Colourful characters

The wildlife of Phillip Island has been captured in glorious colour by local illustrator Eirian Chapman.

Her Island Animal cards, packaged in a hand-folded box, are sure to delight children and adults alike.

Featuring some of our favourite residents, including Little Penguins, echidnas and the Eastern-Barred Bandicoots, the cards are a personal homage to Eirian’s adopted home.

When she moved to the island in early 2019, Eirian was overwhelmed by the wildlife she encountered on her daily walks.

“I couldn’t believe how many weird animals there were. I thought it was a good way to get to know the island by taking note of all the animals.”

Setting herself a target of one illustration a day, she started drawing every animal she encountered.

A night tour of Churchill Island to observe the tiny Eastern Barred Bandicoots by torchlight inspired more illustrations.

In between her commercial jobs – a professional illustrator Eirian has worked with companies as diverse as Uber, Spotify and Schweppes – she first sketched the animals, then drew them up in Adobe illustrator.

It took about a year to create and package up the cards, which are now available online, or at Turn the Page in Cowes and The Store in Ventnor.

The response has caught her a little by surprise, admitting she draws for herself without thinking about the potential audience.

“I am always illustrating for adults to enjoy, but I did think these would be good for kids. A lot of my friends have bought the cards for their children.”

It’s not surprising the whimsical and colourful creatures have captured people’s attention.

Eirian is hoping the cards will help share her love of the local wildlife with others.

“We didn’t know the island that well when we moved here,” she said.

“Initially we thought we’d give it a year, and we got sucked in. We love it.”

Watching her friends in Melbourne suffering through the lockdown, Eirian feels like she escaped “in the nick of time”.

And she’s ahead of her time as well.

As a freelancer, she’s revelled in the freedom of living out of the city and working from home – an option that many city-dwellers are actively pursuing in the wake of the Covid restrictions.

“I’ve been a freelance illustrator for about ten years, so it was an easy transition to work from Phillip Island.”

And many of us would have seen her work without even realising it.

“A lot of what I do is promoting a product or a company,” Eirian said.

“Graphic illustration is really important at the moment. Everything that you see that is illustrative is communicating something and there’s someone at home working on that. You just don’t see the face behind the illustration.”

Island Animal cards are available at Turn the Page, Cowes, The Store, Ventnor and www.eirianchapman.com.