My first contact with Lori D. was back in 2005 while flicking through an issue of Empty magazine. Straight away I was struck by her use of colours and the naive aesthetics with her bold sense of humour! Last week a flashback of memory exploded in my mind after seeing a video compilation of her animations. Through the excitement of (re)finding someone you look up to in the past and checking what they were up to today I couldn’t stop thinking… I have to share this multi-talented creative treat with my dear Tangenters! Lori an illustrator, a painter, an animator, a teacher, a volunteer to name a few was sweet enough to reply to the questions. She shared  with us thoughts on her early career, inspirations and future. She also mentioned that Oz has a special place in her heart as back in 1999 that was her official address! Well, I hope you enjoy her art as much as I do!

– When did your story with illustration and animation start?
I was told that I have been trying to tell stories since before I could talk.  I started to try to tell stories with drawings as a kid.  I have always loved to draw and I started making super 8 films when I was a teenager.  I studied filmmaking at school and in my last year I decided to try animation since it combined filmmaking and drawing, both things I loved to make.  I decided to make a Cel Animation (traditional 2D hand-drawn, hand inked, hand-painted) and I never even tested the animation because I had no idea what I was doing and didn’t know that testing was an option.  I thought you were just supposed to go for it and see what it looked like at the end when you got your 16mm print back.

– Your work portrays a strong sense of storytelling, a picture that say a thousand words. How do these stories come to life in your head, what inspires you when creating these stories and characters?

Sometimes the images draw upon experiences in my own life or from stories I have heard from friends or family.  Sometimes while I’m drawing the idea just reveals itself and isn’t connected to anything I’ve known personally.  I am very much inspired to represent archetypes from the small farm town in central California where I grew up.  But often the progagonists from annecdotes I have heard sometimes show up in a painting too. It’s funny I never even thought of the characters I draw as ‘archetypes’ but then I met an Australian artist named Scott Miles who pointed it out to me and even then it took me a few days to realize he was right about that.  I like to think I am making historical scrolls to document the more mundane battles and ordinary heroes and villains of my time.  I also just like to make pictures that I hope might be funny to some of the human beings alive right now.

- I noticed apart from your paintings and commercial work you are involved with a variety of other projects – from writing a column to being a volunteer at the IPRC. How important are these extra activities to creatively fuel you?
I am super inspired by being involved with the Independent Publishing Resource Center (iprc.org) here in Portland, Oregon.  It is a thriving community of makers and there is so much amazing work coming out of that place.  One of my GREATEST inspirations though is working with the students at the California State Summer School of the Arts.  It is a month long summer arts program for high school students that takes place at CalArts near LA.  This will be my 9th year working with the program and my third year as the Chair of the Animation Dept.  Working with the CSSSA students is incredibly exciting.  They are creatively adventurous and exploding with energy and every year they awe me with the new directions they take their own work and animation itself.  It is a great honor to work with them.  I have also skateboarded for a long time, and been riding motorbikes, both of which I find somewhat terrifying and therefore really fun.  I think having to be brave in those two efforts has taught me to be braver in lots of other helpful ways too, even in making art pictures and cartoons.

- What is ahead for Lori D?
I am mostly making paintings and trying to finish a 15 minute hand-drawn film.  I’m also starting on a new zine about a pistachio farm.  I might be making a little mini cartoon show soon!  Not sure about that one yet…  Stay tuned!

Speak soon, f