My favourite book as a child was The Little Red Engine. The expression on the face of the engine brought out such compassion in me and to this day, when I am anxious about attempting something new or something that feels huge to me, I hear the words "I think I can, I think I can!" I loved drawing and painting when I was little and although art materials were limited at the time, I would use anything that came to hand, the nicest of which was the cardboard that formed the backing for my dad's new shirts.

When I do hand illustrations now (as opposed to digital illustrations) the paper I like to use is Schoellerhamer 4R which is nice and firm and can withstand quite a bit of "abuse". I use watercolours, gouache and acrylic inks. I find the inks wonderful because one can achieve a depth of colour by layering one colour on top of another without disturbing the colour underneath.

For digital illustration, I begin with an underlying drawing which I then take into Photoshop where I add colour.

Val Myburgh - 2008