Sit Down With Our #090 Featured Artist
Steph Pardoe
Instagram/ Trinkety
Featured Artist / #095 ScrawlrBox
Steph Pardoe is an Illustrator and Potter from the UK whose loveis telling stories through creating wonderful art. Her artistic style often tends to transport people to fantasy worlds or fetch them with her on adventures painted across the page with ink pen and brush.
Her work often seems to find itself woven together by the magic and wonder of fantasy tabletop games and influenced by live action roleplaying games where the participants get to dress up and live their characters’ stories. Her work has also been woven into those stories, most notably Steph’s art has featured for many years in UK Larp ‘Empire’ among other games. But most folks who have been Scrawlrbox subscribers will recognise her work from various features in the Scrawlr magazine, Scrawlrstar and a recent live stream. She’s a bit of a fan.
Steph’s artwork continues to grow now with the addition of the Pardoe family kiln, the fondly named ‘Sidney’, and a new exploration of 3D sculpture while still managing to sketch private commissions, post out happy mail from Patreon and host an online store.
From Scrawlr to ScrawlrStar and nowto Featured Artist in your very own ScrawlrBox! How does that feel?
It’s pretty darn cool. I can recall a moment before the pandemic where I had been getting ScrawlrBoxes but I wasn’t quite so committed to making stuff and was a little bit of a supplies collector. That felt wrong and so there and then I chose to use my supplies or stop forever. I am so glad I chose to use them not lose them. I’ve made some of my favourite pictures ever with supplies from these boxes.
What has been your favourite ScrawlrBox so far?
I think I hive mind a little bit with Chris (ScrawlrBox Founder) and love the #065 Box, the one that came with the unique ScrawlrBox Blackwing pencil. Not only did it come with one of the best pencils in the world but also a really good, but understated, ClaireFontaine sketchbook. It let you use the Tombow markers on both pages which, if anyone’s ever used those markers before, they’ve probbers found the colour bleeds through.
You often write a little back story to your artwork, is this how your work starts?
When I make a picture it can sometimes take hours. Though I have music in the background or sometimes I’m sat out in the garden, I still have a sort of dead thought spot in my head and while drawing I start to create a narrative to match my pictures. It happens at the same time, mostly.
Is there a story you’ve created from that has a significant meaning to you?
One of the longest running stories I have ever told is from my roleplaying games, table top games like D&D and I’ve had an orc character for ten years now. It is hard to say how it makes me feel because in some ways it’s become a big part of me. I love her and gosh I have no idea what I will do when the story ends.
What are the top 3 supplies you would say to invest in for someone who wants to get serious with painting?
A really good brush you feel comfortable using, there might be guides that tell youthe right brush but sometimes it can be areal trial and error process to find the onethat works best for you. Good paper. If youare painting with nice paints, they are worth spending just a few extra pounds on with a decent sheet of paper or sketchbook worthy of your work. But careful, don’t get a sheetof paper or sketchbook that is so expensive and special you are too afraid to use it! A good attitude toward yourself. Stupid as it sounds. There will always be people we consider better than us in art, that’s okies. Having things to aspire to and people we covet the work of is important, afterall we are all visual peoplebut don’t let it worm its way into something that weighs you down. Be kind to yourself.
How long have you been creating for?
Too long. I have always been artistic since a child and I”ll likely keep going until my thumbs fall off. Even then I’ll learn to paint with a brush in my toes.
Do you work in the creative industry?
I work for myself currently taking commissions and producing art for Live Action Roleplaying games. In the past I’ve produced magazine images, painted for kickstarters and puzzle boxes and all sorts of exciting little mini projects.
What’s been your proudest achievement to date?
Would it be stupid if I said my garden? I know it’s not exactly a splash piece of artwork on the cover of a magazine but what it means as an artist is huge. It means I got to buy my house and I can plant trees and veggies out there and they are mine, my garden is a huge part of my well being and though there are many gardens out there like it, it is mine.
If you could go anywhere in the World, where would you pick and why?
Norway - it’s a place I have always wantedto go and visit, partly so we couldgo sailing around various fjords and then I could paint them. Absolutely incredible placeto visit and I do love me agood bit of hiking.
The most important question of them all; how are your guinea pigs doing?
Zakalwe and Tito, my little furry potatoes are doing fine. I’ve just trimmed Zakalwe’s long fur short for summer so he’s having a bit of sulk about that but he’ll forgive me by not being too warm. Tito welcomed me back home from a recent holiday by nibbling my ear, maybe he thought it was pea flakes... either way he’s a bit of a pudding.
