‘Flight of the Dragon’ – Tony Flowers – the bid is at $400

Tony has a great love for travel and story telling, however he has never thought of himself as a writer and instead processes the world around him through drawing.

He often dedicates time to studies, frequently of his own animals as well as the varied environments he has experienced through travel.

Tony treats his art as a real trade, always seeking out established artists in order to study and apply their techniques with the intention of building and refining his craft.

‘People are under the misconception that being an artist is a skill you are born with. I may have had some genetic advantage towards art (if this is possible), but I also have thousands of hours of practicing my art form.’

Tony is a very pure artist in that he genuinely invites and relishes the process between artworks and has a sense of pride and joy in the skills he has actively earned over the years. ‘I have discovered that I love the discipline of creating the story and the continued improvement and learning that comes with this, as much as I enjoy the freedom of creative play,’ he said.

As a result, he possesses a great range of skill and is an accomplished teacher of visual storytelling, always stressing the importance of understanding the need to convey meaning through all the details of an image.

Though Tony has always had his head down, in his own words, ‘scribbling’, he came to professional illustration later in life. He has been the other half of projects like ‘Dizzy and Friends’, ‘This Old Thing’ and more recently ‘Grandma’s Tattoo’. He has also worked on the beloved ‘Saurus Street’ series with long-time collaborator Nick Falk.

All this, after training as a glassblower, a ceramicist and becoming an award winning street chalk artist. As one one does. Presently, he is completing a PhD and working on his first graphic novel series Divi and Frey. ‘After 20 years in Publishing, I have managed to achieve one of my biggest bucket list goals – Author/illustrator of a graphic novel series.

‘It about a consultant detective who specialises in cases related to the theft of archaeological objects.’

Though Tony has the ability to dip into many art styles the majority of his work is in a comic, cartoonish style.

‘I have always loved comics, from Tin Tin and Astrix to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight returns and 300. One of my favourites at the moment is Tim Probert’s Lightfall series, what a joy to read and look at.’

You might catch Tony, of a morning, with his sketchbook laid out in a local coffee shop or perhaps a cafe a little further afield, in Tokyo or Milan. In a list that included the Seville Alcazar and the temple of Ankor Thom, Tony counts his morning coffee arriving to perch amongst his work, as one of the most beautiful things he has had the pleasure of perceiving.

Once Tony puts his pen and pad away he loves to strike out on his motorbike. I imagine him peacefully cruising through the lush and expansive Tasmanian countryside, absorbing the colours and the shapes for later use.

‘I live in Hobart, with a view of the mountain from my house. The mountain is such a dramatic and moody back drop to the city.  I love the diversity in the landscape in Tasmania from the turquoise water and bright orange rocks of the Bay of Fires to the snow-capped mountain passes of the central highlands.’

Tony approaches his projects, as he seems to with all aspects of life, with a dynamic sense of fun and adventure, often inserting easter eggs and playing with the possible scope of an artwork. With aforementioned collaborator Nick Falk, he particularly likes to push and tease new ideas out of a story through the art, joyfully never allowing an idea to settle or remain static for too long. Tony thinks similarly when he realising a character on the page, making sure that they retain a sense of motion and that every part of the process supports this.

He usually begins with blocking the shape of a scene out with a lighter colour and then adds in definition with a darker contrasting colour. He then moves in with a black thin tipped liner for further definition. Later in the process watercolours are added and layered for depth and more movement. For the kite project Tony took a slightly different approach. Inspired by a cover he had created for a book titled ‘What The Raven Saw’, in which he made a 3D paper sculpture of a raven paired with a recent comment made by a friend, he decided to repurpose some of his old illustrations.

‘An Italian friend of mind asked a while back, “what are you meant to do you do with all of these drawing?”. He was talking about his accumulated sketches. But as a practicing illustrator for over 20 years, I have quite a few illustrations that never saw the light of day or from minor projects. I decided to it would be fun to do something ‘with all of these drawing’, something that might horrify many people. Cut them up! So, I did, I had a great time cutting up about 12 to 15 illustrations (from the last 10 years) into small pieces to make this kite.

‘A lot of the fun for me in this project was seeing what narratives I could weave together from these many piece of different illustrations.’

Tony relates a personal kite experience that makes me laugh and illuminates the backdrop of his technical approach to artistry, his parents both having wonderfully practical artistic skills: ‘When I was about 7 years old, loved my homemade kite, it was red and yellow.

‘My mum who was a dress maker had sewn up the fabric and my dad who was a builder made the wooden supports (the cross) and helps put it together. Unfortunately, the fabric was a heavy cotton and dad over engineered the woodwork, so it was heavy. Which made it both hard to get airborne and on the windy days when it did fly, it was a deadly weapon when it came crashing down to earth.’

If you would like to know more about Tony, visit his website. He is incredibly generous with his time and creative knowledge in person and equally, his website is full of wonderful examples and ideas, as well as in depth information about his art. Have a look at his sketch book exercises!

Sketchbook​ exercises

By Adelaide Stolba