Posted by KB on February 16, 2011
It’s more than likely that you’ve heard of Sydney illustrator Emma Magenta, or at least seen her work. After all, this prolific artist has three adult picture books under her belt, works as part of the Third Drawer Down collective and has illustrated two children’s books for Toni Collette as well as one of her own. Now she’s branched out with an animated series, The Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch, comprised of 17 episodes, plus an accompanying hardcover book, interactive web component and an iPhone game. We caught up with Emma to chat about her latest creation.
Covered: the emotional abattoir, working with Toni Collette, sequels and being a hermit.
KB: So tell us about Phillipa Finch the character. Is she as sweet as she looks?
Emma Magenta: Phillipa Finch looked a lot sweeter before her heart was taken to the emotional abattoir. She is a girl whose sense of wonder has diminished due to her thwarted attempts to procure perfect love; ideal love. She is a portrait of what can often happen to a girl when she tries to hide her disappointment, as she comes to terms with her expectations of not just love, but life. She develops a shadow side that has obsessive compulsive disorder as a method of controlling her emotions. The shadow side makes itself present in the form of hyper attention to cleaning rituals, health and cup/pet collecting.
She is flawed yes, but that is the essence of the story I guess, it is only by accepting one’s own flaws that one begins to empathise with the flaws in others... then real love can take place.
KB: As well as the animation, there’s an interactive web component, a game and an illustrated novel. What prompted the decision to turn The Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch into a cross-platform affair?
EM: I wrote the book for my own catharsis in 2008/2009 and then Rachel Okine (the producer from Hopscotch Productions) asked me to develop an animation series. So I wrote a script around the concepts in the book and The ABC network saw the potential of both mediums working as well as the potential for a game. The concept to make the website interactive occurred after employing the genius of Based on Birds. The main focus was to make any technology associated with the work very human based; things that would click emotion into play rather than the cerebral alone.
KB: The series is narrated by the stellar Toni Collette - you obviously knew her through previously illustrating her books, but how did that working relationship first come about?
EM: Toni approached me one day after seeing my drawings on a mutual friend’s refrigerator. She wanted a drawing to launch her record label Hoolahoop Records. She approached me again to illustrate her children’s book Planet Yawn and it was through this process that we developed a friendship. She offered to be the voice of Phillipa’s story when I was having misgivings about a voice over at all. I remember whinging to her about how bad voice overs can be one night as we wandered through a bookstore, she looked at me like I was a space monster and said “Derr, I can do it, Hello!” She’s a pretty funny individual and very, very down to earth and professional, so it has been nothing short of a privilege to have her on board.
KB: As an illustrator do you find it just as easy to bring to life other people’s ideas as your own?
EM: No, I have to say. The relationship between my drawings and my writing is so entwined that I feel almost fraudulent stepping outside of that structure. I made the exception for Toni’s book as I believed in the message she was trying to create although strangely, a slightly different style emerged when I collaborated with her... I hope she didn’t mind... probably too polite to mention it. I just couldn’t help it though.
I’m not comfortable doing it, let’s say... I don’t mind collaborations with other illustrators however.
KB: I’m always particularly interested in the process artists use. What stages does your work go through from original concept to finished product?
EM: It varies. It it’s a drawing, often it is an emotion that needs to be regurgitated into something that will either make me come to laugh about what may have been deemed tragic, or maybe just a funny observation that needs to be recorded visually. The drawing is often inspired by humour and I collect a lot of little images in my notebooks this way. The notebooks are an essential component of my existence; I have an entire bookshelf filled with them. I write all the time pretty much and most of it doesn’t see the light of day, but snippets do. It is more the process of writing that is essential in organising my thoughts and my observations into a more structured form. I start to see some themes that reoccur and I begin to develop little story lines around those clusters of thought. For it all to coalesce into something like a book or an animation, I have to believe in it and think that it is really something worthwhile to say, then I just keep working on it until it is birthed. However, I have to say, my whole process all starts very loose and chaotic and I personally don’t believe in editing until the last hour before it faces the world.
KB: And how important is the medium to you? Are you someone that can pick up a stub of pencil and whip up something amazing, or do the conditions need to be right?
EM: I have come to realise that the more exquisite the environment, the more sumptuous the creative space, the more creatively constipated I become. It’s like the pressure to do SOMETHING INCREDIBLE just whips around you like a noose and I just would rather then run off and play sport or something really different to what the moment calls for. I am someone who thrives when I’m backed into the corner and no one is expecting a thing of you and I just look around to see what I can use to create what is needed at the time. I’m into immediacy and simplicity and creativity stemming from the place no one else is looking at.
KB: What’s next on the cards for you? Will Phillipa Finch make a return or are you looking for something completely different?
EM: I don’t believe in sequels. They have always let me down, except perhaps Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom or Harry Potter. Phillipa serves the purpose of being the one to declare honestly that she is tired of being strong. To say anything further than what the series is about would be self-indulgent. I have a new character that I am already writing about and I am beyond excited about her and what she is about. She is different, yes, and more hopeful than Phillipa. All the characters are just sub-characters whom I meet in my inner world. That is why I love being a hermit; I never feel alone.
The Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch broadcasts on ABC, 10pm Tuesdays from February 15.
emma magenta, the gradual demise of phillipa finch, illustration, hopscsotch, based on birds, abc, toni collette