caanan

It’s not easy to pull off ‘sweet but sinister’...
Unless you’re Liesl Yvette Wilson that is. ;o)

This shirt in particular, and this one

is what inspired me this week, but also the general scampiness of Liesl’s Tullulah.

break out your evil grins folks, and smile with me ;o)

So, what can you tell us about Tullulah? Is she based on anyone? What’s the story? What are the books you’re working on and when/where can we see them?

Hmmmmm….Well as so often is the case, I don’t know where Tullulah came from, she kinda just showed up one day…she didn’t even bring any treats with her, not even a jar of Marmite, Tulluala’s really rude that way…at least Paddington brought his own suitcase. But no, she just landed on me…I’ve had to look after her ever since and it hasn’t been easy, cos she is such a little freak.

Tullulah is a little bit me, a little bit my niece. I wrote a kid’s story called “Around the Corner and on the Left”, it was a quirky little piece about a kid that lived in a creepy house and was always fleeing from spooky things. My niece who was about five at the time, posed for the illustrations. She had her hair in bunches and it looked really cute. Much later when I was just tinkering around, with a simple character design for a grown-up fairy story, I worked from the basic illos of my niece…. And suddenly ‘T’ appeared.
There are quite a few stories featuring Tullulah, which is why she is so arrogant! The first to be printed is more for grandma and kiddies, unfortunately for all you ghouls out there. It is called a balloon and a bear. Printing is being organised and hopefully by the time my website is up and running, they will be ready to go!

What were some of your favourite kids books growing up, and now?

Wow, I have sooooo many fav books. As a very little kid I liked “Bread and Jam for Francis” and I have no idea who wrote that! I also loved Maurice Sendak ( Where the Wild Things Are.) Anything with beautiful illustrations, Richard Scarey etc. When I could read properly I loved “The Famous Five” and I still do…all that adventure and running unsupervised around the moors chased by circus people and jewel thieves, how could you not like it? What really influenced me was Alan Garner (“The Owl Service”,”Elidor”, “Red Shift”) I loved how weird it was and how not everything made sense, leaving you going “Hmmmmm, what was that about?”.

What prompted the move from Aus to the UK? What are the differences?

I moved here from Oz about five years ago…I had always wanted to try living in the UK and although it was really difficult, I’m glad that I have. It is a huge community of artistic people and it seems like everyone is an actor, writer, poet, singer. Amazing! I had sold work pretty consistently in Australia but it was usually wildlife photorealistic stuff and I couldn’t seem to break out of that with any real success, so I thought a move might just do that.

If we took two cute furry animals, and cross bred them, which ones would they be, and what would we end up with?

Well my absolute favourite animal is a ring-tailed lemur and I also love gliders, probably flying foxes would be the fav (yes I know they smell but so would you if you had to pee whilst hanging upside down! There is a bit of a design flaw there…) So I guess my little animal would be a lemur that could fly….how completely cool!

How did you find the bubble? What made you join and stick around?

Do you know what? I can’t remember how I found Red Bubble, I think I was just looking for artists and writer’s communities…I really don’t remember…

What’s your favouritest tshirt you’ve ever worn?

HmmmI don’t know about the fav shirt….I did have one that had a pig on it and it said…”Piggy Wiggy – Don’t eat me I’m a friendly animal!” I used to wear that to BBQs.

What did you want to be when you were 6 years old?

When I was six I wanted to be a writer…or a gymnastics instructor…

What are you most proud of?

I don’t know what I’m most proud of…I don’t really think that way…If I had to pick something I would say that I don’t give up easily.

What are your minor and major goals right now?

My major goals would be to sell Tullulah books online, and prove it can be done! I would love to work at my art and writing full time, but I am realistic about the possibilities of that – still every one needs a dream to motivate them!

What do you think the world would be like if children were running things instead of the politicians?

It depends how old the kids are…if they were all three year olds the world would be one big Baskin and Robbins!

Better go buy some shares in sprinkles. Thanks Liesl!

Don’t forget to come back next week, folks, for our next victim, but in the meantime, here’s some more art Liesl graciously supplied, just ‘cos I think it’s aces! :oD

Caanan.

Previous Shirtheads

Shirtheads – Issue Zero
Shirtheads – featuring BigFatRobot
Shirtheads – featuring Chris Richards
Shirtheads – featuring Paul McClintock
Shirtheads – featuring David J Cunning
Shirtheads – featuring Johdie
Shirtheads – featuring Tambatoys
Shirtheads – featuring Simon Sherry
Shirtheads – featuring Ross Robinson
Shirtheads – featuring Natalie Tyler
Shirtheads – featuring thickblackoutline
Shirtheads – featuring rubyred