Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Warm, textured, story-rich illustrations infused with nature, childhood and magic.
What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Sketchbooks, reference books, good lighting, a hot cup of tea, and my iPad.
Sketchbooks, reference books, good lighting, a hot cup of tea, and my iPad.
I also like having a knitting project nearby that I can pick up for a break.
Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Digital illustration with textured brushes, combined with traditional watercolour.
Digital illustration with textured brushes, combined with traditional watercolour.
Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Briony May Smith, Sydney Smith and Heikala. I love the way they use perspective, different viewpoints, light and colour to draw you into a scene. Their work is full of emotion and atmosphere, and always makes me feel completely immersed in the world they've created.
Briony May Smith, Sydney Smith and Heikala. I love the way they use perspective, different viewpoints, light and colour to draw you into a scene. Their work is full of emotion and atmosphere, and always makes me feel completely immersed in the world they've created.
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
The Golden Age of Illustration. I'd love to see how artists created such rich, imaginative work before the plethora of reference images we have access to today. I'd especially love to watch illustrators like Beatrix Potter and Jill Barklem at work, seeing how they observed the natural world and transformed it into such detailed, enchanting stories and illustrations.
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
A lifelong love of drawing, a love of picture books and movies (anything to do with stories really) and the ability of illustrations to create entire worlds for children.
Share a photo of your creative workspace or part of the area where you work most often. Talk us through it.
My workspace is filled with sketchbooks, children's books, art materials and reference materials. I often build or collect models and visual references to help develop settings and characters. Having these objects around me helps bring stories to life and solve illustration challenges.
My workspace is filled with sketchbooks, children's books, art materials and reference materials. I often build or collect models and visual references to help develop settings and characters. Having these objects around me helps bring stories to life and solve illustration challenges.
What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
The early development stage is my favourite part of the process. I love exploring ideas, designing characters and discovering the visual world of a story. It's the point where anything feels possible, and I get to experiment, solve creative problems and watch the story begin to take shape before it exists on the page.
What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Draw consistently, observe the world closely, read widely and create the kind of work you genuinely enjoy making.
Michelle Conn is an author and illustrator living on Wadawurrung Country in the coastal town of Torquay, Victoria, with her husband, two children and Border Collie, Maggie. After working as a graphic designer and primary school teacher, her love of books and storytelling led her to create stories for children. When she’s not writing or illustrating, Michelle can be found exploring the windswept cliffs where she lives, knitting by the fire, or dreaming of life in a lighthouse.
Michelle's most recent publication is the gorgeous Learning You By Heart, written by Sarah Wallace and published by Windy Hollow.
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