desktop invited four illustration agencies/bodies to showcase two of their superstar illustrators.

The Drawing Book Studios

Andrew Millist
This illustration started life as being about four failed digital sketches, each with entirely different directions. It wasn’t until I got annoyed with my computer and opened a sketchbook to just vent, that this spilled out. I tried to brief myself and gather reference, but in the end, it started with rough lines and grew organically into a concept I’d never thought of before beginning. True inspiration and, fittingly, the theme itself. Graffiti has been a strong influence on my work and I still airbrush as a hobby. There’s a movement prevalent in design today drawing largely from the graffiti movement and, while it can look like a free-for-all, there’s a fun challenge in making loud colours speak harmoniously in an image.

From Matt Jackson,
Illustrators Manager, The Drawing Book Studios
When Andrew emailed me his portfolio, I moved it into the ‘yet to view’ folder. Thirty minutes later he boomed into the studio and suggested we look through his work together. He had flown down from Brisbane fully loaded for finding representation. His enthusiasm carried him through the storyboard obstacle test and his ability was firing the whole time. Being able to illustrate whatever is in the script at whatever angle is requested by the author is the calibre of a storyboard artist. I have never met a 25-year-old who can draw almost any subject, in any perspective, with realistic pose and expression in all his characters. It is no accident that I have used the metaphor of a gun to describe Andrew.

Andrew Millist

Borja Bonafuente Gonzalo
Since I can remember I wanted to draw comics for a living, so I suppose, as an illustrator, in a way I got it. One day I turned to oils to paint people near me in the style of an 18^th century portrait, but in a contemporary way (jeans, t-shirt and so on) and this led to my career today as a painter and illustrator. I generally use oil on wood boards unless the job asks for other mediums. First, I draw a detailed sketch on the board to plan the drawing and then I add thin layers of paint until I get the final art. Painters I admire include Antonio López, Caravaggio and Christian Schad, plus the tons of new painters who amaze me every day.

From Matt Jackson,
Illustrators Manager, The Drawing Book Studios:
That a 32-year-old oil painter could meet the week-long deadlines of the editorial industry knocked me off my feet. That was my first impression, but it’s Borja’s love for the human character and the way it responds to the environment told through various textures that has left the deepest impression. It is futile to try to describe, even impossible to appreciate fully looking at a reduced size reproduction here. Air (pictured) is a one metre by one metre oil painting on board. At full size you can appreciate the translucency of her skin, the light hitting the edge of every strand of hair and the wiry irregularity of her eyebrows. Different textures mixed in the same space: metal, skin, hair, wool etc…

Borja Bonafuente Gonzalo

Illustrators Australia

Sebastian Ciaffaglione
I’m an illustrator based in Melbourne. I love to work inpublishing, and truly enjoy the variety and the challenge that doing book covers and picture books gives me. My favourite artists are usually people who combine a high degree of technical ability with some sort of innovation or flavour, people like James Jean, Ashley Wood and Phil Hale. My dream of dreams is to one day be considered in a class of artists like that. To accomplish this, I spend my days painting space babes for sci-fi books, but am also constantly trying to learn as much as possible from the work of artists I love, and always trying improve my skills and my knowledge.

From the IA Committee
One of the things we love at Illustrators Australia (IA) is having within our membership so many different types of illustrators, different styles and techniques; it is such a broad spectrum that makes the illustration world go round. When we received an application from Seb in 2008, we saw in him an illustrator that was quite different, highly technical and in quite a niche of his own. He is meticulous and instills much passion and love in all his projects. In entering the IA 9×5 exhibition last year, he sold a handpainted beautiful, majestic piece that was one of its kind in the show. Seb has already been receiving work from the publishing industry and will no doubt be carving out his own path.

Sebastian Ciaffaglione

Genna Campton
I’m a Melbourne-based illustrator who is completely smitten with all things print, and am a proud member of Illustrators Australia. After graduating from Enmore Design Centre in Sydney with a Diploma of Illustration and Design, my sights were set on the winding bike paths and creative community of Melbourne. Since graduating, my client list has grown to include Peppermint magazine, Buro North, Notebook, Spook, Eni and Mahlab Media among others. In 2010, I illustrated the book Frugavore by Arabella Forge (Black Inc). I use a combination of mediums to create illustrations, mostly pen and ink, digital colouring, collage and screen printing. Prints of my artwork are sold through Sweets Workshop, Etsy and at design markets such as Craft Hatch (Craft Victoria).

From the IA Committee
IA is not an agency; we are a non-profit collective of industry professionals aimed at nurturing and promoting the use of illustration. When joining IA we ask for a submission of application, which is then reviewed by the committee to ensure professional standards are met. When Genna’s application came in, in 2009, we could see straightaway that she had a wonderfully unique style, using a beautiful pen and ink/mixed media technique to create great concepts for her illustrations, she had already been receiving work from the industry and we knew she would continue to thrive. Of course she was accepted. It’s great to see Genna’s work being snapped up in the industry and we enjoy seeing her artwork in some of our exhibitions for members as well.

