Born in 1981, Selina Fenech lives with her family near Sydney, Australia. Having always enjoyed drawing, Selina began to create artworks of her own ideas of fantasy inspired by the illustrations in her fairytale books, with goddesses, fairies and enchanted creatures. Many years later, Selina’s own colouring books have been warmly received by lovers of fantasy art all over the world.
How long have you been illustrating and what made you start?
I've been drawing semi-seriously since I was about seven, then picked that up a bit more when I discovered comic books as a teenager. After that I did graphic design at university and have been a full time, self employed artist since I was 23 years old.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Fantasy is and always has been my biggest inspiration. Anything that inspires a feeling of magic, whether it's fairies, mermaids, dragons, unicorns, or something simply whimsical, real world magic. I read, watch, and generally always prefer the fantasy genre. My mind is always asking "what if?" questions, and challenging myself to answer them provides the most inspiration.
Where is your favourite place to illustrate?
I'm a homebody and a bit of a recluse. Being self-employed at home, alone, for over 10 years will do that. So my favourite place to work is my quiet little back room studio. I'm a big believer in having a good "Tortoise Enclosure" to get work done in (search: John Cleese Tortoise Enclosure to help that make more sense!).
What are your illustrating/colouring material essentials?
I create my colouring designs using a Wacom Cintiq where I draw directly on the screen's pressure sensitive surface. I use Manga Studio, which has by far the most beautiful line work tools of any software I've tried before. For colouring, when using pencils I always say nothing beats a well sharpened pencil. I know it can be sad to see your pencils getting dramatically shorter, but keeping them well sharpened really does help the colouring process, and reduces hand strain.
What’s the piece of work that you’re most proud of or enjoyed doing the most?
I'm very proud of my colouring book collection as a whole. I really busted my butt to get these books out in the schedule I have over the last couple of years, and I'm proud of hitting the deadlines I have there and creating work colourists love. The piece of work that was the most fun though is my Faedorables colouring book. It's a simpler, cuter style than most of my works, and it was a pure joy to create! I'm working on second Faedorables style book right now as well, in a Cute and Creepy theme!
