How long have you lived on the Beaches?
I fell in love with my funny fabulous French husband in Manly 11 years ago and I have been living here ever since.
What’s your favourite beach?
Manly. We are so lucky to be able to walk down and enjoy the swim to the Bower and Shelly Beach. It’s accessible to Sydney and there is a wonderful mix of people here, especially on the weekends.
What inspired your cover?
Travelling on the Manly ferry from Circular Quay and capturing the movement of the passing environment.
What inspires your work in general?
Connection. To people’s stories and the environment around me. My personal art reflects this as well as my professional career in children’s television. I started as an in-betweener at Hanna-Barbera, and we hand drew all the frames on paper to make the cartoons. We learnt on the job that clear visual communication is key to telling stories.
How do you describe your art?
Although I was trained through my animation career to have precise and meticulous drawing skills, my preferred art style is gestural and instinctive.
What is your favourite part of the process?
Being in the moment. When travelling, I keep my eyes on the moving landscape and try to keep my pen/pencil lines flowing. Sometimes I use one single line to capture a whole trip on the ferry from Manly to Circular Quay. While I “wait to arrive” the world moves around me. This becomes interesting when the trips are layered on top of each other. When I draw people in my sketchbook, I try to capture a mood or a moment in time. It’s very meditative and satisfying.
How did you discover you had a gift for art?
I remember drawing a lot as a kid. My brother and I created whole imaginary worlds and characters on paper. Art subjects at school always excited me and I seemed to get some recognition for it, which was motivating!
Did you study art?
I trained in animation on the job at Hanna-Barbera & Walt Disney Australia. Later in life I studied and completed a Fine Art and Visual Culture degree to develop my own artistic language.
What are you currently working on?
I’m busy as the Series Director of the wonderful preschool series Flower & Flour about to launch on ABC kids at Cheeky Little Media. My personal art is limited to sketchbooks and life drawings due to time restraints, but I hope to have more larger scale exhibitions in the future.
What’s your favourite thing about what you do?
At work I enjoy the challenge of the responsibility of my role in such a big production but mainly I enjoy collaborating with my team. Mostly I just love being connected to the details of whatever my attention is focused on.
Any advice for young and aspiring artists?
Draw from life. Avoid copying other people’s designs or artwork. Be attentive and you will learn to observe the pulsing, vibrant energetic world around you and respond to it in your own unique way!
What words of wisdom are you guided by?
I love the William Kentridge quote: It’s always been in between the things I thought I was doing that the real work has happened.
For all updates from Cindy, follow on Instagram @cindyscharka and watch Cheeky Little Media’s new preschool series, Flower & Flour, on ABC iview here
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