Featured Illustrator

Starting in 2025 we'll dive deeper into the creative journeys and unique perspectives of our illustrators by asking them to answer expanded interview questions - just for you!

We welcome southern Washington SCBWI members who have chosen Oregon as their region. Autumn is our first featured illustrator from that area.

Autumn Quigley’s mixed media creations captivated us both independently and at different times. Jordan first encountered Autumn’s work at her doctor’s office in Hood River while Robin discovered her through the Oregon SCBWI gallery. 

We hope you enjoy her work as much as we do.

What is your background? 

In addition to having an BFA with a focus in illustration I also have a BA in Creative Writing. There has always been a strong narrative focus to my work and I have written, drawn, created things and made up stories for as long as I can remember. I think one’s background is so much more than their education or professional experience and much of who I am is defined by the fact that I grew up off-the-grid in a small house in the woods. I spent a lot of time outside with friends, learned about the natural world from family, friends and observation, and spent countless hours making things with my hands, and reading, of course. My life was very defined by the seasons, -we heated and cooked with fire, hiked in to our house when it snowed, lit our home with candles, grew food and foraged, and I think all this comes out in my work. My parents both had working-class jobs but my dad also built things at home and occasionally would draw and my mom made a variety of things like willow and pine needle baskets. I am also really fortunate to have grown-up with a group of really interesting, creative and talented friends and I think that that really helped define who I became. But I was also a weird, imaginative, vegetarian kid in a logging community, so as idyllic as that upbringing can sound, it was also hard, and I think for many of us the creative arts provide powerful refuge and direction.  

What have you learned along the way? What tips can you share?

This is such a hard question because it is a challenge to remember truly how much I’ve learned and changed as part of this process. I was daunted at first by the business-side of being an illustrator - things like contracts. I think having a network to learn from is really helpful for that side of things. But beyond that, I’ve learned that it’s so important to remember that both you and your work will suffer if you don’t have different outlets and interests to bring back to it. It is really easy to get consumed by a focus on your discipline, especially if you’re in an educational program, but you have to have something to make art about. Ultimately, your work isn’t for everyone and you wouldn’t want it to be, so bringing your unique interests into your art will help you find your audience regardless of whether you are aware of who that might be. I have had a number of commissions from farms and vineyards because my work often celebrates flora and fauna, and we live in an area with a lot of agriculture. At this point, I’m also completely unabashed to tell people that I have a day job: a part-time public library position. It dovetails nicely with a career in illustration and interest in picture books and I really value it on many levels. It brings stability and space for me to choose where I put my energy in my creative work and I’m constantly in contact with picture books and their audience. So, if you’re starting out and feeling like you should be dedicating all your time and energy to illustration, I really think that that is a mistake. 

What would be your dream project? 

I have a picture book dummy that I have been seeking representation for and I would love to see that published. Being chosen to illustrate a classic like Wind in the Willows would be such an honour. I also have particular fondness for night scenes and animals and so I think a non-fiction book or even an interpretive sign about nocturnal animals sounds like such a fun project.  

What illustrators inspire you? Why?  

Illustration is such an elusive thing to define. A lot of the artists and illustrators whose work really inspires me tends to be sort of somewhere between illustration and fine art but has a strong illustrative or narrative bent. My favourite living artist is Mark Hearld. I love the way that his work feels celebratory of the act of making, the presence of the human hand, of both choice and chance and ultimately the natural world. If an artist’s work makes me want to create as well, I know that there’s something powerful at play. I’m really attracted to work that has a strong sense of place and season. I love atmosphere and a touch of magic and stylistically the work can really be very different. Doris Burn is a little-known, mid-century, PNW writer/illustrator whose work I have long loved, especially her picture book The Summer Folk. These two artist’s work is stylistically quite different, Hearld often making brightly-coloured mixed-media collages and Burn working in detailed pen and ink, but if I had point to what they share and what appeals to me it is that both have such a strong sensitivity to place and its inhabitants. I’m also just generally inspired by people who keep making work and living a creative life, and finding ways to keep that spark glowing. 

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