Giselle Clarkson

Giselle Clarkson is a New Zealand cartoonist and illustrator, best known for her non-fiction comics on conservation and environmental issues.

Life
Clarkson studied for Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury, intending to become a painter but majoring in photography. She works as a freelance illustrator and comics artist, and lives in South Wairarapa, New Zealand.

After graduation she worked in an outdoor equipment shop and volunteered with conservation projects; she was torn between becoming an artist and working for the Department of Conservation. Her entry into illustration was a 2013 poster depicting New Zealand fishes. Later illustrations of New Zealand native birds featured on RNZ's Morning Report were distributed through Twitter, which led to commissions from Forest and Bird's children's magazine, the New Zealand School Journal, newspapers, websites, and magazines, and a career in illustration.

Work
Clarkson's first published comic, "The Flood", appeared in the 2016 collection of Aotearoa women's comics Three Words. Her best known work, "Biscuits and Slices of New Zealand", is a visual catalogue of New Zealand baking, with each object given a fanciful Latin name: for example, Anzac biscuit is "Lestwee forgetum". Widely shared in social media, this was published in Annual 2 (2017) and subsequently became a poster and tea towel; Clarkson was interviewed about the success of the comic on TV3's The Project. A follow-up illustration appeared in Annual 3 (2022).

Clarkson has a bimonthly comic in New Zealand children's literature website The Sapling, on children's books and how they influenced her as an illustrator. She frequently undertakes field expeditions as part of her work to places such as the Kermadecs, Milford Sound (to draw penguins) or the Subantarctic Islands (a 19-day sea voyage which led to an 8-page comic in the School Journal). She regularly creates illustration and T-shirts for the Radio New Zealand show Critter of the Week. In 2018 she produced a comics summary of a scientific paper on the migration of the Fiordland penguin or tawaki (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus), which was enthusiastically retweeted by Diana Gabaldon. She has also illustrated a number of children's books published by Gecko Press.

In 2022 Clarkson began illustrating a regular evolutionary-biology column by Kate Evans in New Zealand Geographic magazine. This led to a nomination as Best Artist in the 2023 Voyager Media Awards.

Honours and awards
In 2023, Clarkson received an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award. The panel described her work as "always technically impressive and incredibly imaginative; demonstrating huge sensitivity whilst retaining her trademark energy and vibrance."

Publications

 * "The Flood." (2016.) in: Joyce, Rae, Sarah Laing, and Indira Neville (eds.) Three Words. Beatnik. ISBN 9780994120502
 * "A Box of Birds." (2016.) in: de Goldi, Kate, and Susan Paris (eds.) Annual. Gecko Press. ISBN 9781776570775
 * "New Zealand Biscuits and Slices" (2017.) in: de Goldi, Kate, and Susan Paris (eds.) Annual 2. Gecko Press. ISBN 9780473395230
 * "The Subantarctic Islands". School Journal (3 August 2017)
 * "Tawaki, Marathon Penguins " (2018.)
 * Meredith, Courtney Sina. (2018.) The Secret World of Butterflies. Allen & Unwin: Auckland. ISBN 9781760633608 (Illustrator)
 * Blanchard, Nan. (2019.) Hazel and the Snails. Annual Ink. ISBN 9780995113589 (Illustrator)
 * Cowley, Joy. (2019.) The Gobbledegook Book: A Joy Cowley Anthology. Gecko Press. ISBN 9781776572588 (Illustrator)
 * Tylee, Alexandra. (2020.) Egg and Spoon: An Illustrated Cookbook. Gecko Press. ISBN 9781776572984 (Illustrator)
 * Cowley, Joy. (2021.) The Tiny Woman's Coat. Gecko Press. ISBN 9781776573424 (Illustrator, expanding on characters drawn in The Gobbledegook Book)
 * Clarkson, Giselle. (2023). The Observologist: A Handbook for Mounting Very Small Scientific Expeditions. Gecko Press. (Author and illustrator.)