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CONTENTS

TEAM

1

CONTRIBUTORS

3

JOSH BROWN

5

DAN LYNCH

11

CREATIVE THINKING EXERCISES

17

NICK NOLAN

19

JEN CUENCO

23

BEN ADAMS

27

JAMIE DELA ROSA

33

NATHAN HYRATT

37

KEENAN ALEXANDER

43

TAYLOR BLAND

47

AARON MAXWELLANNA KOVESIBRYCE ELLISKATE MORRISON

THE TEAM

1

What did you do in the last twenty-four hours?

We created a zine. A zine based on pushing

our design skills to absolute breaking point

through army-style sleep deprivation tactics.

Our day began somewhere around 8am

(probably like yours). Some had to travel two

hours on public transport to our meeting

destination (with a printer/scanner in arms),

others didn’t actually need to leave the house.

We started our twenty-four hours of

deprivation at 12pm. A lot of planning and

concepting had to be done so that our future

selves could just work and not worry about

how it would all come together in the end. We

wanted our future selves not to be too pissed

off at our cocky and spritely past selves too

much, you know? A major late pub lunch was

also in order... with a few cheeky ciders to get

the creative juices going. And then a shop

run for coffee and lollies, which as my future

self, I’m hating my past self for those rookie

decisions. It’s 5am currently and all I want is

some proper, semi-decent food. Oh yeah and

sleep. Tonnes of sleep. We eased into the zine

process by doing some watercolours and

drawings outside whilst it was still light and

then got cracking on all the amazing artists we

feature in this zine. What amazing talent we

found! To do their work justice, we’ve worked

the best part of the whole night on their

articles. Many layout options, and plenty of

coffees later, we’re almost done (but actually

not really). We have just decided Bryce must

have been sleep talking this whole night, which

makes more sense than thinking he was awake

this whole time. Aaron is the consummate

professional, painstakingly putting everyone’s

layouts into the one zine layout, Kate’s getting

some zzz’s from a big night and Anna’s writing

the editor’s letter even though she’s not the

editor. Tummies are grumbling, yawns all round

and its a waiting game until somewhere opens

and lets our tired asses in to get a massive

breakfast. We’re also getting ready for our

sexy contributor photos in our sleepy states.

Don’t judge us.

3

CONTRIBUTORS

JOSH BROWN

DAN LYNCH

NICK NOLAN

JEN CUENCO

TAYLOR BLAND

JAMIE DELA ROSA

BEN ADAMS

KEENAN ALEXANDER

NATHAN HYRATT

JOSH BROWNILLUSTRATORGRAPHIC DESIGNER 10-12-87

5

Man your illustrations are insane! I have to ask, how long have you

been Illustrating?

Thanks dude, I have been drawing my whole life. My folks sent me off to

drawing classes at about 7 - 8yrs. I guess they saw some kind of talent

at a young age. I’ve been at it ever since.

It seems that your parents were right! You have previously done work

with Insight. Tell us a bit about that.

Yeah just before I started The Snake Hole I spent 2 years living in Sydney

working as an artist & design assistant for Insight, mainly focusing on the

men’s range. I juggled doing artwork for the men’s clothing alongside

designing the boardshorts - this involved designing cuts, trims, fabrics,

colourways etc.  They were great times at Insight, we worked alongside

the crew at ‘Ksubi’ and ‘Something Else’ in a warehouse just outside of

the Sydney CBD. I learnt a lot during my time there, working under guys

like Robbie Russo & Jodia Natapradja really helped me develop my skills

and progress in my career.

Amazing dude! There are so many young artists / designers out

there that would love to have that sort of experience. What exactly

is ‘The Snake Hole’ and where has the name come from?

‘The Snake Hole’ is my studio / gallery. Monday - Friday I work as a

freelance graphic designer and illustrator and once a month, I basically

gut the studio so its a clean space and run monthly exhibitions in there.

Growing up on the Mornington Peninsula, an hour out of Melbourne,

I experienced the difficulty of finding a space for a young emerging

artist to exhibit work. Creating The Snake Hole was a way to fill the gap.

My aim is to support young emerging artists and provide an accessible

space for them to exhibit artwork and get exposure in industry. I am

also passionate about bringing great artists from around Australia to

exhibit on the Mornington Peninsula. The Snake Hole name comes from

‘Brownsnake’ a nickname that I was given whilst at Insight by a mate of

mine. Apparently I have no shoulders haha.

