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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 MARCH 2024 2 BOOKS Drawing out the child within The Irish children's books illustrator Karen Harte is the special guest at this year's edition of the Campus Book Festival, where she will participate in two events set to inspire and motivate aspiring artists keen to follow her career trajectory. In this exclusive interview, she speaks about the realities of the industry, and what keeps her already-vivid imagination fired up for fresh projects Several illustrators have already registered for your workshop at the Campus Book Festival! What should they expect? I'm very excited to meet everyone! They should expect a chat about my background and the processes, collaboration and skills involved in illustra- tion for children's books. And hopefully some advice and in- spiration they can take home! Any advice you'd like to share with young illustrators who would like to kickstart their career in illustration? Put your work out there, net- work as much as possible at in- dustry events, markets, classes, talks and other such events. Build your portfolio with pas- sion projects and self-started work and figure out your goals. What inspired your career choice? Does the Irish book industry enable illustrators like you to explore, develop and live off of illustration? I've always loved to draw and it has been my lifelong dream to illustrate children's books. I have a background in ani- mation and graphic design so illustration wasn't my only fo- cus for many years. It's a career I have built up over years of growing my skills and confi- dence. Almost everyone I know that works in book illustration diversifies their income, with other kinds of illustration, de- sign, commissions, workshop facilitation and so on. I've found it's important to have a few income streams as a crea- tive. Children tend to have a fertile imagination. How do you make the most of this in your illustration? Remembering what was excit- ing or special to me when I was a child helps a lot. I loved very detailed illustrated books with lots of 'easter eggs' and new things to find hidden in the pic- tures. Having a four-year-old son now is very helpful to jog my memory: he is very imagi- native and loves playing games and make believe! Unlike Malta, Ireland awards a Children's Laureate to an author or an illustrator every two years. How important is this role in a book community to raise young children as readers? I got to spend some time re- cently on an artist's retreat with our Laureate Na nÓg, Patricia Forde and it was an amaz- ing experience. I think having someone with great creativity, experience and enthusiasm as a national figurehead for chil- dren's literature is an incred- ibly powerful statement and a validation to children that reading is so vital to life. What is your take on the in- creasing use of AI-generated imagery? What is the future of children's book illustration? AI generated imagery is a concern for a lot of artists, par- ticularly the ethical copyright and legislation element. See- ing international broadsheet newspapers using AI generated images to accompany editorial pieces is concerning, as is peo- ple online asking illustrators to 'sum up their style' so they can provide a prompt…it just feels depressing. It would be fantastic to see AI used to help streamline processes instead of trying to take the place of imag- ination and stealing art already created. Karen Harte will be partic- ipating in two events at the Campus Book Festival 2024. On 20 March at 10:00, Harte will lead a workshop entitled 'Working in Book Publishing as an Illustrator'. Registration is required, and those interest- ed are to send their name, sur- name, I.D. Card number, and number of persons attending to jasmine-alexa.bajada@gov. mt. Harte will also take part in a roundtable discussion on 'Becoming a Children's Book Illustrator' on 21 March at 10:00. Karen Harte's partici- pation is partly sponsored by the Irish Embassy in Malta. Organised by the National Book Council (Malta), Cam- pus Book Festival 2024 will be taking place from 20 to 22 March. Click here for a full programme of events, and here to find the Campus Book Festi- val on Facebook. "It would be fantastic to see AI used to help streamline processes instead of trying to take the place of imagination and stealing art" About Karen Harte KAREN Harte is an illustrator, comic creator and visual de- signer from Dublin. Her illustrations focus on playful visual storytelling and are informed by finding joy in the everyday. Karen's creative work spans children's book illustration, ed- itorial and commercial digital illustration, visual design, live graphic recording, portraits, murals and more. Some of her clients have included: Gill Books, House & Home Magazine, Totally Dublin, Arnotts, Period Positive Ire- land, Girls Rock Dublin, Ogilvy, HTC, PR360, Fighting Words, Dublin Feminist Film Festival, Positive Futures and more. Harte's work has been featured in the following press publi- cations: The Irish Times, Buzzfeed, Totally Dublin, Illustrated Women in History "Remembering what was exciting or special to me when I was a child helps a lot"