Pippa Mcmanus
Thanks for taking a minute to talk shop with us Pip!
No worries! Thanks for the chat :) Everyone has a bit of a story of how they ended up where they are and I know yours includes studying certain things and later applying them in the content/subjects of your artwork, can you tell us about this and how you put all the pieces of knowledge together to get where you are? Yep, I enrolled in the Fine Arts course straight out of high school. I dont think I really knew what I was getting into but I learnt a lot. It was definitely a more contemporary influenced course than what I wanted to be involved in. It included web design, video and performance art and all I really wanted to do was learn how to paint like the masters which, looking back, I'm so so glad they didn't teach me! After two years I crossed over to the Fashion and Textiles course which I quickly realised I should have done from the start. I was always more obsessed with fashion than art and I still am. I found every component of that course way more relevant and stimulating, fashion history, digital illustration and textile design and manipulation. I still draw from those experiences ten years later. |
Managing the business side of things is extremely important but sometimes artists can feel left drained of their creative energy after studying. How do you feel about studying a creative field at say Tafe or University?
I spent all of year 12 stressing about leaving the safety and security of a boring daily routine and when it came time to leave Tafe I couldn't wait for the unpredictability of a life as a professional illustrator, I was excited and motivated to get working straight away. Don't ask me where this confidence came from! I really really recommend studying an arts course at tafe or uni if not to develop your skills but more so to meet like minded people who you will learn just as much from and for a longer amount of time than a 3 year course.
I spent all of year 12 stressing about leaving the safety and security of a boring daily routine and when it came time to leave Tafe I couldn't wait for the unpredictability of a life as a professional illustrator, I was excited and motivated to get working straight away. Don't ask me where this confidence came from! I really really recommend studying an arts course at tafe or uni if not to develop your skills but more so to meet like minded people who you will learn just as much from and for a longer amount of time than a 3 year course.
"While in New York I set up meetings with Fashion illustrators based there and recorded the the interviews I had with them and submitted those recordings to the DCA with my acquittal as proof of how the funds were used."
Government grants are quite readily available to apply for, for literally anyone who has an idea. Have you ever been successful in receiving a helping hand from the government?
I was working as an in-house illustrator for Aurellio Costarella and the opportunity came up for me to travel to New York Fashion Week as part of this design team for the Spring/Summer show in 2008. Paul O'Connor who was head of production suggested I contact Aly May at the DCA about a travel grant. I had a meeting with her and we spent a loooooong time figuring out if a fashion illustrator sits in the visual art or fashion departments. Eventually Fashion was the way, I filled out the application with supporting material and got a $3000 travel grant to use on flights and accommodation. While in New York I set up meetings with Fashion illustrators based there and recorded the the interviews I had with them and submitted those recordings to the DCA with my acquittal as proof of how the funds were used. If I hadn't received that grant I wouldn't have been able to afford to go and if I didn't have to submit evidence of industry research (the interviews) I wouldn't have been brave enough to contact illustrators and learnt so much from their answers.
I was working as an in-house illustrator for Aurellio Costarella and the opportunity came up for me to travel to New York Fashion Week as part of this design team for the Spring/Summer show in 2008. Paul O'Connor who was head of production suggested I contact Aly May at the DCA about a travel grant. I had a meeting with her and we spent a loooooong time figuring out if a fashion illustrator sits in the visual art or fashion departments. Eventually Fashion was the way, I filled out the application with supporting material and got a $3000 travel grant to use on flights and accommodation. While in New York I set up meetings with Fashion illustrators based there and recorded the the interviews I had with them and submitted those recordings to the DCA with my acquittal as proof of how the funds were used. If I hadn't received that grant I wouldn't have been able to afford to go and if I didn't have to submit evidence of industry research (the interviews) I wouldn't have been brave enough to contact illustrators and learnt so much from their answers.
The internet has become the biggest and most powerful tool for people to share their opinions on anything and everything, wether it be positive or negative. A common topic I see on social media 24/7 is the ideas and opinions of how the human body should and shouldn't look (both male and female). Do you ever receive people's opinion on how you are portraying the female figure through your work and how do you deal with this kind of feedback?
