‘Hope’ – Gus Gordon – bid is at $200

‘Growing up on a farm was wonderful,’ he said. ‘I learned about work ethic, teamwork, and how valuable a healthy imagination is.’

At school he was a daydreamer, his attention always darting somewhere far away.

He was the one that was always drawing, which meant he got pretty good!

Eventually, after working on cattle stations for a while, he made the decision to attend art school in Sydney. More than eighty books later, he moved up the coast, with his family. There, they carried on Gus’s family tradition, as books encroached on every surface, hungry readers eyeing them from doorways.

‘Somewhere Else,’ pictured above, won Gus the Speech Pathology award.

‘I currently live in Yamba on the north coast of NSW. It’s a beautiful small holiday town,’ he said.

‘My favourite thing is watching the whales travel down the coast with their newborn calves in October. That will never get old.’

Gus got his start as a cartoonist for various magazines and newspapers.

But it was when he was offered his first illustration gig for a book called ‘The Trouble With Parents’ by Dianne Bates that his career as an i8llustrator really took off. It was a chapter book, so he contributed classic little black and white watercolour drawings in his own particular style. Gus has an instinct for comedy and so these types of books were a breeze for him as requests flooded in.

Notably, he illustrated the ‘Tom Weekly’ series by Tristan Bancks.

Unfortunately, since he was very good at this, he quickly became pigeon-holed and that was the only type of work that seemed to come his way. He grew frustrated and felt stuck. He was a natural at presenting irreverent, more juvenile stories, Gus was craving to go deeper.

Gus loves to surf and to eat good cheese, he has an optimistic, cheerful soul and in many interviews he tends towards humour. All this makes him very engaging, especially for kids. He knows just how to hook them and reel them in, with silly details and tangents. Of course, as an avid reader, Gus is, well, pretty well read! He’s interesting and curious and there is a lot more to him than meets the eye.

‘I just want to keep improving as a person,’ he said.

The brilliant Herman and Rosie, pictured below, won Gus a CBC honour book.

‘’Kaizen,’ is a great Japanese term for getting better every day. I’d like to think we could apply the same word to us all globally. We really do need to get better.’

Gus had always been interested in beautiful children’s books embedded with quintessential human messages of belonging, friendship and adventure. He points to Kenneth Grahame’s Wind In The Willows’, Gene Zion’s ‘Harry The Dirty Dog’. He also mentions some other works that have lifted his spirits in the past. ‘The movies – Amélie, Shawshank Redemption. Books – Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.

Roughs for Gus’s about to be released graphic novel.

His desire to undertake more complex issues as a creator led him to embark on his second complementary career as an author. He started with a short book for toddlers, titled ‘A Day With Noodles’, which was shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards. An encouraging start!

As with his illustrating, he got better and better in the doing. Many of his other works have gone on to win awards, they have been published in 20 countries worldwide, translated into several different languages and even adapted for the stage.

After his successful transition to both writing and illustrating his books, Gus has been able to delve into some of the more tender facets of the human spirit.

Below, a sneak peek of Gus’s forthcoming graphic novel ‘Into the Bewilderness.’

‘Wendy’ follows a thrill seeking chicken who, realises the value of home and family through distance and the trials of fame. In ‘Finding François’ we follow a little Parisian pig who discovers the healing powers of time and new friendship. In the ambitious ‘Herman and Rosie’ we are introduced to an oboe playing crocodile and a jazz singing deer. These two find connection and solace through their love of music in the folds of a capricious big city.

Gus is able to draw out surprisingly touching and profound stories in his environment, whilst maintaining fun and excitement.

The twist for Gus, is that all his characters are animals! He takes lots of inspiration from children’s own story-telling abilities. Their innate simplicity and directness is something Gus strives to emulate with his own writing and in his ‘naive’ drawing style. He loves to hide things in his stories, taking inspiration from Richard Scarry. He also uses multi-media to bring his pages depth and character.

When it comes to his own childhood longings, he says: ‘I wanted to grow up. I obviously didn’t think it through.’

In this statement Gus encapsulates his wonderful skill for combining the cleverly comedic with the covertly poignant.

‘I loved flying kites as a child, and I recall with great fondness holding a kite that I could barely see, high above me in the wind.’

For his own kite, Gus has portrayed a slightly frazzled looking woman, reading a book titled ‘Hope’. I imagine this could really be any book. It’s a reminder to keep searching for hope no matter the circumstances.

‘There is so much pain and conflict in the world right now, and it’s easy to forget that we all have our own battles close to home in our personal lives. Without hope, there is not much to live for, so we need to keep searching for those things that allow us to move forward in the best way possible.’

At the moment, Gus has just completed an exciting forthcoming release, featuring a bear: ‘I have just finished illustrating my first graphic novel, ‘Into the Bewilderness,’ and am currently working on the roughs for a picture book with a much-loved author.’

by Adelaide Stolba