ARTIST INTERVIEWS: An Keegan
Hi, everyone! I invited for a
little interview An Keegan (Anastasia Bakhchina), New York-based Russian
illustrator
We'll talk about:
- how illustration work
begins,
- how an illustrator and a
book relate,
- how to keep your work-life
balance,
- changing of art name,
and more.
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| Anastacia Keegan, photo from her instagram profile |
Hi, Nastya! Thank you to
agreeing to this interview! Please, tell us about yourself.
Hi, everyone! My name is
Anastacia Keegan. I’m a person and an illustrator. I live in New York. I love
earrings, baking pies and imaging what adult people around me were
like in childhood.
I’ve been lucky to have worked
with the biggest and the best publishing companies and drawn illustrations for
more than a dozen books.
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| by An Keegan, pic from her instagram profile |
How did you start working as a
book illustrator?
To be honest, It wasn't a goal
to be a book illustrator. This profession was like a flying unicorn for me.
Something that cannot be ever achieved.
I worked in advertising as a
designer at first, and then I became an art director in Moscow, Russia. Then my
husband and I moved to St. Petersburg. I didn’t find a full time job as an art
director and didn’t want to work as a designer anymore. At this time I need to
say thank you to my awesome and supportive partner who gave me an opportunity
just take a breath, take a calligraphy class, draw and think what I want as my
next step.
In that time I replenished my
portfolio on illustrators.ru and noticed a post from the BHV-Peterburg publishing company searching for artists to illustrate a series of children’s book. I
responded to this post. Ekaterina Trubey, an editor at BHV, said “Let’s
try!” and gave me Stepan Pisakhov's awesome book to illustrate.
The book was published, and
then it was republished several times. Since that book, I hadn’t had to look
for a job.
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| Arkhangelsk Fairy Tales, Stepan Pisakhov, illustrated by An Keegan, pic from her instagram profile |
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| Arkhangelsk Fairy Tales, Stepan Pisakhov, illustrated by An Keegan, pic from her instagram profile |
Such an inspirable story!
Sounds like a dream! How many books have you already published? Is that your
main job?
I have 15 books in my portfolio
right now. And It is what I do mostly. It is what I think, live and dream
about.
You are a lucky person! Tell
us how you build your book illustration process, please!
It looks different every time.
At first on the road, in different countries, in different conditions.
Sometimes I didn’t have a studio or even a work place. I didn’t have an
opportunity to pin my sketches or make a pre-project mini book. I had make
everything on my computer screen. It was hard but it worked.
A working process begins with
trying to get a feel for the atmosphere of every book. It is the longest stage. For
an entire month, I can walk around trying not so much to see in my head what
the book will look like, so much as trying to just get a feeling for it. What
atmosphere my characters will live in. What do I want my readers to see in full
detail and to imagine by themselves. How airy I want my illustrations to be.
How many details I want to add. It is really important time. And I try to not
skip or hurry it.
Then I make sketches of
characters and scenes from the book in my sketchbook. I love to invent visual
jokes. I like funny books. At this stage, everything begins to become clear for
me.
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| An Keegan's sketchbook, photo from her instagram profile |
This is so useful and
interesting! Thank you for so clear and honest answer! It would be great to see
your sketchbooks! You work from home. Do you like it? How do you do your
work-life balance?
It’s really hard for me. More
and more people leave their office job to work remotely or as freelancers. They
don't understand what they will face. They begin to work 24/7 or, vice versa,
to procrastinate instead of work. It is important to keep the balance and
discipline. You need to organize your work place and set up your schedule. It
can sound boring, but it helps.
Also you need to keep your
energy level. You cannot give something if you don’t have anything. That’s why
I need to meet people, to walk, to travell, to go to museums and concerts, to
read the books, to learn something new about topics far from my job, to laugh
my head off and to wear beautiful dresses.
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| By An Keegan |
What is the book your favorite
so far?
Every time when new book is
out, I take it and understand how much things what I'd do differently now! It
is ok, because it could take a year or two from drawing illustrations until
publishing the book. You constantly improve your skills and see your mistakes
from the past. But I’d say that a book of poetry by Natalia Ivanova “The Big
Cabbage Constellation” was the funniest. I love her poetry! I think she is a
fabulous poet! I was laughing all the time while I drew illustration for her
book!
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| The Big Cabbage Constellation by Natalia Ivanova, illustrated by An Keegan, photo from the instagram profile of The BHV-Peterburg publishing company |
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| The Big Cabbage Constellation by Natalia Ivanova, illustrated by An Keegan |
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| The Big Cabbage Constellation by Natalia Ivanova, illustrated by An Keegan |
How do you choose books to
work with?
Getting a connection with the
book is important to me. Sometimes you read the book and understand that it is
not yours. Sometimes you make test sketches for a book and cannot grasp its
atmosphere and characters. It’s ok, it means this book is for another
illustrator. Sometimes it clicks in your head. Like some kind of magic that
makes everything clear - "it’s mine!"
In fact, it is so good that we
have so many illustrators, that we are all different; we can share our
experience, work and inspiration with each other. It is the perfect environment
for the development of authors.
You recently changed the artist’s
name. Was it difficult? How long does it take?
It is hard. You need to have
really good reasons to do it. All my books in the stores are grouped on both my
names now. But I’ve been drawing book illustrations for 5 years and I want to
develop my career in the USA. That's why it makes sense for me to change my
name. My new last name sounds more familiar and fit to the US then the old one.
Also all my publishers follow me on social media, so there aren't any problem
here for them.
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| Illustrations by An Keegan |
15 books in 5 years! Wow! You
have a great experience! Could you please give piece of advice to newbie
illustrators?
I think that contemporary
newbie illustrators are the lucky ones! They have access to any information
they need and can see everything that's happening in the world. They have more
information off of which to make decisions.
I won’t surprise anyone with
my advice. Work hard on your portfolio, post your illustrations on the
Internet, be active online, participate in art challenges, competitions and
exhibitions and don’t be afraid be yourself. We’re all different and
everyone’ll get their own special project.
It all sounds simple and everyone who has conducted seminars or taught illustration lessons has said this a million times, but it is true. No one will know you if you don’t represent yourself. That’s why you need to get involved in professional marathons and competitions; think of books, series, a story; draw your friends or famous people; think of worlds and games. And when you look at your portfolio and think “Wow, did I do that?” write publishing houses with confidence, although I think they’ll find you on their own if you actively promote yourself. The main thing is it to not hide in your shell.
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| Sketch by An Keegan |
“Wow, did I do that?” are very difficult words to say, it’s true! And it’s so important to say that to yourself. Thank you so much again! Speaking for myself, I feel a surge of energy and inspiration after our discussion. Can you give us a hint of what you’re working on now?
Now I’m drawing my own book which I thought up and wrote myself, though it’s very bold to say I ‘wrote’ it- there’s actually very little text. I’ve been carrying it around inside of me for a few years already and it’s a very precious project for me personally. It’s not going to be an instructive book, but rather a fun and amusing one that is meant for kids, not their parents. It’s the book which I needed and didn’t have in my own childhood.
It sounds like it is very important for you. I wish you success!
An Keegan's
links:
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