Featured Illustrator

Aubin’s playful, character-rich illustrations radiate warmth, curiosity, and creativity—we hope you love discovering her work as much as we do!

how did you get started in illustration?

I first fell in love with drawing when I was around three years old and it’s been the thing I most wanted to spend my time doing ever since. It’s been something that developed over many years and through different phases of life. Because traditional school wasn’t really for me I’m fortunate to be doing this at a time when there are so many available resources to help you develop whatever skill I want to work on, and to connect with other artists. SCBWI has played a big part for me in getting started by plugging me resources and a supportive community.

What is your background?

I’ve lived in the Northwest all my life. I grew up in Washington and moved to Portland in 2008. Throughout my childhood I was drawing all the time, taking different kinds of art classes and entering contests, so being an artist has been a part of my identity since I was pretty young. My mom would buy paper for me in bulk, like reams of copy paper or rolls of butcher paper and if I didn’t have paper I would draw on the under sides of the furniture. I couldn’t be stopped! I didn’t take a traditional pathway, mostly because growing up I hated school so much that the idea of going to college after high school, even for something I loved, didn’t sound appealing but I kept drawing. After a handful of years working in restaurants I went into tattooing and I’ve been a professional tattoo artist for the past 12 years. It wasn’t until the last couple of years that I started getting serious about pursuing illustrating as a possible career path. Sometimes I wish I had focused on it earlier in my adult life but I don’t think I had the tools then that I have now and all my time tattooing has honed my drawing and self employment skills so I’m just pointing all that toward picture books now.

What have you learned along the way? What tips can you share?

When I’m working on personal projects, a lot of the time I’m entertaining myself with subject matter that’s fun, or immersing my self in some little made up world which is my happy place, but every couple of those drawings I’ll throw in a challenge. Like, it’s going to be a scene at night, or some kind of exaggerated perspective or something else that feels more difficult. I think maintaining a balance between having fun and problem solving is a good way to keep progressing. Another thing I’ve learned is how very important a creative community is. I didn’t realize just how important it was until I started finding mine. Illustration can be a really isolating practice. I think many of us are introverts and happy to spend long hours listening to music and drawing by ourselves, which is great, but connecting to with friends who want to talk through concepts, share ideas and opportunities, and get excited about the same things is the other half of the picture. I think you can probably only get so far alone.

What do you do when you get stuck or lose motivation to 'get back' to what you're working on?

Personally I’ve found that when I start to lose steam on a project and feel things fizzle out, if I set it aside, the longer it goes untouched the less likely I will finish it, which is why I really lean toward “power through” as my reaction to the stuck, unmotivated, not fun anymore moments. If it’s an idea or illustration I haven’t invested much time in yet and it’s really just not taking shape, I may decide to scrap it, but if I’ve invested and committed to a project I don’t let myself start anything new before I finish it. I might have a couple other little sketches to noodle around with just to give my brain something fun and encouraging to do but I will spend the bulk of my time getting through whatever the most important piece is, however much white knuckling it takes.

How did your style and technique develop?

I think there are two main things that developed my style and techniques. Repetition for one, just lots and lots of drawing over a long period of time, but also, drawing what feels most natural makes me happy. I think my style really started to solidify when I completely stopped fighting it and just let myself draw what I wanted without placing any value on it or thinking about who might or might not like it.

What is your preferred method of working?

I work primarily digital, specifically in Procreate on an iPad. I actually prefer the tactile feeling of pencil or pen on paper over the feeling of a screen but for me, digital drawing has so many advantages. The main thing being that it allows me to draw as fast I’m thinking since I can change and just things almost instantly. It’s also nice that I can take it anywhere and even work in the dark if I want to. I still carry a small sketchbook with me most of the time and like making little observational drawings. Sketching in pencil helps get the cobwebs out and sometimes helps me develop idea at the very beginning but for polished work I always opt for digital. 

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