Tag: Quokka

Quokka- dealership

Those who follow the news in Perth will remember hearing about a doctor living here in Perth whose yellow lamborghini was impounded for 28 days under the  ‘Hoon laws’. Problem was, he wasn’t driving it at the time it was caught speeding- his mechanic was. The doctor said he needed his car back for home visits.

For a laugh, the original sketch for this cover had ‘1DOC.123’ on the license plate, and the sign said ‘One previous owner’. Some friends suggested having a mechanic hiding in the background, perhaps running from some quokka policemen. Quokka covers steer away from politics, so those details didn’t make it to the final version… but I’m glad the lamborghini stayed ( it was fun to draw).

Whenever I put a license plate in I like to make it meaningful – the numbers often relate to the birthdays of family and friends. In this cover, the license plate 1LEA.603′ is for my friend Lea, who’s birthday is this weekend on the 6th of March. Happy Birthday!

Quokka, issue 708, March 4 2010- dealership

Quokka- McQubbin

This one is based on Frederick McCubbin’s iconic painting.

Quokka, issue 704, February 4 2010- McQubbin

For those of you interested, I painted the background using some semi-transparent brushes in Photoshop. I drew the foreground quokkas with pen and ink, then coloured the lines in photoshop… I figured leaving the black lines in wouldn’t sit right with the painterly background.

Quokka- Back to School

Remember getting all your new books and stationery for the year?

Labelling your pencils and textas… spelling out your name on your pencil case using the pre-cut letters… getting a new school bag… I always felt a nerdy excitement leading up to this yearly ritual.

But there was one stressful part I dreaded- covering my books.

When I first started, there were pockets of air everywhere. It looked like I’d covered my books with bubblewrap. But as years passed, my skill level increased. I was able to branch out from hardcovers to softcovers, even ring-bound books. No challenge was too great. I surpassed my mentor (my mum), then travelled to India to study with the greatest book coverer of our time- Swami Contakta Bhukava.

Swami Contakta lives in a cave in the Himalayas. The rough rock walls of the cave are entirely coated with adhesive plastic sheeting, with not a bubble to be seen anywhere. Swami says the cave has been like this since the beginning of time- in fact, the whole world used to be covered in plastic, and one day it will be again. I’m not exactly sure how that will work, but I do know that everything will be easy to wipe clean.

Quokka, issue 703, January 28 2009- Back to School

Quokka- McCubbin photo reference

Here’s a photo reference for an upcoming Quokka cover- the painting ‘Down on His Luck’, by Frederick McCubbin (1889). It’s owned by the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

I’ve added in the original caption, found amongst Fred’s journals.

Here’s the first rough sketch I did for the cover. We binned it after I realised it didn’t make any sense without the first image. Still, it made me laugh.

Quokka, issue 704, Feb 4 2010- draft #1