Welcome to Ellen Million Graphics’ Featured Artist of the Week! Each week (or so), we select an EMG artist and share their work and history. We hope you enjoy getting to see incredible artists this way.
This week, our spotlight picks out that artist of adorable whimsy and organic delight Kir Talmage! Kir joins us from a cabin in the woods of Vermont, where she lives among creek and fauna and forest.
She’s been creating art since she was a child drawing on the walls of her grandmother’s summer cottage, and kept up the practice for stress relief and “casual comfort” for many years as her focus stayed riveted on STEM studies. Now she embraces her art as a journey, part and parcel of the fabric of her life. She finds herself inspired by and learning from so many other illustrators, and also found her work grounded by excellent art teachers in high school and college. Some of her inspirations include the work of Trina Schart Hyman, John Bauer, Alan Lee, Brian Froud, Jill Barklem, Mary Jo Koch, and Stephanie Pui-Min Law. While she most often draws with pencil and pen, she adores watercolors, saying “I am astounded and amazed and delighted and befuddled by them.” They help her evolve as an artist. She doesn’t have much time for hobbies, but also doesn’t see a sharp delineation between her work and her play. There are always family relationships to nurture, books to read or create, hikes and outdoor activities to enjoy, and so much more as part of life. You can explore more at her website.
Kir has been a friend to EMG for at least half a decade, participating in many Sketch Fests and contributing to the shared world and worldbuilding project that is Torn World. She has contributed over 100 sketches to her Sketch Fest gallery, depicting everything from a present-toting dragon and a behatted coffee-rower to a hookah-smoking unicorn and a rock-and-roll naiad. She’s also a prolific and creative prompter, leaving over 200 prompts from the simple “crab apples” to the involved “where Neverland, Neverwhere, Otherwhere and the Borderlands meet.” Over at Torn World, you can find an illustration of longfingers that she did and an article on the Dorruuyirv, a sort of polar seagoing mammal. We invite you to explore her work at EMG via the links below.
Kir’s Sketch Fest gallery.
Kir’s Torn World creator page.
The featured illustrations are:
“Ocean Child”
“Mage Rat”
“Rocking the Water”
“The Song of the Twisted Tooth (A Personal Concert)”
“Grandmother Fox Stitching up the Stories”