Giselle Clarkson
Illustrator of 'A Box of Birds'
Giselle Clarkson lives in Wellington. She studied fine arts at the University of Canterbury and now works as a freelance illustrator while making comics for fun.
Her hobbies include treasure hunting on the beach after a big storm and looking for unusual fungi in the bush. She loves all creatures and will go to absurd lengths to re-float a beached jellyfish or to save a Daddy-long-legs from the floor of the shower.
Her nieces and nephews are never far away and provide plenty of inspiration as well as free artistic evaluations. Her drawings have been described as “actually quite terrible” - but also “better than I can do”.
Book recommendations from Giselle
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson - A graphic novel about a shapeshifting girl called Nimona, a supervillian’s sidekick in a world where knights and dragons have laboratories and cellphones.
Fungus the Bogeyman by Raymond Briggs - A day in the life of a Bogeyman just going about his business.
Anno’s Journey/Anno’s Italy/Anno’s Britain (and others) by Mitsumasa Anno - Completely wordless, but the illustrations are so detailed that you can find a new story every time you open the book.
Also:
Go to a Zine Fest if there is one in your town. Zines are little homemade magazines or books and you are bound to find some that you like. They are a great way to discover local comic artists and anyone can make one - including you!