Renée Kurilla is brimming over with talent! She graduated with a BFA in Illustration and Graphic Design from The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, is a lead artist for the animation studio Fable Vision, and a children’s book illustrator. Renée’s work can be seen in The Christmas Hamster by Bryan Gately; Charlesbridge Publishing’s I See I Learn series: Freda Plans a Picnic, Percy Plays it Safe, Percy Gets Upset, and Freda is Found;as well as Zebrafish by Sharon Emerson, with a second Zebrafish titled Shine on the way! We wanted to interview Renée about her use of technology because her digital work has such a lively, colorful style complemented beautifully by loose, gestural linework. Please enjoy Renée Kurilla’s interview and wonderful illustrations.
What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? I’m guessing about 90% of my work is done on the computer…however almost all of my ideas start out as a quick pencil sketch in my sketchbook, which I carry everywhere! I work in Boston, MA at Children’s Media company, FableVision, which was founded by author illustrator Peter H. Reynolds. At work I use a computer about 95% of the time because we make all sorts of digital and educational media for kids. I got very used to manipulating my drawings on the computer. Having one around has definitely made my art-making process go much smoother.
What applications do you use? I now use Photoshop for just about everything. I was trained to start using Adobe Flash for animation, but lately I’ve been working on many more illustration projects. I also use InDesign to do text layout.
What digital tool would you never want to do without? My Wacom tablet of course :) I can’t imagine trying to draw with a mouse again the way I used to in high school!
What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? As I mentioned earlier, what I love most is that using a computer has made my art-making…easier. I’m able to concentrate more on the actual character or scene rather than trying to perfect my craft in painting. (Although, I do wish I could paint more as well.) There’s also a little bit of a learning curve that comes with Photoshop, too. I will never fully master Photoshop as a medium because they keep releasing new versions of the software. It’s a nice thing to have a medium that lets you explore endless possibilities.
What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I’m currently working on a sequel to the Zebrafish graphic novel that was released in 2010 (Simon&Schuster/FableVision/Emerson). The new title is Zebrafish: Shine and it will be coming out in 2013. The book dummy (122 pages) was sketched out entirely on paper first and is inked/colored in Photoshop! I’m very excited, I’m so happy with the way it looks so far and I hope you’ll like it too!
