Australian Birdlife Magazine Illustrations
My illustrations help Australian Birdlife Magazine add a touch of humour to their pages while they share the fascinating behaviours of birds, and the issues that face them.
Client: Birdlife Australia - Australian Birdlife Magazine (Membership magazine, circulation 12000 + trade sales)
Year: 2018-2019
Medium: Ink & watercolour
‘Fowl Play’, for an article about the strange play behaviours exhibited by many native Australian birds.
‘Fatal Attraction’, for an article about how urban light pollution (and coastal lighthouses), can dangerously confuse the flight paths of migratory birds and even trap them.
‘Dynasty,’ for an article about a family of Peregrine Falcons who have occupied the same cliff face nesting site for generations.
The process
Context: The magazine is the core communication of Birdlife Australia, both to organisation members, and the public through trade sales. The articles they publish explore the impact of the human population & built environment on Australia’s extraordinary bird life.
Collaborators: Cara Schultz, Communications Editor, Birdlife Australia
Brief: The brief is different each time, but generally comes with a draft of the article and a possible hint of angle they’d like me to take. Some of the briefs are mentioned in the captions above.
Approach: I usually start by sketching out some very small composition thumbnails in pencil. I might share my favourite two or three of these with the Editor, so we can decide which to develop further.
Next, I will spend some time researching and gathering reference material. For a bird watching audience, it’s important I get key details right — even if I am using the birds in an imagined context! I may collage some of these images together, based on the selected thumbnail composition.
The artwork then moves to roughs, either in pencil or ink. Often I will do two or three versions before being satisfied that I have all elements in the right place to take to final artwork.
The best rough drawing is then placed on the lightbox and the artwork traced and then developed at the final scale on a higher quality paper stock, and colour is added.
Results: The final artwork is scanned in my studio, cleaned up and prepared for CMYK printing before being delivered digitally to the Editor. Being able to mix a degree of realism and a tongue in cheek humorous approach has worked well alongside the magazine content, and seen me commissioned a number of times.
Below: Some roughs and development stages from three illustrations featured above.
