Chook Warde is a contract illustrator in Cincinnati who designed Audubon’s 2022 Let’s Go Birding Collectively assortment. Their work focuses on the pure world—not simply birds, however crops, fungi, and mammals as nicely. Along with industrial illustration and graphic design, they’re presently working with their companion on Camp Mustelid, a undertaking that focuses on life within the outdoor. They particularly love forest critters, tenting, and, after all, birds—identical to all of us do. We lately spoke with Chook about their work and the place they discover inspiration. You possibly can watch the whole interview right here. A curated model of that interview, which has been edited for size and readability, has been included under.
How did you get began with illustration?
I have been drawing since I may decide up a pencil, however I obtained into illustrating particularly after I was in faculty. I went to SVA (ed observe: College of Visible Arts in New York Metropolis) particularly to review cartooning, however as I used to be there, I simply fell extra in love with the thought of making single items that spoke for themselves.
What made you curious about the pure world and birds?
My mother and father introduced me to nature facilities on a regular basis after I was rising up. We visited the Greenwich Audubon Nature Middle in Connecticut, and I’ve labored at two different nature facilities through the years. In order that was a very large affect on entering into wildlife. However in any other case, I’ve at all times simply had that like pure inclination for nature. For birds particularly, I had a professor at SVA named Mike Feller who can also be the chief naturalist for the New York Metropolis Parks and Recreation Pure Assets Group. I noticed that he was providing a category on hen evolution and I believed, “Oh, that sounds cool. I like birds. I like evolution.” And it ended up identical to opening my eyes to the world of birding.
The place do you discover inspiration?
My largest inspiration, after all, is nature itself. However I am additionally actually impressed by different artists. Lots of my mates do nice wildlife work, like Jamie Inexperienced or Lee Ellison. And I additionally actually love the work of like Wyatt Grant and Brett Stenson. I am additionally an enormous fan of older subject guides as a result of I at all times really feel like they draw the birds in such an attention-grabbing manner. The additional again you go, the much less it is like, “Effectively, this positively is not precise.” It is attention-grabbing to see how they interpreted the hen with out having numerous reference pictures.
Can we speak about course of?
Chook: It is just a little totally different for each undertaking. I begin by doing numerous sketches based mostly on the thought, and I will get numerous ugly sketches and issues that are not superb. I additionally love to do them each on paper and digital as a result of I discover that I will get very totally different outcomes from every. On paper, issues could be lots messier and uncooked, and I really feel like I get higher concepts that manner. [With the Let’s Go Birding Together design], I did some sketches on paper, and as soon as I felt like I had a good suggestion of what I used to be feeling, I moved on to digital the place issues may very well be cleaner. As soon as I had the sketches, I offered them to the Audubon workforce, after which they helped me slim down which of them they like finest and [provided feedback] like, “Oh, nicely, what in case you mix these two?” Working with the consumer is a very good strategy to get extra concepts. From there I went with their recommendation and I picked a few variations to scrub up, after which the Audubon workforce offered these to their workforce once more. After which we saved narrowing it down until we obtained the correct paintings and the correct really feel that they had been searching for.
What are you engaged on proper now?
Chook: So proper now I am engaged on our Camp Mustelid assortment—I assume you possibly can name it for the autumn. We’re engaged on a few sweater designs and a few new hats and stuff, however I am additionally engaged on a shirt design for Hawk Watch, which I am actually enthusiastic about.
What do you hope your viewers take away out of your artwork?
Chook: Enthusiastic about having some large influence stresses me out, so I’ve like a small aim with my artwork: I simply need to encourage folks to get out and discover the character that is round them. Exit and discover your favourite hen! Discover your favourite animal! And I’ve had a pair folks say to me, “Oh, I’ve by no means heard of this animal that you simply drew earlier than.” And that makes me so joyful as a result of it is like, “Oh my God, you already know, about an animal due to me. That is superior!”