Anastasiia Ku

Today I am really excited to interview Karin Taylor – an amazing illustrator, one of the most popular RedBubble artists, and a very nice person, who is always eager to help aspiring illustrators in improving their artistic skills, developing there portfolios, encouraging them to work and never to give up, etc.

Karin attracted my atterntion from the very fist day of being on RedBubble for the tenderness and cutieness of her style. Her illustrations are full of positivism and harmony.

Karin has also authored tutorials for RedBubble users, so they could easily enhance their profiles.

So, make yourself comfortable and enjoy:

1. Karin, could you tell a little about yourself? Where are you from and what do you do? When did you first start drawing?

I was born in 1965 during a drought in outback Australia, I didn’t manage to see rain for the first 3 years of my life, so when it poured down, I squealed with fright and delight, it was quite an experience and a big first for me.  All the yabbies came marching up out of the earth (they’d been hibernating down in the wet earth) and they were like armies crossing all the roads and countryside….it must have been a sight. When I was a little girl i lost part of one of my fingers under a heavy door, luckily my mum got me to the doctors and they stitched it back on….but i take great pride in knowing that I was so brave and didn’t cry, even when the doc stitched it!

I still live in Australia on the east coast near the water where the ocean, the rivers and nature feel like home to me.  I have lived many places and met many characters in my lifetime due to life as a policeman’s daughter and being raised in a country hospital where i played with chooks and patients all day while my mother worked and my father worked in the police station next door….we lived an interesting life and my father was into everything wildlife.  I have a great love for Australia and the characters and personalities it produces.   From the beach to the bush, I have swept my eyes over it all….and decided I love the country I was born in and the stories and history of our nation enthralls me.

I’m not sure when I first began drawing, but I have memories from about the age of 3 drawing people with big sticky out ears who are swimming laps in the pool…. I also have lots of cute drawings that I drew with blue pen, of these little characters, as well as many princesses and fairies, I still seem to be on that theme somewhat…I don’t think I’ve grown up to tell you the truth.

2. Did you take any formal education in drawing or are you self taught? Are you freelancing/ making to costemer’s order/ drawing just for fun?

I have not had any formal education, in fact I went to a number of schools which did not even practice art.  My art teach Mrs Murray (at school in Wellington NSW) was killed in a terrible truck accident on the highway before I really got to do much art with her, and that was in Y8 I think…after that our principal got fired, and unfortunately our school never did reemploy any art teachers, it was very unfortunate and I didn’t realise at that stage that I had any talent whatsoever.  Neither did anyone else for that matter.  Once I got to Y10 my parents thought i should attend an art college in Sydney, but i was a very shy person and declined the opportunity, I also wasnt good at my lessons at school which would have prevented me at the time, from making it into University.  I seem to have some learning difficulties which weren’t picked up and always had low confidence levels, but now I realise that it wasn’t so much that i was dumb or anything, i just struggled to learn in the set way we were taught, which makes a lot of sense now i have realised I’m a creative soul.   It’s like the spoken information or verbal cues don’t slip into the right areas of my brain quickly for processing, and I learn far better from written text….that married with some verbal cues and some visual cues, really enhanced my learning and i discovered to my great surprise that I wasn’t such a dummy after all :)

My father did ensure I had some private lessons in painting flowers on plates with a lady from the USA that lived nearby in another coastal village (we both had lessons as dad is very creative too and paints) and he also introduced me to Ken Harris who is an oil painter that teaches night classes through TAFE in Australia and also on television in Brisbane, Qld.

Ken Harris was then responsible (in ways he does not even realise) for encouraging the creativity within me to come to the fore, he was incredibly supportive and when you look at Ken’s face, he is literally like the sun shining….and he is dead honest as well, he’ll tell you when something isn’t working and help you to fix it and give you hints and clues, but he is never ever discouraging.  I had a few oil painting classes with Ken in the evenings in a group setting, and i have never felt more happy, more at home, more at peace, than those evenings spent in a room full of strangers painting with oils.  There was something about it, something that felt like home….I was 15 when i did the first set of lessons, and around 21 when i did another round of 5 weeks with Ken.  These were significant dot points in my journey, because I have never forgotten the joy that I felt when I painted and eventually, after many more years as a wife and mother, I was given the opportunity to return to doing some kind of hobby that I loved… I wasn’t happy in myself, and my husband suggested I could do anything I would like to do….and if I could, then what would it be.  He said he’d give me 3 hours to do something I liked….and he would take the kids and give me some time out….I thought about it, and realised i wanted to draw more than anything, that’s what would fulfill me.  And so it began.  My first drawing after many many years of nothing.  This was when my daughter who’s now 18, was only 3….this was my first feeling of bliss in a long long time.  It was another 7 years really before I was able to really sit down and commit myself to working hard at drawing.  Once I did, I was hooked, lined and sinkered….and nothing but nothing could stop me….I’ve been going at it now full on since 2002, so that’s 8 years and I haven’t really slowed down at all.  It’s like I’m catching up, catching up on all the years i didn’t draw, couldn’t draw, couldn’t spend on myself as i had to care for the babies and my husband.  I’ve never looked back.

