From face-to-face encounters with sharks and deadly snakes to unique artworks, Myke Mollard shares his genuine passion for nature and wildlife conservation and his desire to impart this same appreciation on readers of his various illustrated nonfiction books.

What inspired you to begin writing and creating artwork?

I’ve always wanted to write books and illustrate. I’m not sure what exactly inspired me; my mum being a librarian, famous Australian illustrator/author Robert Ingpen visiting my school, or going to a friend’s house on the weekends and instead of riding a BMX, writing stories and drawing our own kid’s book creations. Nature, art school painting and getting dirty playing in self expression all inspired me. All these things have an allure.

What do you love most about being a writer/artist?

I love making kids smile and knowing that I am connecting kids to nature and the world. 

I just love enthusiastic raising of hands when I am doing school talks. The fact that I will never truly have to be adult about things, in that I don’t have to pack up my inner child, was a big draw card in becoming a writer/artist. It connects me to kids and keeps me young and inspired. So I love educating kids. The knowledge that awaits my readers and visual browsers under the surface of every illustration is a world of questions and answers to unlock and these books definitely deliver fascinating facts for a child’s curious mind.

Do you have a given process for writing and illustrating new books?

My process is very creative and chaotic. Probably extreme and unyielding, driven and focused.

I create four books a year and do hundreds, if not thousands, of mini drawings that get knitted and puzzled together, recycled and reimagined, reconfigured and mixed like a chemistry set. I sometimes work insane hours in my process. All this wildness, to lose myself in the process and in the nature of the work. Only then do I feel happy that from the chaos and madness of my own making … emerges a wild illustrative book.

What is your favourite medium for your artwork? Do you often experiment with new styles?

I love this hand drawn digitally coloured style. It’s part traditional sketchbook and botanical etchings meets modern Marvel comic book. I do still paint and do other forms of art on occasion and I have experimented with new styles. Yet since I haven’t come to the end of my exploration or come close to the full use of it heading into the digital world now with AI imagery competing with traditional artistry, I feel my signature style, while completely unique, is only going to develop into something bigger and more fascinating for my audience and kids.

Do you have a favourite Australian animal?

Probably the echidna.

Which was your favourite instalment of the What’s That series to write/illustrate?

Definitely Frogs, Toads and Newts. Frogs are one of the most beautiful creatures to illustrate in my style. I just love drawing them. But honestly, every book in the series is a favourite … each one is brimming with facts and general knowledge.

You have been the author and illustrator on many of your other books. What was it like to take on only the role of illustrator for this series?

Part of the course has always been to reach and teach kids like nature reaches and teaches us.

Let me explain, my illustrations are key to the dexterity of my thinking. 35 years in commercial strategic advertising, I have always pushed for my illustrations to become product extensions of the bigger books. So it was always planned from day one to have multiple educational tools being published and branching out from the work to create a “brand world of wildlife”. My illustrations are to allow kids to see nature as famous comic book characters across multiple publications. I want to allow Aussie kids to identify with wildlife, connect with nature from a very young age and as they grow into my illustrations and books. I have this opportunity to help kids, parents, families and teachers educate kids about wildlife through trusting my authenticity and building familiarity in homes, libraries and classrooms. These books are just the start of many publishing creations, I’d like to do more in time and different books with the same body of illustrative work, constantly adding to my world and improving the experience and engagement. It’s like real life botanical Pokémon characters to collect and cherish. So I’m only just starting, but the illustrations are key to my visual storytelling and helping kids become fascinated with life and nature.

Have you had any interesting encounters with Australian wildlife?

I’ve been face to face with several species wild sharks (Great White, Bronze whales, reef sharks and Tiger sharks), I’ve been chased by a wombat on the warpath, been entangled with and checked out by five large highly venomous (but placid and ultimately curious) wild sea kraits. I’ve filmed a pit viper shedding its skin, a family of tawny frogmouths nesting in my backyard for 4-5 years, giant smooth stingrays while spearfishing, saved baby magpies from horrific storms, handled blue ringed octopuses and come within striking distance of alpine copperheads, king browns and tiger snakes. All these interesting encounters and the reason I’m here today is probably because of the knowledge and affinity I gained through books and not being afraid of getting outdoors and exploring. The main reason I survived my adventures is my respect of nature and calm behaviour whilst out there. One big take away is not to go out to “thrill seek” or “disturb the wildlife”, but only seeking to understand and cherish the fact that you encountered such magnificent creatures. This is part of the reason I believe I’m still here today and still passionate about conservation and education to the broader community.

Do you have any other projects in the works?

More “What’s That?” books for sure! I’m drawing two more this year and have plans for many more in the series. Then there’s more big encyclopaedic styled books for sure and hopefully many more wildlife books that showcase a world of wildlife from Africa, Amazon, Europe and Asia. There’s a world of opportunity to explore and I’m keen to go out and experience it.