Artist's subtle details help make characters come alive

Wanganui artist Jessica Kidd is making her illustrating debut with the launch of a children's book Shirley O'Curly.

Written by Heather Sinclair, it is the story of a sheep that refuses to be shorn.

A spokesman for publishers Tangerine Publications said Kidd "has done a fantastic job of capturing the mischievous personality of Shirley the sheep, who refuses to be shorn, resulting in chaos on the farm".

Kidd, an artist and illustrator, said her interest in drawing began as a child and developed throughout years of doodling in the margins of school exercise books.

Jessica Kidd

After four years in Wellington completing a BFA (Hons) at Massey University, she returned to Wanganui to pursue a life of painting and illustration and has just completed a a Post Graduate Diploma in Museum Studies. She jumped at the chance to illustrate Shirley O'Curly as a new challenge.

She works with a softly coloured palette, imbuing a sense of humour through subtle details. To visualise how each of the characters would look, a lot of research was done, which involved "driving around hunting for farm animals in fields around Wanganui and taking heaps of photos. Then there was a lot of sketching and experimenting with different looks until the characters came alive and I could see their personalities on the page."

Kidd said painting had always been relaxing, so she found illustrating the book "a lovely process".

Shirley O'Curly is available from Paige's Book Gallery and from Amazon. Kidd is also a musician and has recently completed her studies at Ucol.