Shaun Tan

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Shaun Tan is the illustrator and author of award winning children's books such as The Red Tree and The Lost Thing. Tan was born in Fremantle, Western Australia in 1974 and currently freelances from his studio at Mt. Lawley. [1] In addition to books and cover art, Tan contributes political cartoons to the Western Review and is the art editor and a contributor for Eidolon Magazine. [2]

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

As a boy, Tan spent time illustrating poems and stories and drawing dinosaurs, robots and spaceships. [3] At the age of eleven, he became a fan of The Twilight Zone and similarly themed books. Tan cites Ray Bradbury as a favorite at this time. These stories led to Tan writing his own short stories. Of his effort at writing as a youth, Tan tells "I have a small pile of rejection letters as testament to this ambition!" [4]

Eventually he gained success with his illustrations. At the age of sixteen, Tan's first illustration appeared in the Australian magazine, Aurealis, in 1990. [5]

[edit] Transition to Illustration

Tan almost studied to become a genetic scientist, and enjoyed chemistry, physics, history and English when in high school as well as art and claimed that he didn't really know what he wanted to do, even in University. [6] University studies were taking him along an academic route until he "decided to stop studying and try working as an artist." [7]

Illustration was something Tan enjoyed. The decision to choose it as a career simply allowed him to make a living from drawing and painting. [8] Drawing was something he'd never stopped doing, claiming "...it was one thing I could do better than anyone else when I was in school." [9]

His first fully illustrated book was The Stray Cat by Steve Paulsen, released in June 1996.

[edit] Training

Tan claims that he never had much technical training [10] and that he is largely self taught in the field of book illustration. [11]

Tan attended Balcatta Senior High School in the northern suburbs of Perth where he was enrolled in a special art program for gifted and talented students. "The main advantage," cites Tan, "was that students came to be taught by a wide range of practising artists, not just art teachers." [12] He completed the program in 1991 and despite his claim to self education, he "credits the...Program [for] providing him the fundamental skills of art making." [13]

Tan continued his education at the University of Western Australia where he studied Fine Arts, English Literature and History. While this was of interest to him, there was no kind of studio practice involved. [14] In 1995, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. [15]

[edit] Work Process

Tan does not aim his work at a specific audience. He maintains that the most successful works build their own audiences. [16]

Of his actual works he has said: ‘‘I don’t think I’ve ever painted an image as a reproduction of what I’m seeing, even when I’m working in front of it. I’m always trying to create some kind of parallel equivalent." [17]

Originally, Tan worked in black and white because the final reproductions would be printed that way and this preference extended to The Stray Cat. Some black and white mediums he used included pens, inks, acrylics, charcoal, scraperboard, photocopies and linocuts. [18]

Tan's current colour works still begin as monochromatic. He uses a graphite pencil to make sketches on ordinary copy paper. The sketches are then reproduced numerous times with different versions varying with parts added or removed. Sometimes scissors are used for this purpose. The cut and paste collage idea in these early stages often extend to the finished production with many of his illustrations using such materials as "glass, metal, cuttings from other books and dead insects." [19]

[edit] Influences

Tan draws from a large source of inspiration and cites many influences on his work. His comment on the subject is: "I’m pretty omnivorous when it comes to influences, and I like to admit this openly." [20] Some influences are very direct. The Lost Thing a strong example where Tan makes visual references to famous artworks. Many of his influences are a lot more subtle visually, some of the influences are ideological. Below are some influences he has named in various interviews.

Films: Brazil, Yellow Submarine

Film Makers: Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott

Artists and Illustrators: Francis Bacon, Raymond Briggs, Ron Brooks, Frederick Clement, Joseph Cornell, Giorgio de Chirico, Milton Glaser, Edward Gorey, John Olsen, Michael Leunig, Rene Magritte, Sidney Nolan, Gerald Scarfe, Katsushika Hokusai, J. Otto Siebold, Peter Sis, Lane Smith, Ralph Steadman, Arthur Streeton, Brett Whiteley, Fred Williams,

Misc: paintings in galleries, "the pattern of plumbing on the wall behind my local supermarket" [21], incidents, textures and accidental compositions created by objects, things from other cultures and times, Polish poster art, streets, clouds, jokes, times of the day, people, animals, the way paint runs down a canvas, or colors go together.

