CooCoo Interview: Emily Grandin

Today's CooCoo Interview is very visual and practical. Emily Grandin is in her own words is "an illustrator, with a finger on the trigger of my camera and an eye for the flock animals we all are." On her blog 'art of the masses' she shows of her work that usually includes bunnies.

Recently she started 'boy in a bear suit' as a challenge for herself. There she posts daily, keeps it simple and does not use bunnies. She really put a lot of effort in this interview and for that I would like to thank her. Please make sure to check out her blogs and let her know how this interview inspired you.

What inspired you to start illustrating, and how long has it been keeping you busy?
I’ve drawn for as long as I can remember. Though I started getting serious commissions, and by this I mean from people not related to me, about 4 years ago.

In your 'Boy in a bear suit' you have been avoiding bunnies. How did the bunnies in your illustrations start?
Bunnies have always been an integral part of my imagination, but as I got older I thought I had to stop drawing them to be taken seriously. So I drew other stuff, and honestly it was all crap. Eventually I started letting bunnies back into my illustrations and finally found my ‘style’. Only when I stopped denying sides of my creativity did I grow and that is a message I find really important to share with aspiring creatives.

Explain the process of creating an illustration for someone who does not know anything about it.

Step 1 - I choose a theme. ‘scruffies’: term I use for the comfy and by no means sexy clothes
I wear when working in my home studio.

Step 2 - Research and inspiration

Step 3 - I draw a thumbnail sketch.... here is an example of an actual thumbnail sketch and the respective final image.

Step 4 - I scan the thumbnail and enlarge it, then print it out and use it as a backbone for the detailed drawing on the light table.

Step 5 - I figure out the perspective points (if relevant). I often tape multiple extensions to the image for the perspective points and use really long rulers.

Step 6 - I draw the basic image in pencil. Then ink the image.

Finally I fill in the texture. I sometimes scan the image and test different lighting gradients on my computer before applying them in ink.

My tools. When I doodle I just put pen to paper and try not to think too much.

You are definitely popular for all your illustrations. What other creative activities do you do?
I love photography. I travel as often as I can and take lots of pictures. Increasingly I take pictures that I can use as inspiration for drawings. I also really love to build stuff like furniture or architectural models. And if by some odd fluke I have some free time, I like to knit.

If you could choose to be anything or anyone in another life, what would you be?
I think I would be an octopus... I’d love to explore places not naturally accessible to me in this life.