Upcoming children’s book, ‘Zoom, Zoom, Zoom‘ has bustling layers packing out the pages with flora and fauna like many of Katherina Manolessou’s other illustrations.
There are as many swinging, crawling, sneaking and playing characters adorning her work as there are bold strikes of colour and fun.
Originally from Greece, Katherina moved to London to work as an animator before studying at Kingston and then the Royal College of Art. Now, when she’s not diligently screen printing her multilayered designs, she is passing on her experience and expertise at University of Westminster.
From ‘Zoom, Zoom, Zoom’ due to be released early 2014 by Macmillan Children’s Books
“My work revolves around animal characters. My observations and experiences get translated into stories or illustrations featuring these creatures— part animal, part human.”
“I usually work out my rough ideas on sheets of paper or a dummy book rather than a sketchbook— sketchbooks often feel too precious. I then draw all the elements of my illustration on a separate sheet of paper using a very thin brush and black acrylic paint.
All these shapes are scanned in Photoshop and arranged in layers, then printed on my inkjet printer in black and white.”
“These ‘positives’ are transferred on to screens for the final stage, the screen printing. Some prints have only 2 colours whereas for some, like the ones in my new book, I had to print 12 different layers!”
“I do all my printing at East London Printmakers where I am a keyholder.”
© Katherina Manolessou, 2013