(Compiled from [22], [23] and [24].)

[edit] Body Of Works

[edit] Books

[edit] As Illustrator

  • Memorial, written by Gary Crew, 1999
  • The Puppet, by Ian Bone, 1999
  • The Hicksville Horror, by Nette Hilton, 1999
  • The Rabbits, written by John Marsden, 1998
  • The Viewer, written by Gary Crew, 1997
  • The Half Dead, By Garry Disher, 1997
  • The Doll, by Janine Burke, 1997
  • The Stray Cat, by Steven Paulsen, 1996
  • Pipe, by James Moloney, 1996

[edit] As Author and Illustrator

  • The Arrival, 2006
  • The Red Tree, 2001
  • The Lost Thing, 1999
  • The Playground, 1998

[edit] Installations

Mural at the Subiaco Public Library, Children's Section. Size: 20 Metres Square [25]

[edit] Adaptations of Tan's Works

  • The Red Tree, a play based on Tan's book of the same name, was commissioned by the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. [26]
  • The Lost Thing has been adapted as an animated short film. [27]
  • The Lost Thing has also been adapted as a play by the Jigsaw Theatre Company [28], a youth theatre company in Canberra. This was the main event for the National Gallery of Australia's Children Festival (Canberra) and at the Chookahs! Kids Festival (Melbourne) in 2006.
  • The Lost Thing was the theme for the 2006 Chookahs! Kids Festival at The Arts Centre [29] in Melbourne, with many different activities based on concepts from the book.

[edit] Awards

[edit] 2002

  • Honour Book, Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year [The Red Tree]
  • Winner, Patricia Wrightson Award, NSW Premier's Literary Awards [Red Tree]

[edit] 2001

  • 2001 World Fantasy Award [Best Artist]
  • Shortlisted, Children's Books, WA Premier's Book Awards [Red Tree]
  • Honour Book, Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year [The Lost Thing]

[edit] 2000

  • Spectrum Gold Award for Book Illustration
  • APA Design Award [Memorial]
  • Honour Book, Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year [Memorial]

[edit] 1999

  • Shortlisted, WA Premier's Book Awards [The Playground]
  • Notable Book, Children's Book Council of Australia [The Playground] [30]
  • Aurealis Conveners' Award for Excellence [RABBITS]
  • Winner, Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year [The Rabbits]
  • Spectrum Gold Award for Book Illustration [The Rabbits]
  • Shortlisted, Young Adult, WA Premier's Book Awards [Lost Thing] [31]

[edit] 1998

  • Winner, Crichton Award [The Viewer]
  • Notable Book, Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year [The Viewer]

[edit] 1996

  • Australian National Science Fiction Best Artist Award

[edit] 1995

  • Crichton Award [The Viewer]
  • Australian National Science Fiction Best Artist Award

[edit] 1992

  • L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future Contest [First Australian to win]

[edit] Miscellaneous

  • Ditmar Awards for Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy [32]
  • The Convocation Award for Art Criticism and fine arts awards for exhibitions in Kalgoorlie, Melville and Wanneroo. [33]

[edit] Patronage

The Shaun Tan Award for Young Artists. Open to Perth School Children between the ages of 5 and 17. The aim of the award is to encourage creativity in two-dimensional works. The award is Sponsored by The City of Subiaco and finalists were exhibited May to June 2005 [34]

The Department of Language Literacy and Arts Education Illustrator In Residence. Tan held this position for two weeks through an annual Fellowship offered by the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust. [35]

[edit] References

[edit] External Links

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