Kat Macleod
Melbourne-based artist Kat Macleod crafts stories out of her artworks to intrigue and inspire both young and old to look closer at the smaller elements in life.
Words: Emma-Kate Wilson
An illustration from Kat Macleod’s latest book, The Tiny Explorers.
‘I’m lucky because my job requires me to be creative, so I continued drawing, painting, and designing for my books and other projects throughout the Melbourne lockdowns. I worked on all five children's books throughout the past 18 months, so it’s been a very creative time,’ says Kat Mcleod. Photo: Courtesy of Kat Macleod
Kat Macleod’s latest book for Thames and Hudson, The Tiny Explorers, takes the reader on a nature-filled adventure where we are inspired to look closer at the tiny things of life. Growing up listening to classic stories like Thumbelina and Tom Thumb, plus movies like Honey I Shrunk the Kids, The Borrowers, and Arrietty, led Kat down a path that imagined another world right below us.
‘I’ve been dreaming up this story for a long time — tiny people who live in our world and exploring how they see everything from their perspective,’ says the artist. ‘I am intrigued with that play on scale and imagining how they would interact with things that seem ordinary to us humans.’
The artist also cites her three little boys as huge inspiration, especially during lockdown when they would venture out the house everyday; walking around the neighbourhood and exploring local parks and reserves.
‘With them cooped up at home over the past 18 months in and out of pandemic lockdowns, we had to find fun things to do around the house and restricted within our 5km area,’ says Kat. ‘The boys always find an assortment of treasures along the way, ‘special' rocks, colourful feathers, bits of junk and acorns and giant leaves.’
The Tiny Explorers joins Kat’s series of children books for Thames and Hudson that includes ABC Fruit Salad; 123 Under the Sea; Shapes at the Party; and Colours in the Garden. The collection is a new venture that adds to Kat’s twenty-year career as an illustrator, designer, and exhibiting artist. ‘I’ve always loved drawing and art,’ says Kat. ‘Art was always my passion, and I’ve had five big solo art exhibitions along the way.’
‘It’s really nice to see [my three sons] using their imagination and finding ordinary things to be extraordinary. I merged their love of treasure hunting with my tiny people obsession, and the result is The Tiny Explorers!’ says Kat Macleod.
“My scanner and computer are vital tools, as I illustrate all of the elements separately and scan the (hundreds!) of drawings and build the page compositions digitally in photoshop.”
Beach collage 1, 2021 by Kat Macleod. Photo: Courtesy of Kat Macleod
Luna New Year 2021 (Ox), 2021 by Kat Macleod. Photo: Courtesy of Kat Macleod
Sitting Still, 2019 1 by Kat Macleod. ‘My first book, Bird, published in 2002, had some of my first collage illustrations where I started experimenting with sewing fabric onto my line drawings on paper.’ Photo: Courtesy of Kat Macleod
Beach collage 2, 2021 by Kat Macleod. Photo: Courtesy of Kat Macleod
However, children’s books have always held a special place in the artist’s heart, collecting them long before she had her own kids (though Kat adds, when she started her family, she quickly gathered a lot more!).
‘I had worked on a number of illustrated fashion books, and I realised over the years that I would really love to have a go at creating my own children’s book, I think because it incorporates all my passions — art, motherhood, storytelling via illustration, and design (I design all my books).’
Kat uses colour pencils and gouache paints for all her garden environments and collaged fabrics for the explorers' clothes. From here, she scans the hundreds of drawings into her computer to create the composition in photoshop. ‘The scanning is very important as I am pedantic about capturing the texture of the materials I use; I like seeing the proof of my process in my final illustrations,’ she adds.
Unsurprisingly, Kat cites walks in nature as a source of inspiration, alongside fashion illustration, botanic art, and seeing her favourite artists’ new works. To ensure the creativity always flows, she also makes sure to make time to sketch and draw.
This became more important than ever during the extended Melbourne lockdown — and allowed her to work on her five children books! However, it was not without its challenges with three primary school kids at home; Kat would find herself having to lock herself away to work. But she adds, ‘I absolutely love drawing and storytelling with all my heart, so that was my driving force to make it work.’
As to be predicted — Kat’s kids love The Tiny Explorers, as we are sure all children will. However, as Kat concludes, ‘the kids feel like they are a part of it as they saw me work on it every day for many months, and they know they are part of the inspiration. I dedicated the book to them, so my children love turning to that page to see their name in print.’
The Tiny Explorers by Kat Macleod is published by Thames & Hudson, RRP $24.99. Available where all good books are sold and online.