3. What tools and software do you mainly use? Which media do you prefer?

I love drawing with mechanical pencils the most, I love the feel of the pencil on the paper and in the past I also used a lot of ink, charcoal, pastels and acrylics too, but these days I tend to paint digitally using Photoshop and an Intuos3 Wacom Tablet with a pen, I photograph my original drawings and apply the colour on the computer.  I also love oil painting and enjoy using watercolour and adding found objects, fabrics, etc to my work.  Another thing i enjoy very much is sculpting with plasticine…I created a whole series called THE CHUNKIES from plasticine, all these cute little characters, a pirate, a hawaiian dancer, a ballerina, a diver, a geisha, etc….and photographed them in my studio.  That was a fun project.  Every now and then I digress from drawing and take a break while pursuing something else creative.  At the moment I’ve begun exploring iPhone photography and the array of new iPhone applications for cameras on offer.  That’s been great fun also.

4. How long did it take to develope your own style? And how did you develope it?

I recall there was a time when my younger brother Tim was painting large works and some murals that were very distinctive and greatly appealed to me, they were all very stylised and I was fascinated by them. Eventually when i started to paint, I felt it was important to develop a style, like my brother had done, but I didn’t have a clue how…that’s when I researched on the internet and visited the library to investigate how ‘style’ comes about…it was simple really, it involved one thing and one thing only….practice, practice and more practice :)   That is why I became prolific…I was determined to develop my style as soon as I could, and I didn’t know how many drawings that was going to take, I drew and drew and drew, and eventually a style began to emerge.  I think that’s why they call us emerging artists…. lol

5.Where do you get your characters from? I thinks lots of them look very much like you, are they really you, or maybe some your family members?:) Or some other real people?

It’s hard to say, a lot of people are like you and feel they are me, and i’d have to say they are me in essence, but they aren’t deliberate self portraits, as in they are certainly not exact replicas of my face or anything….but there is a lot of me in them.  The characters are born from my own desires and idealism about friendship, love, humanity, peace and pain.  They sometimes come about from reading an article, remembering characters from my past and I’m also particularly intrigued by asian traditional dress, so I’ve done a series, which i often add to, of cute geishas and one rather serious geisha, who’s been very popular with viewers.  They are rarely real people, more imagined…and i think of it like this…I’m painting what I wish for.  I also feel that at times, these characters have hidden messages that can only be read by the person with the right key, and that you must look into their eyes to read the message….some who are in touch with their emotions, seem to read the message very clearly…for others, there are feelings of nostalgia.  I don’t understand how I manage to impart a feeling of nostalgia to others, if i did, I’d bottle that and reuse over and over…but there must be something about what I do that brings out the memories from childhood.  I do often revisit my childhood in an effort to connect with things and people from my past, as it’s all quite hazy and disjointed.   I think that I do focus on themes of motherhood and childlike responses in an adult world…because mainly I’m trying to reach my own inner child…perhaps therein lies the secret to creating nostalgic works of art.  I’m never quite sure :)

6. You are selling your designs on RB and Zazzle? What do you like the most about these sites? Which is your favourite? Are you contributine to somewhere esle?

