July Cover ArtistCover Artist: Quinne Larsen  

Quinne Larsen was our March Contest winner. Her winning submission, Nightcap, is featured on the July thalo cover.  thalo went behind-the-scenes with Larsen to discuss her creation of this month's cover.

thalo:  What can you tell us about your winning piece, Nightcap? 

Quinne Larsen: I'm interested in storytelling, and especially capturing stories in the middle of the narrative in single illustrations, like this one-- and, mainly, this drawing was a lot of fun to make. It's just a little exploration of a scene

th:  Some of Nightcap’s intrigue is the bright colors, especially pinks, contrasting with the subject matter. Do you often work with these kind of bright palettes? 

QL: I don't! I think I've usually got a pretty subdued palette, but this is one of a couple pieces that happened during a brief infatuation with bright pinks. Everybody has phases

th:  You’re very interested in comic book style art. What is it about that style that appeals to you?

QL: I like the clarity. Cartoons and the kinds of ink-heavy styles used a lot in comics are meant to tell a story; they're clear, they're there to give you a certain amount of information in a stylish, but easy to read way. There's a lack of pretense there, in that kind of style, that really appeals to me. It's friendly. It wants you to 'get' what it's saying

th:  What would you say is your biggest goal artistically?

QL: Oh, boy. That's a tough question. Like a lot of people, I guess I'd say my biggest goals are to be able to get everything in my head directly onto paper distortion-free, then have whatever that product is be interesting or meaningful to others-- so some combination of technical mastery and having something interesting to say, creatively

th:  When creating, how do you stay inspired?

QL: It's always helpful to look at other people's work and see what they're doing, conceptually or technically, then try that out for a test drive. You can learn a lot from artists better than you, and making an effort toward continually learning, I think, is the best way to stay out of a rut.