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Commissioned | Professional

Why did you make this work:
Who’s Afraid of the Light? is a narrative nonfiction mystery picture book set in the depths of the ocean. I wanted to create it because I find the deep sea fascinating & my son & I spent a lot of time watching footage of the deep sea during lockdowns. There's a lot of recent nonfiction about the deep sea, so I set myself the challenge of creating a re-readable, dramatic, & engaging fiction.

What materials and techniques did you use?:
I work mostly digitally, beginning my drawings in Procreate on the iPad and finishing them in Photoshop on the computer. I also incorporate scanned textures. The sun and clouds on the endpapers were made using an airbrush with the cap still on, giving a spattered, spray-can effect.

How were your illustrations used:
Since the story begins on an entirely black page, I used the endpapers to guide readers gradually from the ocean's surface to the depths of the Midnight Zone. Illustrated typography provides visual interest on the otherwise stark black pages & contrasts with the serif type of the narrator's voice. The deep sea 'monsters' appear to glow with my use of digital textured brushes & neon Pantone inks.


Commissioner Name :
Miriam Rosenbloom
Commissioner Company :
Scribble

Social Media:
twitter.com/AnnaMcGregorAU
instagram.com/annamcgregorau

Personal Website:
annamcgregor.com.au/


Currently Based:
Australia

Biography:
Anna McGregor’s driving purpose is to delight & entertain children through timeless storytelling. She explores evergreen issues through a child’s lens & allows children to gently interpret the stories in their own way. Anna is curious about nature & finds ideas by turning the mundane on its head, merging ideas or exploring wordplay — but always with a story that connects to the human experience.