Childrens Illustrator Presents: Chitchatting with Gorjuss!

Hello and welcome to our interview room!
Can you tell us who you are in a nutshell ? Where do you come from, what's your work, and what's your shoe size ?

Hello thank you for inviting me ! .. I'm Suzanne, a 30-ish Scottish artist who paints girls, and loves stripes! Although I'm often seen as a children's illustrator, I often hear from people of all ages who love my work!

I work both traditionally with ink and paint, and digitally with Photoshop and my trusty Wacom tablet! I love all mediums! Most of my digital pieces start life as traditional ink sketches, and I then scan them and use them as the linework in Photoshop!.. I exhibit originals in galleries across the world, and license the digital pieces to various companies!

Aaaaah everything inspired me, the clouds in the sky, the weather, the people I meet, little sayings people say, colours, you name it.. I'm like a big sponge who just soaks everything up, and for my own sanity I have to paint it to 'release' some of it !!! Of course when I paint it comes out with my own interpretation, I'm just trying to show everyone how I see the world in a way!

I'm at a fortunate stage in my career that I can now paint for myself, rather than for an agent, author or commissioner.. this makes it much easier as there's no interpretation of what someone else is trying to convey, this means the blank page is really exciting now, and I love it !!! I would always advise younger artists to not 'ush' their creativity, when it's ready to flow it will flow! I'm very much painting on my own terms and for myself, and I'm (very!) fortunate that other people love what I produce!

Music is a huge part of my life, I used to play ( okay okay badly play!) .. in a rock band when I was younger ( drums!) .. I have a constant soundtrack in my life, wherever I go, whatever I'm doing there is music playing in the background.. I usually try to capture a mood rather than the lyrics.. I'm also addicted to art, I couldn't live without either.

I've always been in love with fairytales! I collect vintage Mabel Lucie Attwell illustrated books, first editions of Grimm and Anderson fairytales, and collect obscure Scottish fairytale books too ( I told you I was addicted!) .. I can remember just being in awe of illustrations when I was little.. studying every little detail of books I owned..

I read a lot, and I still do! .. I read more children's books than I do adult, and I've even been known to scour the bookshops for pre-school picture books much to the annoyance of my now-very-outgrown-picture-books teenage children!

When I was little I was told by my parents that I couldn't be an artist when I grew up, so when I reached about 10/11I would read a WHOLE lot of biographies and info on any artists lives I could find.. as a result I now know a lot about other artists, which is a great knowledge to have!, I also read mostly about things, religion, philosophy, geography, history.. rather than fiction.

It just came from a love of art, I think it came quite naturally for me to draw girls, I didn't start drawing till later in life ( I always get envious of artists who say they drew since they could hold a crayon) .. but i knew i HAD to draw and wanted to draw.. I think it's really important not to preach naively at children with fluffy tales and 'happily ever afters' .. but really show something you'd be happy to look at yourself, to hang on your own wall.. to add a magical element to your work doesn't mean to add sparkles, it means to add depth, because children's imaginations are the biggest, and a little depth will become a HUGE imaginative place in their minds, to fill with everything they can think of.. and you couldn't!

Also, children's art doesn't always equal Nursery wall art ! .. there's such a wide scope of age groups and interests, look around!

I've just finished my pieces for the Swoon groups show at the Black Maria Gallery ( June 13th - July 11th) in LA .. more info can be found here: [link]

And I have a few other projects that I'm working on.. all top secret though!

Any as long as they striped , Howls Moving Castle, Bananas, 'Sold'.. , Music.