Interview with illustrator/cartoonist Mark Guthrie
Brisbane illustrator and cartoonist Mark Guthrie has brought countless children’s books to life. There is a HUGE list of awesome projects that Mark has produced! His portfolio encompasses many years of freelancing in Australia and the UK.In fact, he met his wife, a Dane living in London, while travelling and working overseas. They now have three little Aussie-Danes and are settled here in Brisbane. He’s a traditional drawing illustrator at heart, even though he’s quite good with a tablet! But he’s just happy to have made a career doing something he loves. What a nice guy!!
Mark has worked with ITV Channel 4 in the UK and was an Assistant Animator for Walt Disney Australia where he worked on films such as, An Extremely Goofy Movie, The Little Mermaid 2, Lady and the Tramp 2, Peter Pan – Return to Neverland and The Three Mousketeers. He regularly illustrates for news and media publications, and has illustrated many educational resources from children’s books, puzzles and comics — including the comic series Pigboy & Freckles for kids magazine – DMag.
Some of Mark’s favourite projects include the work on his own books, especially, The Stinky Poo Grubs – as it was his first book published. And more recently, Mark’s been busy on completing two books where he was purely the illustrator. These were for publisher Pearson, and the books were titled Charlie (the inquisitive cockatiel) and Mr Bean (the Dorgi puppy). A Dorgi is a cross between a Dachshund and the Corgi, as Mark explained!
Mark has also just completed – only last week – a series of illustrations for the Queensland Education Department. These were a series of little visuals to accompany learning materials for Year 1 English. This was a very quick turnaround project, so the designs needed to be kept reasonably simple… but “cute”! And yes they are cute!! Check out the little owls on the branch at the top and the happy little cow, third from the top.
To read more about Mark and see a larger variety of his illustration work, check out his website.
Sarah Palin – for Australian Associated Press – AAP.
How have you got to where you are today?
I always had an interest in drawing from a very young age. I wasn’t sure if I could ever make a career of it – not that I thought that deeply as an 8 year old, but really enjoyed creating art.
I started and was about half way through a Fine Art degree majoring in drawing at Victoria College, before I found out about an Illustration degree at the Queensland College of the Arts (Griffith University). So I moved to Queensland, duly completed the QCA course and threw myself into the big, wide world of pursuing an artistic career.
In a few words, describe yourself…
Motivated and hopefully cheerful.
What are you spending your time on at the moment?
Completing the illustrations for a children’s book for a New Zealand publisher and attempting to hit my deadlines for the regular stuff I do for newspapers and children’s magazines.
Do you have a ritual for getting into the creative mindset? Or a creative process?
Not really, although I have one quote on my wall which is from Thomas Jefferson – ‘I’m a great believer in luck, and I find that the harder I work, the more I have of it.’
What or who inspires you?
Many different people who come from all walks of life. My list would be endless.
What are you most proud of?
In a work sense, that I’m doing something that I absolutely love to do, which never feels like work.
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I grew up on a dairy farm, so toyed vaguely with the idea of being a farmer, but every time I was milking the cows, I was wishing I was drawing the cows.