Man that is so great. It’s always nice to see people helping out

emerging artist getting their work recognized. Your piece ‘Doom’

is dope as fuck. What inspired you to create this illustration?

The ‘Doom’ piece was for our ‘Gangsters Paradise’ Exhibition at The

Snake Hole, which I had pleasure of working alongside one of my best

mates Josh Meyer. We are both really into hip hop music, so we based

the entire show around the genre. It was a tongue-in-cheek ode to

rappers and hip hop culture. We wanted to take a light and somewhat

contradictory approach to represent a culture that is quite often feared

and seen by society as being wrong.

That exhibition was sick! To round it up man we have to ask, what

is your worst habit?

Oh man there is so many... You should probably direct this question

to my wife, I’m sure she could answer it pretty quickly haha. I think my

worst habit is not being able to focus on only one job at a time. I chop

and change onto so many different little projects, I just get too stoked!

If I could put all my focus into one thing at a time I’d get so much more

done in a days work!

Thanks for all your time with us Josh! It has sure been enlightening

and not to mention inspiring.

Thanks Legend!

DAN LYNCHPHOTOGRAPHER 06-09-94

11

What got you into photography

and what are you main influence?

Growing up, I spent a lot of time

skateboarding with a close group

of friends and in which I did a lot of

filming. One day I saw the perfect

photo opportunity and it kinda dawned

on me that I would enjoy shooting

photos rather than filming the tricks.

After that, my main influence was

largely based around my brother who

is a graphic designer as well as some

other friends who shoot. They have

spent some time teaching me the ins

and outs of it all.

Sweet dude, you have a creative family by the sounds of

things.. I hear you’re also trying to get more involved in

surf photography is that right?

Yeah I do. My one of my brother is currently working in New

York, so having him around to help is quite beneficial to say the

least. My whole family has grown up surfing, though I personally

have never been to good at it, which is why I chose the

skateboard over the surfboard. Nevertheless it has been apart

of my life since day one and some of my friends are professional

surfers so recently I have been trying to capitalise on that and

get more involved with shoot them. Also a large portion of my

portfolio is based on a photo documentary I did with a friend

of mine, Ryan Callinan.

Well you are well on your way man. It’s a bonus that you

have had the surfing culture instilled in you from a young age.

Besides photography and of course skating, what are some

of your other pleasures?

Yeah it has been pretty helpful. Well besides those, there isn’t

much else, though as a 20 year old I do party and drink a lot

though. I also work at a local night club which can be pretty

awesome from time to time... Apart from those thing

I tend to just spend my free time hanging with friends.

Haha, living it up as much a possible! If you could be

any fictional character who would it be?

Being a comic book fan this question is kinda a hard question,

but I say if it came down to the wire I would have to go with

either ‘Gambit’ from the X-men or ‘Spider-man’.

Take it easy man, good luck with the shooting.

Thanks!

are you interested in becoming a creative genius? feel like you look at your-

self in the mirror and see unfulfilled greatness? have a box of shitty drawings

you can never show anyone? well, rest your head child, Anna Kovesi has scoured

the internet and found some exercises to help you improve your creativity.

17

2 minutes errrryday... the key here is to produce quality and

quantity. over a short amount of time you’ll be able to see

how much quicker and creative your brain will become after

performing these simple exercises.

scribble drawings.

it’s like mr. squiggle but without an annoying, grumpy black

board to tell you to hurry up. do some squiggles (or better

yet, ask someone else to draw squiggles for you) and then

create weird and wonderful pictures from them.

free-association.

open the dictionary to a random word and write down anything

it makes you think of (however random or serious).

surprisingly, freedom can actually inhibit creativity; a

little restriction (like focusing on just one word) lets you

think more freely and creatively.

try something new.

doing things out of habit or routine puts your brain into

auto-pilot. yep, you’re actually boring your own brain. new

experiences (whether its trying a new food or just walking

home from work a different way) gets your brain firing.

novelty-seeking is associated with creativity and your brain

is desperately crying out for it.

that shoe is not for your foot.

pick an everyday item and come up with as many different and

creative functions for it. this challenges your brain to see

everyday things (and perhaps problems you’ve been working on

too) in a new light.

de-construct objects.

again, this re-jigs your noggin to view very mundane objects

in a new and exciting way. look around you. a tree is not a

tree. it’s roots, leaves, bark, twigs, a small ecosystem of

insects and animals.

learn a new skill.

you know those annoying people who can play guitar, know two

languages other than English and can illustrate? that’s no

accident. your brain is a sponge, a really nerdy sponge, that

wants to learn new things constantly. so why not take this

opportunity to start learning something you’ve always wanted

to? you’ll find you pick up other things easier and quicker

the more you do.

host a deadline party.

send an email round to your mates with a due date for when

they must present a new project or skill to everyone that’s

invited. having deadlines keeps you motivated and on track.

