Simon Mendez
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Simon Mendez was born in York and has loved to draw for as long as he can remember. He took a General Art and Design course at York Technical College and then studied Scientific and Natural History Illustration at Fylde College in Blackpool. He now paints many different subjects but mainly concentrates on portraits and animal subjects. Simon spends his time away from the easel reading, watching movies and walking in the countryside. |
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Did you always know that you wanted
to be an illustrator?
Kind of! I’ve always drawn things, and I preferred
art over all the other subjects at school.
Thankfully, illustration helped me
to make money by colouring in,
so I don’t have to get
a real job!
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You studied Scientific and Natural History Illustration. Is this where you learned to achieve such a naturalist style? What medium do you use to achieve this effect?
I have always loved nature and animals, so naturally they were my most frequent subject matter as a kid. When I found out there was a course that combined the two, I was pretty chuffed. The juxtaposition of texture and form has always fascinated me, and the natural world is loaded with this stuff, so for a while it was a fun challenge to represent these in both a scientifically accurate and interesting way, often spending days just illustrating a square inch of crab claw, moss or detritus. Obviously this sent me a bit nuts, and I started moving away from the very restrained scientific world and into one focusing more and more on composition and lighting, which is a lot more rewarding. I use a mixed media of style combining all types of paints, oils, gouache, watercolour and mostly acrylic applied with a brush airbrush or my finger. I also use a lot of different coloured pencils and pastels.
All of your books feature animals and wildlife. Do you spend
a lot of time studying real animals before recreating them
in
your illustrations?
Yes, of course. I think it’s important for an animal even
in a kids’ book to move like the real animal. You can
exaggerate this as far as you want, as long as you
keep the basic structure of the animal correct.
It should look solid like it could roll or jump off
the page and not be too flat, and you need
to be able to imagine how it would feel to
stroke or cuddle it. Obviously composition
and lighting has a lot to do with this as well.
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What is your favourite animal to illustrate?
I like doing them all really, although tigers are tricky and I always run out of orange. I’ve struggled with squirrels and dead leaves more than anything, so I probably won’t be doing a book on an autumnal squirrel any time soon, but then I do like to punish myself!
Do you have any pets?
I have a cocker spaniel called Dillon Dog.
What do you like best about illustrating children’s books?
Every day I get to think like a child, and it’s good to draw things I know I would have liked when I was little.
What would be your ideal way to spend a day off from illustrating?
I don’t really have days off, but I do like spending time with my twins.
Do you have any tips for aspiring illustrators?
Find out what you like doing and keep on doing it. The more you do it, the better you will get.
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