Rebecca Guthrie
As an illustrator and writer, my work concerns making character-driven picture books and comics in traditional mediums. My main thematic interests lie in exploring loneliness, community, and new technologies within the context of an increasingly isolated modern world. I am also interested in the way words and pictures interact, and the meanings found in the gaps between them.
frog blues
My final project, Frog Blues, is a proposed picture book about a frog who is usually quite happy but wakes up one day to find that he isn’t anymore. It draws on personal experiences of depression to imagine ways in which people with similar conditions can help themselves, while understanding that these qualities are sometimes essential parts of being human.
no good granny
No Good Granny is a proposed picture book which follows the relationship between a boy and his unconventional grandmother as they take off on a fantastical nighttime journey. My intention with this work was to answer the questions I had as a child about my own grandmother not conforming to the sentimental stereotypes of older people in mainstream media.
great ideas for the end of the world
This risograph booklet was developed in response to the Glasgow 2021 COP26 conference, and presents the attempts of a large corporation to end climate change through useless technology. My references for this project included the illustrations of Heath Robinson, and Japanese chindogu inventions.
brief encounters
This two page comic was produced during a three day workshop with illustrator and artist Jon McNaught in April 2022. It reflects on three interactions I have had while walking around Glasgow: some surprising, all real. The comic was also featured in the physical anthology Sprung (2022), a collaboration with other illustrators on the course.
m8
M8 is a concertina book produced in in response to the urban landscape of Glasgow, especially the controversial M8 motorway which bisects the city centre. Research was gathered by documenting walks around the city in my sketchbooks. The result is an imagined landscape that features macro and micro narratives of community and renewal.
