Ep. 18: Shelley Couvillion - Illustrator

This week's chat is with illustrator, Shelley Couvillion. Shelley was kind enough to welcome me into her home to record this episode. There's a bit of construction going on in my home right now. Not at all conducive to recording.

It's always such a treat to see the home, and the studio of an artist you admire. Now, usually when I picture the home and work space of an illustrator or painter, I imagine a bit of a beautiful mess of paint, brushes, maybe drop cloths, pencils, and discarded drafts of illustrations strewn about. Shelley's space is absolutely lovely, but it is far from that artsy mess that I imagined. It's clean, neat, and everything has its place. She has a few of her own pieces tastefully hung, and no...there are no discarded sketches covering the floor. And, she manages to keep her space in working order with a two month old baby! How does she do it? She reveals what she does to keep a work space that's fresh, clean, and inspiring during our chat! ;)

I asked Shelley to share a few fun facts about herself. This is what she said:

- I broke my front teeth while climbing up a mossy rock in Yosemite when I was a preteen, but I still love camping.

- One of my favorite books (and movies and graphic novels) is Coraline by Neil Gaiman, not coincidentally, my little girl is named Coraline.

- Mostly for religious reasons, I was homeschooled until my college years.

- My father lived in Louisiana for a time as a child and my family still makes gumbo, jambalaya and beignets regularly. I have never been to New Orleans.

- In college when I first went to a John Williams concert at the Hollywood Bowl I had no idea who John Williams was (though I was familiar with his scores).

- I used to play Pokemon on my Game Boy all night, only stopping when my hands would become numb.

As mentioned, in this episode we discuss the main action Shelley employs for keeping a clean work space. She also tells us a bit about how she's developed her illustrative style, and how it has evolved in the course of going from drawing for comic books to illustrating children's books, and she explains the processes of both. She touches on the role motherhood plays in the projects she chooses to work on, as well as the types of illustrations she is creating these days.

Shelley's illustrations are, in my opinion, the perfect combination of dreamy and down to earth, much like the lovely Shelley herself! Give this episode a listen, and you'll hear what I mean!

Listen and download on iTunes.

Listen and download on Stitcher.

Edited by the pros at podcastremix.com.

Show Notes:

shelleycouvillion.com          Instagram

House on Writer's Block       Society of Illustrators LA

Hero Complex Gallery     Kendra Minadeo     Rebecca Green

Ryan Andrews     Alphonse Mucha     Egon Schiele

Arthur Rackham        Winsor and Newton Cotman Series  

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