Tag: Children’s Literature

DROVER…meet the illustrator, Sarah Anthony

Posted on by Neridah

Hello! I’d like to welcome the very talented, Sarah Anthony, onto my blog today.

Sarah is the illustrator of our new picture book DROVER, and her art has magically brought alive the words on the page.

Hi Sarah, thanks for coming onto my blog. When did you start painting and how did you get into children’s picture book illustration? 

I’ve been drawing and painting ever since I was a small girl, but didn’t really start specialising in oil painting until a few years ago. After leaving school I did six years at art school and got to explore many different forms of art-making. I felt a bit like a kid in a lolly shop with all those amazing artistic options! Initially I fell most in love with silversmithing and jewellery-making, but over the years I have kept coming back to painting. Over the last few years I have been painting full time and specialising in portraiture and landscape art.

Sarah’s incredible self portrait

I hadn’t really thought of illustrating picture books but when the Associate Art Director from Walker Books came across my work and contacted me to see if I might be interested, I thought ‘what a great idea!’. I have young children myself and love how picture books open up new worlds of possibilities and understanding. I find it really exciting to use my art to bring a story to life. I hope that our book can be inspirational for small people, as well as enjoyed by the parents who read bedtime stories over and over again!

I hope so too.

What inspires you to paint? 

In my fine art practice I am mainly interested in the use of light and colour to express tension and emotion. I am always chasing the ‘moment in between’ – those moments where anything could happen and there is some ambiguity, leaving interpretation to the viewer. For the Drover illustrations I was primarily inspired by the landscape which in a sense really is one of the main characters in the book. The harsh heat, lack of water, daily dangers, the extraordinary beauty of the scenery and light underpin and influence the whole story.

What was it that attracted you to the story of DROVER?

I knew I wanted to be on board with the project as soon as I read the opening paragraph where drover ‘sighs at the peachy dawn’! Your writing is beautiful and evocative and I could easily visualise a book full of colour, light and drama and those sun-drenched outback scenes. It couldn’t be more my thing!

I was also really attracted to Edna’s story. She was an extraordinary woman and lived a fascinating life, and I am so admiring of her strength and courage and the incredible journey she and the other drovers took. She was a strong, independent woman who many kids will relate to and be inspired by, and personally I always love a story with a strong female character who lives her life on her terms.

Drover front cover

I’m so glad you love Edna, she’s a legend. 

Tell us about the process you went through to choose the right medium and the grade of paper to illustrate DROVER?

Although my initial working drawings were in coloured pencil, it was an easy choice to use oil paints for the final illustrations. I felt that the outback scenes and the richness of colour and light were best portrayed by oils, which have a fabulous vibrancy of colour. Traditional oil painting techniques lend easily to portraying dramatic skies and the sense of movement and drama that the book needed.

After some experimentation with various papers I settled on Arches cold pressed 300gsm Oil paper which was really beautiful to work on, and also appropriate for the technical needs of the publishing process.

How did you find the experience of drawing a rush?

I did an enormous amount of research work behind the stampede scenes. I had to learn how a bullock looks and acts in that scenario and then design the composition with multiple racing cattle so that it was varied and dynamic. Initially I had the main stampede scene moving from left to right in a side view but ended up altering this so that the bullocks seemed to be racing out of the page straight at the reader, which made the scene that much more exciting. I enjoyed painting all the shadows and kicked up dust and the wild-eyed cattle.

How long did it take you to do the illustrations?

As oil paintings there are days, sometimes weeks of work in each painting. Sometimes I had to let a painting dry off a little before applying highlights or to allow for translucency with layers, such as in the night sky scenes, so I was working on multiple paintings at any time.

I can’t imagine how long that must have taken.

Tell us about drawing cattle and horses?

Again, I did a lot of research to learn how cattle and horses behave and move in various scenarios. I spent a bit of time in our local children’s farm watching the animals to get a sense of personality which helped me in bring the character of Shifty to life. The initial inspiration for Shifty was a grumpy old cow who was moaning and looking sideways at me with those big wide eyes. She was not happy and let everyone know about it! Cattle can be enormously funny and full of personality and it wasn’t hard to create Shifty as a belligerent, lovable rogue.

I styled Edna’s horse Midnight to be very much a reflection of her- I visualised Midnight as trusty and always ready for action. In the scenes where Edna is on horseback I tried to show a sense that horse and rider were ‘as one’, in tune with each other.


What’s your next project? (if you’re allowed to share)

I’m currently working on a body of oil paintings for a solo exhibition next year (Covid willing!) 

Thank you so much for chatting today, Sarah.

There is no doubt, DROVER, is a book created with love and care. Thank you to the amazing team at Walker Books

Sarah has just been shortlisted for two major art prizes this year, the Lester Prize and the Kennedy Prize. Good luck!  

Follow Sarah on Instagram @sarahanthonyartist and check out her website at www.sarahanthonyartist.com

DROVER… a new children’s picture book

Posted on by Neridah

I’ve got a new picture book coming out soon…it’s called DROVER and it’s been beautifully illustrated by the talented Sarah Anthony, and is being published by the fabulous Walker Books Australia.