NICK NOLAN/ILLUSTRATOR/18-02-93

Did you spring forth from the womb with

pencil in hand?

Not exactly, but from a very young age (around

3 years old I think) a lot of my time was taken

up by drawing. My mum is the one to thank for

that as she was really into art.

Pretend you find yourself in the type of

situation where you’re at a bus stop or a bar

or whatever and some babe wants you know

about your work. How do you describe it?

Recently I threw together the term "an

elaborate, intricately drawn gross-fest of bright

coloured, sexually explicit muscular nude lumpy

male on male violence" as a way to describe

my work, that probably doesn't make sense to

anyone but me though. Alternatively something

like 'gross surreal cartoons' could work just as

well, or I could just show them a sketch book,

let them figure it out for themselves!

What do you say your biggest influences are?

I'd have to say Keaton Henson and Michael

Shantz were my two biggest influences a few

years back, without them I don't think my

work would have turned out quite the way it

did. Brian Chippendale's visual art and music

has been a huge inspiration to me lately as well.

The internet says you’ve got nice knees. Tell

us about that.

Hahah oh man, I don't even know where that

came from. It's basically this long running

inside joke caused by drunken antics between

some friends and myself a few years back. It's

a joke that's given me a lot of confidence in my

knees though so I guess if the art thing doesn't

work out I can always use them to try and get

into a knee modeling career. That's probably a

thing, right?

I saw on your blog that you’re new to

Photoshop, tell us about that?

Kind of! I use Photoshop all the time for

colouring my work and I have used it a lot

throughout school for various projects, but

honestly I need to start using it more for

drawing and also to familiarise myself with

everything on there because I'm a bit

clueless when it comes to using Photoshop.

How do you feel about working digitally?

I've always preferred traditional hand drawn

stuff over digital but like I said above it's

something I'm interested in looking further

into and giving it more of a chance, because

there's a lot of benefits to working digitally

over traditionally, especially when it comes

to doing illustration type of work for clients.

So doing more digital work is definitely a

goal of mine to accomplish in the near future.

What does your work space look like?

It's nothing too special, just a hefty sized desk

crammed into the corner of my bedroom. It's

a cosy and comfortable working space

though so I can't complain, I wouldn't have it

any other way!

What’s your favourite medium?

Definitely black Biro pens and fine liner pens

on paper, they'll always be my favourites.

What’s with all the dicks?

I think it stems from that obsession some

people get in high school where they waste

time in classes doing crude dick drawings

(for reference watch that scene from

Superbad). But really I just enjoy drawing

them in the same way that I enjoy drawing

hands, feet and faces, it's just another part

of the human body that I think is fun to draw.

Lastly, we put this zine together within a 24

hour period. What’s the dumbest shit you’ve

ever done in 24 hours?

Ooooh this is a tough question, I feel like I’ve

done way too much dumb shit in my life so

far. I think one of my favorite dumbest

moments would have been from when I was

17. I got really drunk with a bunch of mates

and for some reason picked up a possum not

realising that it was a possum, then moments

later realising it was, in fact, a possum and

gently underarm throwing it to a friend for

them to deal with it. Yeah, I don't know how

that happened, or why that happened, being

17 was a weird time.

For more of Nick Nolan’s work, check out:

http://nicknolansdrawings.tumblr.com

JEN CUENCOGRAPHIC DESIGNER 23-06-87

23

How did these Illustrations come about?

In high school I would get a piping bag and fill it with

paint, then illustrate on a canvas. I guess now these

illustration are simply to digital version of how I use

to paint. 

That’s really cool. You don’t just focus on Illustration

though, you are also a Graphic Designer right?

Yes. That’s right, although I do prefer fine art, there’s just

something about Graphic Design (commercial art) that I

find rewarding yet challenging which I love!

You have recently finished studying, what was that

like and what are your future plans?

