Marion Deuchars on Design Matters

Today, here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a snow day. The most glorious of all days of the year, on the rare occasion that it happens. It lets you skip school/work, without having a makeup already planned! So usually it just ends in more time to do work, and more time to browse the internet, finally make a flickr account, get a sibling to bake for you, AND complete some much needed art projects.

Anyway, Marion Deuchars! About a month back Marion Deuchars was on the podcast Design Matters, and I finally got to listening to it. She talks about her work as an illustrator, how she creates nostalgic r’s, contemplative a’s, peaceful p’s and childlike q’s. She also talks about what its like to illustrate with a character in mind, for example when she wrote around George Clooney’s body for the cover of GQ, or when she she collaborated on Tilda Swanson’s children’s clothing line.

Listen to it here.

Also, her two boys pipe in at the end of the show, and were SO CUTE, and I have to say, more than a bit poignant.

Here are some of the great quotes from the show:

“…there’s an age where a child draws without inhibition. We can all recognize that kind of drawing, because we’ve all done it.  And then, around the age of 10 or 11, and its mainly in a Western culture, we try  to attain a kind of realism, and its whilst we are obtaining that realism, is where things can go horribly wrong.  So for the one’s who obtain a realism that they’re happy with, for example if they manage to obtain some kind of porportion within the drawing or they try to draw something that resembles it, and they’re quite happy they continue, …. but for the majority of people, its too much, and basically they decide from that point that they are not very good at drawing and that their drawings are bad, and they stop drawing, and not only do they stop drawing, but they generally never draw again.  And can even develop a fear of drawing, which is actually quite common.  And I always say, how can we develop a fear of something that’s so amazing and that gave us so much personal expression as children. And suddenly we decide we’re no good at it and we stop.”

“I think handwriting, hand lettering, is fascinating because it offers you an insight into personality.  I think when you look at the lettering that’s been drawn you try to imagine who drew it, who wrote it, and that’s quite different to a font…”

” ‘My children’s drawings surprise me all the time.  They break the rules, they inspire, they make me laugh, they shock. I don’t want that to change for as long as possible.’ ”

She also has 3 books out, all on Amazon.  When I have money again, I’m definitely buying “Let’s Make Some Great Art”! : Let’s Make Some Great Art, Let’s Make Some Great Fingerprint Art, Let’s Make Some Great Placemat Art

IMAGES: here // here // here