Andrew McKiernan is a writer and illustrator who’s the art director for Aurealis Magazine (Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction) and the illustrator (cover and internal) of Aus Lit’s Christmas horror anthology; Ho Ho Horror (Amazon), in which my short story Unwanted Gift was published in Decemeber 2011. I was able to interview Andrew about all things writing and illustrating, read on for more!
I’ve been waiting for some internal cover art to come through before I posted this interview, however I seem to be unable to add it to the post at this time, and will put it up ASAP.
1. You are the Art Director for popular Aurealis Magazine, what’s
involved in your job?
A: My job as Art Director for Aurealis Magazine essentially involves two
things: sourcing illustrators for the cover and the selected stories;
and doing all the final typesetting and layout of the issue to ensure it
is ready for print.
2. What is it you most like about being art director?
A: I love discovering new illustrators – our regular cover artist, Adam
Duncan, is just amazing – and I love trying to match the styles of
certain illustrators to particular stories. But, most of all, I love
that I have the chance to read all these amazing stories before anyone
else except the editors 
3. As a writer of horror yourself, do you ever illustrate your own work?
A: Only once before have I illustrated one of my own stories – that was
for \”The Dumbshow\”, one of my ‘Clowntown’ tales published in CSFG’s
Masques anthology.
Strangely, it is something I don’t really like doing. Firstly, if one of
my stories is going to be illustrated I prefer to see how others
interpret it. But secondly, I often don’t have a strong ‘visual’ image
of how my characters look when I’m writing. I’m generally pretty
descriptive with my writing, but to me the words create the image and I
leave a lot of ambiguity so that the reader can piece things together
and create their own mental picture. I find it hard to turn the image
created from my own words into something visual as I really don’t want
to push the reader into seeing things the same way I do.
4. My story ‘Unwanted Gift’ was selected to be included in the Ho Ho
Horror anthology and was illustrated by you (which looks fantastic!)
As a writer, I am very interested in your artistic process. When I write
I ‘see’ the scene in my mind and then I attempt to describe that scene
in words. For you, an illustrator, I find it intriguing that you must do
the opposite; reading the words and creating the picture. How do you go
about interpreting a story and putting a picture to the words?
A: Thank you, I’m glad you liked the image. It’s always tough wondering
whether an author will like the way I’ve interpreted their story. As a
follow on from the previous answer, I find it much easier to create an
image from someone else’s words than I do from my own. Good writing will
always paint a picture in the reader’s mind and I’ve been lucky as an
illustrator that I’ve always been sent good writing to illustrate.
Sometimes (as with ‘Ho Ho Horror’) an editor will point out a particular
section of a story that they want illustrated. It might not always be
the section that I would personally choose, but that gives me a great
starting point. I always read the entire story before starting work
though so that I can build up a full mental image of the characters and
settings. If you just try and illustrate a single paragraph without
referencing how the story got to that point, and where it moves on from
there, you run the risk of creating an image that can be at odds with
the story. There are also always so many subtle little things you can
add to an illustration if you know the events that surround a scene.
5. How does this fit with your own writing?
A: For me, the writing and illustrating parts of me are very separate
things. I never do character sketches for my stories or anything like
that. Illustrating is a very visual thing (obviously!) but when I’m
writing I’m thinking about so much more than just the visual – it’s
about sound and smell and texture and taste and emotion just as much as
it is about what the characters or readers see. When I’m writing I want
to build a scene in the reader’s mind so that they feel they are there,
not just watching from the sidelines. As an illustrator, I don’t feel
I’m really capable of that level of depth; to me, that’s more a function
of ‘Art’ than ‘Illustration’ and I’ve never seen myself as an artist.
6. What medium do you usually use to create your illustrations? Does it
vary, or do you have a preferred style?
Over time, I’ve pretty much settled on the digital medium. I used to
muck around with pencils and paint and photography but I end up wasting
a lot of paper, canvas and film when I do that. Working digitally – in
Photoshop using a Wacom drawing tablet – means I can work away without
costing myself a fortune in paint or pencils. I can erase and/or delete
things without ruining what I’ve already done, or I can go back to a
previous version of the image if I feel I’ve taken things too far. I’ll
often do a very rough layout in a 3d modelling program – setting a scene
using rough blocks – so that I can experiment with different angles and
lighting, but once I’ve got that rough layout done I’ll always move on
to Photoshop. That’s where I paint over the rough 3d scene layout and
add all the details and textures.
7. Do you ever feel anxious about illustrating another’s work?
Yeah, all the time. I’m always worried that the author will come back
angrily and say that what I’ve drawn isn’t what they’ve written. Hasn’t
happened to me yet though – luckily, touch wood. The other thing I worry
about is ‘giving too much away’. I don’t always know where an
illustration will be placed in relation to the story. You don’t want to
reader to turn a page and see a scene that hasn’t been described yet by
the author. I have to try and be subtle in what I’m showing so that the
illustration doesn’t act as a spoiler for the story.
8. Who are some of your favourite authors and or illustrators that have
influenced your work?
For illustration, I’m really inspired by the illustrators who worked on
the old pulp SF/Horror magazines of the 1930s through 1950s, especially
Virgil Finlay and Hannes Bok – those two really knew how to use black
and white to create an image! My authorial inspirations are probably a
little more eclectic. I started reading Stephen King when I was nine
years old, and his varied body of work has certainly been an influence.
These days, a lot of my favourite authors – who inspire me, though I
could never really hope to emulate – are probably considered more
mainstream: Cormac McCarthy, Tim Winton and Michael Chabon being three
of them.
9. You have a lot going on, but would you see yourself as primarily a
writer or illustrator?
Definitely a writer. I write because I have to. I have no choice in the
matter. If I don’t write for any length of time I get cranky and hard to
be around – there are stories and ideas inside me that just have to come
out and I love playing with words more than most anything else.
Illustration I do because I can, because it is a break from writing when
I get a bit stuck and because it helps pay the bills. But, in the end,
if I had to leave it behind and never illustrate again it wouldn’t
bother me too much. If I couldn’t write, I think it would near kill me!
10. What are your writing and illustrating goals for 2012? Any new year
resolutions you’d like to share with readers?
I never make New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t really believe they do much
good and seem for most people to be things that are either broken and/or
forgotten before January is over. I guess I have goals, but I never set
anything in stone; life is just too mutable for me to say ‘this year I
am going to accomplish this’; doing so, and then not being able to
follow through for whatever reason, only leads to disappointment and
feelings of inadequacy. Illustration work, I’ll take when and where it
comes as long as it doesn’t conflict with my writing. I’ll keep working
on my novel and knock out a few more short stories. I’ll continue
seeking publication, and I have my eyes set on the possibility of short
story collection sometime late in the year if the publisher who has
expressed an interest continues to be interested. Otherwise, I’ll just
do what I can when I can and enjoy life and my family as much as possible.