Edna Jessop (nee Zigenbine) was Australia’s first female boss drover. In 1950, she took 1600 head of cattle from Western Australia to Queensland. For six months, they travelled through harsh country over a distance of 2240 kilometres. Edna began droving as a child, but on this trip she was in her early twenties. Her father, a boss drover, fell ill soon after they left and Edna took charge.

Edna Jessop (nee Zigenbine) Image:  N.T Library

I wrote the text for DROVER in such a way, that Edna is only ever referred to as drover. This was so the reader didn’t know it was a girl until the very last page, when she threw her hat in the air and cracked her stockwhip. Yee-haa!     

Anyway, what’s a drover? A drover is a person who moves livestock on long walks from stations (big farms) to markets. Trips could take many months and were slow going, winding through some of the most isolated and barren areas of Australia. They were incredibly dangerous and many cattle, sheep and even some drovers have died whilst droving.

Edna is on the horse in the right and her sister, Kathleen, is on the left. Image: State Library of Victoria.

My Grandfather went droving at fourteen years of age and he often talked about the ‘long paddock.’ As a kid I thought he just meant a big paddock, but the ‘long paddock’ refers to travelling stock routes (TSR) which are a historical network of pathways all over Australia for livestock to be moved to market.

I bet you’ve seen them, they’re the wide grasses verges beside country roads. Funnily enough, the Sydney Harbour Bridge is still classified as a stock route (but you can only use it between midnight and sunrise, ok?).

I love the romance of droving. It’s iconically Australian. My Grandfather and his brothers lived hand to mouth, shooting rabbits and cooking them over a campfire for dinner. They slept with their dogs under thin blankets around a fire, taking it in turns to watch the cattle during the night. My Grandfather loved his horses more than life itself and I realise now, he had a gift, especially with horses.

My Grandfather, Keith Bullock on Buxton. Stockman, horseman, the best. Also loved a Marlboro red.
Hamilton Saleyards
Image: Hamilton Spectator

My great uncles were similarly gifted with horses. This is picture below is my Great Uncle Les on his beautiful palomino horse ‘Gold King.’ He had a famous show he performed all around Australia called ‘Cowboys Last Ride’ that left the crowd in tears. He was also a poet.

It’s funny how your family continues to define you, long after they’ve gone. I love the connection my work has to my heritage. And as soon as I delved into this in my writing, it brought out something in my stories that hadn’t previously been there. I’m glad I’ve been able to tap into it.

Anyway, book launch details are coming soon, COVID permitting!

However, DROVER, can be found in any good bookstore from September 8th 2021 or you can pre-order it online here at Booktopia

Thank you for popping into my blog, I appreciate all the love. Thanks to my family, my friends and my wonderful children’s writing community.

Day 2 Maurice Saxby Mentorship

Posted on by Neridah

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Visit to Books Illustrated

Ann Haddon and Ann James made us feel very welcome in their beautiful home, gallery and bookstore. Books Illustrated is the iconic heartbeat of children’s literature in Australia, specialising in sales of original artwork, limited edition prints and signed books. We had the most wonderful two hours with the two Ann’s. They have a wealth of experience and expertise and were only too happy to share it with us.

We discussed the publishing market and what opportunities there are out there. They wanted to know what we all wrote and who illustrated their own work and from this information they brought out a fascinating collection of published books to fuel our imaginations.

We talked about publishers that take risks, like Allen Unwin’s ‘The Memory Book’ by Neil Curtis. I didn’t know about this book and borrowed it from the library later in the day and it’s just wonderful.

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So is Scholastic’s Hugo Cabret. A novel in equally depicted with pictures and text.

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We also looked Alison Lester’s ‘Sophie Scott goes South’ and ‘One Small Island’ published by Penguin, enjoying hearing about the care and collaborative process that was taken to produce these books.

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We talked about Nadine’s work, a hybrid Graphic Novel and looked several graphic novels including Nathan Jurevicius’s ‘Scarygirl’. I’d never seen anything like this before, it was amazing! And the amount of work that must have gone into it. Wow!

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We discussed what publishers want: Young Adult fiction, Young Adult Romance – Penguin have just started a series, historical based fiction is still popular as are  environmental books.

We then looked at three books that Ann James has recently illustrated, one of these she wrote & illustrated. It’s called Bird and Bear. This is a delightful picture book about a discovery (his reflection!) published by The Five Mile Press.

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Then we looked at ‘I’m a Dirty Dinosaur’ written by Janeen Brian and illustrated by Ann James. This picture book has been printed in a fascinating format. It has thick gl pages (but it’s not a board book) and it has beautiful (and very safe) rounded edges. This is such a cheeky, catchy little story, it’s loads of fun. The illustrations are delightfully simple and gorgeous using mud, yes, MUD from a dam. Ann just couldn’t get the effect she wanted too with watercolours. It’s just so cool.

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I’m a dirty dinosaur,

With a dirty snout.

I never wipe it clean,

I just sniff and snuff about.

Sniff, sniff, snuff, snuff,

Sniff and snuff about.

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Ann very kindly signing a book for me.

Visiting Books Illustrated was a wonderful way to spend a wintery afternoon, we all had such a ball. Thank you so much to both Ann and Ann for sharing their passion for Australian picture books. I have since made a follow up appointment with Ann to sort out my art portfolio (be brave!)

The Books Illustrated showroom is opened by appointment  www.booksillustrated.com.au