INTRODUCING STEPHANIE VAN BEERS
Drawing is so much fun when you’re a kid. But then you grow up and realise your scribbles aren’t as shit-hot as you thought. Blame your parents. They’re the ones that fill your head with false hope: ‘Wow! Darling, these are just amazing. You’re going to be a famous artist some day.’ Bullshit. I really don’t know how they sleep at night. First the fictitious tales about the fat man in the red suit and now this. But of course there’s always the few that can actually recreate The Lion King cover without the aid of tracing paper. Showoffs. And judging by what Stephanie Van Beers mustered up for us today, and the fact that she’s been drawing since she was 3, we figure she was one of those kids. So if one of your Grade Two buddies asked you ‘Did you trace that?’ Chances are you’re pretty good with a pen. So drop us an email at submissions@spookmag.com
NAME: Stephanie Van Beers.
AGE: 20.
FROM: I live in the Melbourne suburbs. I’ve lived here my whole life.
EXPERIENCE: I’ve been drawing since I was a little one. After realising I was pathetically bad at every sport known to man, art became my haven. Probably at about 3 years old I started drawing. My first major encouragement came when I got a pencil drawing of Avril Lavigne published in a TV Hits magazine. Embarrassing. I knew art was something special when I’d draw pictures of emo bands and pretty girls when I was 13 and have all the kids tell me how awesome and badass they were. Now I prefer to turn the pretty girls into zombies.
JOB: I work in retail and when I’m not working I’m studying at University. While I don’t study anything art or design-related, I’ve recently found a nice balance between studying, downtime, working and focusing on creating art and also selling prints of my work. I sell art through my Facebook page or on my Etsy shop.
WHY: I love the intense drive you feel when you think of a new idea and can’t wait to go home and start. It makes me happier than anything else and is a wonderful release from stress and a means of putting your feelings down. It feels nice to be able to create something that other people can admire and consider beautiful.
INSPIRATION: I’ve always loved the classic art royalty such as Salvador Dali and Gustav Klimt (I have his calendar in my toilet for inspiration). Winston Chmielinski, Charmaine Olivia, Erik Sandberg, Kymia Nawabi, Sharni Brear, Eugene Plotnikov, Laurie Lipton, Bec Winnel and probably a thousand other artists I come across on Tumblr.
Dahlia
MATERIALS: Graphite pencils, fineliner on paper and digital colouring.
TIME: About 3 hours.
WHERE: At my desk.
WHY: I had been watching American Horror Story and it revived my interest in the Black Dahlia Murder. It’s such an interesting murder story and it founded my interest in drawing anatomy.
An Omen of Health
MATERIALS: Oil on canvas.
TIME: About two months. In total, probably about 40 hours.
WHERE: On my kitchen floor. Nowhere else in the house is spacious enough to put this massive canvas.
WHY: I had been thinking about omens and it sparked an interest in positive omens, rather than dark and ominous ones. Thoughts at the time prompted me to do a piece focusing on symbols of regrowth and recovery, which was apparent in the lush hair, grass and the healthy glow of the figure.
Space silhouette
MATERIALS: White ink and watercolours on paper.
TIME: About 2 hours.
WHERE: At my desk.
WHY: I was inspired by the silhouette pieces by artist Charmaine Olivia, and I wanted to try out my new white pen. I hadn’t really done anything like this one before so I enjoyed it.
Girl Talk
MATERIALS: Coloured pencil, pen, watercolours, Photoshop.
TIME: Around 5 hours.
WHERE: On my desk, during a tug of war for space with my cat’s butt.
WHY: I did this for a competition to win a magazine cover space, and it won. So I will always be fond of this one. Plus I love Girl Talk, he’s amazing.
Day One
MATERIALS: Graphite pencils, fineliner, textas, gold pen, Photoshop.
TIME: An evening.
WHERE: On my desk and touched it up on the computer.
WHY: I started this on New Years Day because I was full of motivation due to it being a new year, and I wanted to make a good start.
Mermaid Witch
MATERIALS: Watercolours, pen, pencils, digital colouring.
TIME: Roughly 6 hours.
WHERE: At my desk.
WHY: I had just bought new watercolours and I had to test them out!
The Erratic
MATERIALS: Oil on canvas.
TIME: An evening.
WHERE: On my bedroom floor in the dark with a lamp.
WHY: Just got in a funky art mood one day. This is a few years old, so it’s a bit more gloomy than my more recent pieces, but it was well received and actually got exhibited in a café last year.
Moon Witch
MATERIALS: Watercolours, pen and copic markers on grid paper. Later coloured digitally.
TIME: It was a stop and start piece, so a few hours all up.
WHERE: At my desk.
WHY: Created this at a time where I hadn’t dabbled too broadly in illustration, and my new stationary and pretty grid paper got me excited to draw. I was also becoming more and more interested in creepy trinkets and witches.
STEPHANIE VAN BEERS’ WORKSPACE