Genna Campton

The Illustration Room

Elisa Mazzone
My love of drawing started when I was little, I think in an effort to escape from my brothers’ world of cars and football. I would draw anything and everything feminine and girly. I studied graphic design at university, but only started drawing for others when my job designing a magazine called for an illustration for a regular column. It ended up being my favourite part of the job, so I decided to pursue it more seriously. So many things inspire me, in particular music, art, photographs, fabric and interesting people. The materials and techniques I use kind of change and evolve as I do – my most used tool is pencil, but I love watercolours and ink. They are messy and a little unpredictable, which is a nice contrast to the more detailed, precise line work.

From Katie Perrott,
Director, The Illustration Room
Elisa came to The Illustration Room after I met an art director friend of hers in Adelaide. She contacted me and has been busy working ever since. Her work immediately struck me as delicate, young, fresh with an innocence that lends itself to working for a broad range of projects. Her girls are just beautiful as simple pencil sketches, or she can embellish them with collage elements, watercolour or ink. Elisa’s recent clients include: Madison, Mambo, Australian Women’s Weekly and Prevention. Her work also appears in the upcoming Semi-Permanent book and Drawn From Fashion – Melbourne Fashion Week 2011. Elisa exhibits in galleries in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Elisa Mazzone

Carlo Giambaressi
I’ve always drawn since I was a child, and three years ago I decided to pursue my passion in a professional manner. I’m very attached to traditional techniques, and love using brushes, pencils and getting my hands dirty with the colours. For my textures, I use gouache, acrylic with brush, tapes, spray, china ink and photocopies. I also like to find and collect old papers from everywhere, and use them to create my own textures by hand and through experimenting on the computer.

From Katie Perrott,
Director, The Illustration Room
Carlo approached The Illustration Room when looking for an Australian agent. I was immediately struck by his clever conceptual illustration style and the textures, look and feel of his final art. Often abstract but always clear, he uses simple colours and bold shapes to subtly and intelligently communicate the message of his creations. Carlo was born and grew up in idyllic Sardinia and now lives and works in Barcelona. Carlo’s recent clients include: Teach for Australia, ACP Custom Magazines, The Sunday Times, Time Out New York and Brussels Airlines. His work will appear in the 2011 Society of Illustrators – Illustrators 53.

Carlo Giambaressi

The Jacky Winter Group

Timba Smits
It all started when I won the grade six drawing competition with my sooper-rad-to-the-max illustration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A very fine moment in my career, I must say, and I believe my career as a designer has grown progressively from there, as crazy as it sounds. I mean, what sixth grader puts down his GI Joes to become a great designer? However, it’s really come together over the last decade by fusing my fine art background together with digital graphic design techniques to create an individual and highly illustrative graphic style. One that I can proudly call ‘my own’ with a look that’s mostly created by hand, using pen, pencil and paper and seen throughout my personal work, client projects and work in my famed lowbrow arts magazine Wooden Toy Quarterly. I’ve recently followed a transitional pull to London where I now live and work.

From Jeremy Wortsman,
Principal, The Jacky Winter Group
I had met Timba on numerous occasions through the Melbourne gallery scene while he was co-curating Gorker Gallery – a near neighbour to our own gallery, Lamington Drive, as well as publishing Wooden Toy Quarterly. The way he married traditional illustration with graphic design was always inspiring, but we never had a chance to properly connect before he moved to the UK. When we finally had the chance to sit down together, Timba’s enthusiasm and drive to consistently work and push himself to new limits made him a perfect fit for our agency’s spirit, and we offered him representation on the spot. Timba is one of the newest artists to join our ranks, and I am incredibly enthusiastic about what he will be bringing to both our clients and the group.

Timba Smits

Diego Patiño
The fact that my parents have a shrunken human head in the top shelf of their wardrobe is a long story. What I can tell you briefly, instead, is that having that sort of stuff around when growing up certainly made an impression on me. That, my Garbage Pail Kids collection and the always vital adventures of Hergé’s Tintin. I’ve been drawing since I can remember, but I didn’t become a professional illustrator until five or six years ago after I was done with uni and corporative life and they were done with me. I love to experiment with textures and all sorts of digital tools. For me, illustration is all about storytelling – about capturing a moment in the same way a movie photogram does.

From Jeremy Wortsman,
Principal, The Jacky Winter Group
Diego’s folio came through to me via email through our normal submission process. Diego’s website was actually a bit outdated at the time, but there was something that drew me in, so I went to his Flickr page, which was filled with page after page of jaw-dropping work, many pieces inspired by personal heroes Chris Ware and Charles Burns. When we met in person, there was great chemistry, and even better stories behind many of the pieces. It’s a bit like dating sometimes. We signed him up for a trial period, and he was an immediate hit with our editorial clients, pulling in commissions for Bloomberg Businessweek and Wired (US) in his first month.

Diego Patino

All images copyright the respective illustrators.

From desktop magazine.