Desirai Saunders

Desirai Saunders is a Meanjin (Brisbane) based, Gunggari artist who specialises in character illustrations using Procreate. More recently she has dabbled in mural painting.

Art helps Saunders to express herself when she can't find the words to do so. She mostly creates digital character illustrations. Apart of her hopes these little illustrations will empower those who can see a small part of themselves reflecting back through the drawing.

Tell us about your creative process, what drives your practice?

Emotion is my biggest motivation and inspiration for my work. I like to focus on communication without words. We don’t always have to say how we are feeling. I struggle a lot to find the words to express how I’m feeling, and my art gives me that outlet. A way to help process and understand the world around me and how certain events or people affect me. Music is also a great inspiration for me. I start with trying to match a song to my mood, and then I start to think about what it is I am feeling and how I can bring it to life. Once I feel like I’ve processed my emotions I begin to draw. It’s hard when I feel like I have nothing left to give emotionally and I find I lean more on music to put me into a certain headspace. While using art as a way to express myself is a great outlet emotionally, it can also be difficult to face certain emotions and then share them with the public. It’s easy to get lost. I have a method to keep me sane, once the artwork is done then I let go. No matter how upset I’ve been. It’s like closing a book or a chapter. It can be great closure.

You talk about your practice as a way to work through emotion and understand things happening around you. What is it about digital illustration that is so therapeutic, as opposed to more analogue materials?

Digital illustration really opened up a whole new world for me. I always enjoyed drawing and used to practice a lot with fine line art using pen and paper. Digital illustration helped to break down a lot of barriers that might have been holding me back. The fear of making a mistake (especially when working with pen) was always a big barrier for me. My moods can change mid-way through an artwork so it’s great to be able to play with colour palettes or experiment with poses to change the mood of an artwork. I’m not very good at planning artworks they sort of evolve as the stages of the work progress.

I also love that a digital medium makes my art more accessible to everyone. It’s easy to share and consume. I won’t lie it’s also nice not having to fork out for materials and I can create from the comfort of my couch or wherever really! There’s no need for a studio.

I would like to continue to build my skill with acrylic and aerosol paints though. Working with these materials can be very therapeutic and hypnotic. I’m slowly developing my confidence with paint and with it a joy for painting.

What is the significance of your characters and their agency as vessels for activism and empowerment?

I find characters are important not only for representation but to build a storyline. A lot of the time people will resonate with a character not because it looks like them, but because it portrays a strength or vulnerability they also have encountered or feel within themselves. It’s an incredible and almost eerie feeling when the emotions I am feeling when I create an artwork/character get carried through to the viewer. I think sometimes people mistake my characters to always be looking angry or upset and that’s not what I’m trying to show. I’m creating a symbol of strength. Something I wish I had more of and what I feel my culture gives me. I am not creating angry characters – I’m creating strong characters in the hope when people need them, they can pass that strength on.  

Art can create a lot of awareness on difficult issues. I think it sheds a different light on certain issues and can get the viewer to think about things differently. Because art is created from the heart, it has a great potential for people to sit up and take notice of issues or events where they might usually stick their heads in the sand.

Are there any female printmakers | artists that influence you?

There are two main female influencers that started me on the path of digital art and that is Tori (@tori_jyeay) and Charlotte (@coffinbirth). I remember coming across their stuff a few years and thinking how deadly it was to see First Nations artists killing it in a digital medium and platform. I’d never seen anything like it. I’d always enjoyed drawing people and facial features, but I always felt pressured to create either realistic portraits or, on the other end of the spectrum, delve into the world of anime style art. One day in 2019 I decided I would take the leap and buy a cheap track tablet (the kind with no screen and small as anything) and I just started to play around with it. It took me a while to get the hang of it but soon what I used to see as a weakness for not being able to draw realistically become my style, signature and point of difference. Digital art just gives you so much freedom.

Finally, what exciting projects are you working on at the moment?

I am very grateful to have been given some incredible opportunities lately! This year has been a big year for me, so I am trying to better manage my time while juggling full-time work and give myself a breather. It’s easy to burn out in this space. One of the projects I’m currently working on is to help revive the Gunggari language. I’m super grateful to be able to work on this and do something to give back to Gunggari mob. If all goes well there will be another, rather large, mural of mine popping up around September. A couple of music festival promotional artworks are also in the works. I can’t say much detail on some of the other larger projects coming up for the rest of the year, but they are big ticket items on my wish list that I can’t wait to get cracking on! And hopefully before the year wraps up, I can squeeze in a holiday haha!