my oil pastels, and picked up my 0.5 black fine liner. I went to Uni and studied Graphic arts and design, but focused on children’s book design all the way through. I applied for a junior designer role at Usborne a few months after graduating and I got the job two interviews later.
In the 9 years I have been with Usborne I have worked on all sorts of books, the majority of which have been art and craft based books to inspire children to get creative. Over the last couple of years, I have helped to develop the drawing, doodling and colouring range and activity books for children ages 4+.
I work closely with an editor to come up with ideas and themes for a particular title. They write the text and then it’s my job to take these words and bring them to life on a spread! I work on most of my titles from start to finish, either designing and illustrating all of the book myself, or working in collaboration with other illustrators.
Some of the books Erica has worked on
You’ve recently moved here from London. What have been your favourite things about Auckland/NZ so far?
My personal work is inspired a lot by nature and New Zealand's full of it!
Since moving here, and regularly escaping the city at weekends, my mind, and my camera are just crammed with images of amazing countryside, stunning coastlines and wonderful wildlife. The birds here are beautiful. I’m no bird expert, but I do love them. I really wanted to see penguins in the wild, so over Christmas we headed to the South Island and I wasn’t disappointed. I saw loads of Little blue penguins in Oamaru and the Yellow Eyed ones on the Otago Peninsula. Something I will never forget and something I wanted to record as soon as I was back in the studio, and so my Penguin Parade print was born.
Close-up detail from Erica's Penguin Parade print
What has been your favourite creative project you’ve done and why?
My favourite creative project so far is definitely the drawing, doodling and colouring book.
It was a really exciting opportunity to create something different to what other publishers were doing, by making it bigger, better and more sophisticated than any other doodling books on the market. I love this range of books, mostly because I think they appeal to big adult kids as much as little ones!
I have gotten to work with some fabulous international illustrating talent on these titles and I am very proud of the fact that the original title was nominated for ‘Best cover design’ at the British Book Design and Production Awards.
Erica's favourite project so far - I can see why!
Besides Graphic design and illustration, what else do you love to do?
Well, print making now takes up a lot of my spare time.
In the minutes that I can find to spare around doing this and designing for Usborne, I really enjoy watching films. I love getting lost in a good book in the evenings, for as long as I can keep my eyes open.
And number one I guess, is that I love to travel. Being on this side of the planet opens up a whole new world of places to explore.
Top: A freshly cut stencil for a new screen print, alongside Erica's studio essentials.
Bottom: A collection of Erica's greetings cards and her ‘Green machine’ art print.
What would you like to be doing in 10 years?
I hope I will still be designing and illustrating children’s books. That would make me very happy.
I would like to have a house (preferably by the sea) with a big enough garden to have a 'creative shed' at the bottom. I want to set up a permanent screen printing space where I never have to clear away my inks and it can be as messy as I want it to be! By then I hope to have travelled lots more too, to have seen more of the world and to have a head full of new creative ideas as a result.
Birds & Bow - limited edition print available at endemicworld
With my printmaking, I find Scandinavian design hugely inspiring. I really like Sanna Annukka’s work. She now designs for Marimekko whose blog I follow for surface pattern inspiration.
I love the work of Rob Ryan. I don’t think I would have started paper-cutting if it wasn’t for him. I have a beautiful screen print of his packed away in London somewhere and I kick myself regularly for not bringing it with me to New Zealand, as I miss looking at it!
For book design and illustration, I love the work of Portuguese publishers, Planeta Tangerina. Very arty and beautifully designed books for kids.
And last but not least, Jon Burgerman is my favourite doodler.
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