Marsha Riti

Tiffanny Varga is a wonderful illustrator and friend. Here is an interview showing everyone a little bit about her and what she does. If you would like to see her process in motion check out her time lapse videos!

How has your experience working as a game artist influenced your illustration?

I think, more than anything, being a game artist has affected my work ethic more than the illustrations themselves. I’ve only worked on very grown up, dark, and violent games (except for the one I’m currently working on), which doesn’t overlap very much with children’s book illustration.

But because of my background in video games, I’m used to working quickly because of our extremely tight deadlines. You can’t survive in the game industry without being very productive, a veritable art machine, so I tend to apply that to illustration. I have a get-it-done attitude towards it, and I don’t tend to beat around the bush when it comes to putting ideas down and illustrating them, I just do it. It doesn’t matter what great and creative idea you have in your head, it matters that you have the illustration to show it.

What is the one tool in your studio that you could not do without?

You mean aside from actual paint and paper?
My light table. I work very loosely at first, then I draw on top of my loose drawings with a light table, refining them some more. Finally, I use the light table again to trace the work onto watercolor paper. My light table is nothing fancy, just a porta-trace. I like it because it’s small enough to take to even a coffee shop, where I like to work while hanging out with friends.

What is your preferred medium and why?

Watercolor. At first, I chose watercolor because everyone said it was the hardest. (I love a challenge) I figured that if I mastered watercolor, I can master everything else, and then I could just use whatever medium I wanted for whatever purpose. After using watercolor for a few years, I ventured into oils and pastels, but as I used these other mediums, I learned that watercolor seemed to have everything I wanted. It has the controlled accidents that add character to the painting, the luminosity, and also, a friendliness to it. As a watercolorist yourself, I’m sure you’ve noticed that there is something very approachable and friendly about a watercolor painting. Perhaps it’s because it’s familiar to everyone, because we all used it as kids.

What is your favorite thing to paint and why?

I love painting things that are happening. (Both as fine art or as illustration.) For instance, Whenever I go plein air painting, I like painting the scene with the people in it. I go painting with the same group of friends, and usually they are omitting all the people from the scene and focusing only on the background; but I like to add people in. I feel that it tells a better story. Whenever I get lazy and omit people from the scene I get a less-satisfying painting. So in short, I guess I like painting the story of people (or animals). Without them, I feel like there is no story. So what if there is a nice mountain there, No one is there to see it. The tree fell in the woods and didn’t make a sound.

What children’s book artists do you admire?

There are so many I adore.
I really like Quentin Blake. I like David Walker (Hello, Texas!), I like Emily Gravett (Dogs), Melanie Watt (Chester). Patrice Barton (Sweet Moon Baby), and of course, as you already know, I admire you!

If you could pit two children’s book characters against one another, who would they be?

I would like to see a cat fight between The Cat in the Hat (Dr Seuss) and Chester (Melanie Watt).

Who would win the fight and why?

I hope that Chester would win, because though he has many flaws, he is the very definition of perseverance, which is something I can relate to right now. I dont have magic, but I do have perseverance. In reality though, I think The Cat in the Hat would win, but he’s cheating!