I am a member of both sites, but my favourite site is Redbubble where I have my full portfolio of works.  I don’t contribute anywhere else (not that i can think of) lol… I have a couple of blogs called Just Drawing which is about helping people rediscover drawing or discover it for the first time to help alleviate depression or symptoms of pain…and i have another blog, that’s just for my art and writings and that’s called Art Inklings.  I began that before I joined RB from memory.  My great love and passion is the artist community of Redbubble and my loyalty is to that site.  It has been a wonderful experience for me over the past 2 and a half years, I have tried my hand at writing poetry, stories, sculpting, writing songs, painting digital works, etc….all because of the way in which the  community has encouraged me there.  Had it not been for Redbubble I would not have gone down this path of developing new skills, new friends and feeling that I’m making meaning and being part of an artist community.  It is very special to me.  I am a volunteer helper on Redbubble also, and try wherever I can to lend support and encouragement to other members, as I know what a real difference it has made for me throughout my creative journey.

7. You always seem to be ful of creative energies and draw non-stop; how do you manage to organize yourself to produce thousands of amazing drawings?

I have slowed down substantially, as it was really impossible to keep up that level of output, and the creativity and inspiration do definitely ebb and flow, according to moods and output….my energy levels do wax and wane, depending on the levels of stress, the amount of other things going on, etc…but it may seem like I draw non stop…  lol.  I don’t have a regular routine, I just seem to need to draw or go mad…. so it becomes quite the priority, particularly when I haven’t drawn for some time…I will actually drop everything, and draw. It’s an insatiable need or itch…and it must be scratched !! lol

8. What are your biggest design influences or inspirations, any particular artist(s)?

I love so many from graphic designers like Stefan Sagmeister to entreprenaurial artists like Australian Ken Done….to outback artists like Pro Hart, anyone with a story… I love to read artist biographies and can’t get enough of them, because I often find i can really relate to them, their way of looking at life, if i had to give you two favourites they would be Brett Whitely (another Australian artist) and Vincent van Gogh (i love both these human beings very much) also love Margaret Preston for her printmaking and May Gibbs for her beautiful drawings and stories based around Australian native bush flowers and shrubs which were dubbed the bush babies.  I have come to love the artists art, by getting to know the artist first…..i will either love the art and perhaps not the artist themselves……or i will love the artist….and getting to know them contributes to me finding a deep appreciation for their art and a newfound respect.  I also adore the works of Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh (late 1800′s to early 1900′s)

9. What are you currently working on, do you have any interesting or exciting projects? Do you have any specific plans for the future direction of your artwork?

I am currently working on a new drawing that epitomises the beginning of Spring (we are moving into Springtime here in Australia) so it’s very much influenced by the current climate, the new growth, the scented air, and the lovely warm breezes…all the new life that Spring brings with it.

Previously, I was working on a hubcap, lol….yes for the Landfillart.org exhbition, where they are going to publish a book with all the art and send around a travelling exhibition with 200 of the works (there are about 1100 artists participating worldwide) and it’s very much environmental, we are reducing landfill by creating a piece of art from something we find at the Garbage dump….they make cool pieces of art too…their round!! and they hang so easily on the wall…everyone should do it just for fun!  I created a mermaid painting on my hubcap….and have to now send this great big thing to the USA in time for the exhibition!

10. Thank you very much for your inteview, Karin! Would you like to give any tips or advice to aspiring artists and blogreaders?

Be kind to yourself, draw as much as is humanly possible, strive for balance and moderation and tolerance… Be at peace with yourself and others and find a way to incorporate new challenges into your creativity….

Find a way to make meaning through your creativity, for this adds a new dimension to your art…. Encourage others always in their creative pursuits, you never know when something you say, may be a pivotal moment for someone else in their life… Remember that your words are potentially diamonds that will last the test of time in another person’s mind and bring them immense happiness, if not now, in the future…. Words have power to effect enormous change and turn about difficult situations…words have power to change a change, to launch new ideas, to spearhead us into the future…. Listen to all the advice you are given, throw away what you know is poison, hold onto everything that is good and just and helpful….Keep some things that people say in a treasure box to bring out and polish up later on…..Put some things people say up in the attic for a rainy day.   Don’t discard all criticism, some is helpful, some is not.  Remember that all your difficulties will long term end up being the yeast that makes your creativity rise up and be noticed.  Everything that comes your way will grow you, even if at first it appears to defeat you, you will rise up to face another day and any resistance will make you a stronger person.  Just as with weight training….your creative muscles will grow stronger through difficult situations that may arise.  Do not despair, make sure you find a bunch of creative and caring friends who are really into you and your art, so that you have people that ‘understand’ your creative side and what it’s like….so that you can feel supported at all times.  Many people don’t have that support and it’s crucial.