Haha yes I do! Well not so much anymore which may explain the impact these comments had on me and the way my girls look now. Through my five years of Tafe my one aim was to draw photo-realistically, I quickly realised there was no point to this as it wasn't that interesting replicating a photo exactly even though it was hugely satisfying for me to get as close a replication as possible. So I began to stretch and warp my girls, long limbs, angular features, big ears, pink fingers. Unfortunately this was seen as promoting anorexia especially to people sensitive to that issue and unfamiliar with that traditional fashion illustration techniques. I was reluctant to change my style as I thought I had found my place with it and also on the grounds that because I have a really positive body image myself there was no possible way I would could be promoting something I also thought was bad. I still agree with that but my art has changed, my girls are still slim and I have kept an element of my stylization but not as extreme as they were 5 years ago. |
"The owner claimed that when they pulled the image off the internet (!) it didn't have a watermark so they assumed it was free to use (!!)"
You've dealt with plagiarism and people reproducing your work before. What does the process involve from first noticing the offence to solving the issue? This was something that we as students at Tafe were guaranteed to happen to us at some point in our careers. It comes in all forms and I pick my battles as to which I pursue now. The latest one was one of my followers on instagram tagged me in a photo she took at a cafe (in WA). She said in her caption that she was enjoying coffee and cake with her husband at this cafe and was pleasantly surprised to see a Pippa McManus piece there. The photo was of a private commission (which I never reproduce) I had done two years prior and it was printed onto a sticker decal and stuck to their coffee machine. I had been in a similar situation before and had contacted Arts Law Centre of Australia, a fantastic free service for artists, who helped me produce a letter of demand which I revised to send to this cafe owner. The owner claimed that when they pulled the image off the internet (!) it didn't have a watermark so they assumed it was free to use (!!), they then tried negotiating the purchase of the image rights which I refused and after several frustrating back and forth's with them I finally threatened legal action if the decal was not removed. I should have said the words 'lawyers' and 'court' from the start because it came down on that day. I still dont find this as distressing as when other artists copy my work out right, but I cant trademark a black and white fashion girl on a single colour background can I? I've looked into it! I just have to trust that they will find their own way. And in the meantime there is always the great book 'Owning It: A Creatives Guide to Copyright, Contracts and the Law'. |
"Be original! Keep going, promote your work, be brave, collaborate, be nice, know that your work will evolve, make mistakes, document everything, and ask questions of your favorite artists! "
Artists collaborating with each other is an efficient way to cross promote and ultimately create something unique out of more than one skill set. Have you worked on any projects with other creatives previously?
I used to collaborate a lot but have been leading a bit of a solo artistic life lately. I stopped doing commercial illustration about 18 months ago and that's usually where collaborations came from. I'm focusing more now on creating fine art pieces for exhibitions. There are two charities that I contribute pieces to each year, StyleAid and Cord. One of the reasons I love donating to them is because they push me creatively and it usually involves a collaboration too, it's not just 'Hey can you donate a piece of art you have sitting around so we can auction it off' there is usually a brief and concept behind it. Last year for StyleAid a pattern maker and lazer cutter worked on a dress shape that myself and five other artists were each given which we painted on then it got styled on a model and shot by a photographer, it was a big collaboration and ended up on the cover of the StyleAid magazine. Both the photograph and the dress got auctioned with the proceeds going back to the charity.
I used to collaborate a lot but have been leading a bit of a solo artistic life lately. I stopped doing commercial illustration about 18 months ago and that's usually where collaborations came from. I'm focusing more now on creating fine art pieces for exhibitions. There are two charities that I contribute pieces to each year, StyleAid and Cord. One of the reasons I love donating to them is because they push me creatively and it usually involves a collaboration too, it's not just 'Hey can you donate a piece of art you have sitting around so we can auction it off' there is usually a brief and concept behind it. Last year for StyleAid a pattern maker and lazer cutter worked on a dress shape that myself and five other artists were each given which we painted on then it got styled on a model and shot by a photographer, it was a big collaboration and ended up on the cover of the StyleAid magazine. Both the photograph and the dress got auctioned with the proceeds going back to the charity.
View more of Pippa McManus's work on the links below