College was great! I loved being taught by lecturers

who are amazing and passionate about what they do. I

love studying so I plan on getting my Bachelor Degree.

Yeah nice, What and who are your main influences?

I’m influenced by French designer Nicolas Bonté, the

amazing Kenya Hara who is the master of Japanese

minimalism and of course Peter Saville for his timeless

album cover art for likes of Joy Division and New Order. 

That’s an interesting selection of

designers. What is one random fact

that you can tell us about yourself?

I collect socks and cameras. HA!

Haha that’s awesome! Do you have

a favourite pair?

My Virgin Mary ones are

pretty comfortable. 

They sound dope! Thanks Jen,

It’s been a pleasure. I’m sure we

will be seeing you around.

Thanks. This was a lot of fun!

ben adams

ILLUSTRATOR

03-04-91

27

These Illustrations are trippy as. What inspires you to draw like this?

So many goddamn things man. Other artists work is a huge one.

Books, music, funny things that my friends say and do. Lately

it’s been a lot of real old horror movies and monsters and aliens

saying things that I find funny. Other times it’s just crap that

builds up in my head, frustrations over things in life that

I think would be pretty funny to draw. It’s all over the place.

I think that’s the beauty about your work man.

Where has your Illustration taken you in the past year?

Aw man, it’s a slow process eh. I’ve kinda been travelling around a

fair bit since I finished my degree a few years ago and haven’t really

been stationary enough to start to settle down and get my name out

and build up on. So I’m looking forward to moving to Sydney soon

and just finally trying to establish some ground work for it all. But

it’s going well, I’ve had a few little interviews and designing some

skateboard graphics, a lot of freelance work lately, which is real fun. 

Man by the sounds of things you are having a shit load

of fun and keeping yourself super busy. When you say

‘travel’ do you mean within Australia or overseas?

Yeah I just try to keep happy. A bit of both, spent about six months

travelling round Europe and a few months travelling the west coast

of the U.S, which was fucking amazing, and real soon a few of us

are heading to Nepal, so that’ll be interesting. In Aus I’ve been living

down in Victoria working on a vineyard with a few friends, spent

some time driving round Tasmania in my van, working in the country

on a cattle farm, and the rest of the time living up in Brisbane and

slaving away for the good ol’ Bottlemart. But I’ve always been

drawing during those times, ya get a lot of inspiration from that

kinda shit I think, meeting new people and seeing insane things. 

Man that seriously sounds amazing! Where was your favourite

place in europe?

Aw man I don’t even know, Budapest was probably the greatest

city for sure, met some real cool people and the bridges that

run along the Danube river are sick, but Prague was good with

friends, we’d just buy cheap fireworks from the supermarket

and run around drunk in the snow at night and light them

up and shoot em out of our hands, hell of a lot of fun.

How did the name ‘WEIRDYBEARD’

come about?

When I was in high school I used to be able

to grow this disgusting beard on one half

of my face, it just never grew on the other

side, so I’d rock it in year 11 and felt like the

coolest person in the world, even though I

probably looked like a fucking idiot. I think

then I just started having an infatuation with

beards cause I felt like I was the only kid in

the world who could grow any kinda facial

hair. over time it grew evenly and i kept

having a beard and doing a lot of drawings

of weird characters with weird facial hair,

and that’s how the name kinda came about,

to be honest. I’ve shaved recently but i think

I’ll always have some kinda hair on my face. 

Half beard! that’s actually too

funny.. Thanks for speaking with us

man. Good luck with what’s to come. 

Thanks a lot! take it easy.

How long have you been shooting?I’ve only actually  started shooting  in year 10  high school when I purchased my first DSLR which is about 5 years ago, but I’ve been making art since primary. Making mostly  illustrations  and collage work. From then, I later fell in love with photography.

So we paint a better picture of you. Can you tell us very briefly about your lifestyle?As a freelance photographer my day to day varies. No day is the same. For example: I’m currently interning for photographer Juliet Taylor and one day we are shooting in a studio in Rosebery and the next day we are shooting in the Blue Mountains with a video crew. Or when I’m undergoing personal projects like the Mardi Gras project that I did, taking portraits of actors for their program and poster.

Keeping up with a busy schedule by the sounds of things. It’s great to see. What are you plans after you finish your intern with Juliet Taylor?Yeah I always need to be active or it drives me crazy. Oh actually I’ve just told Juliet that I cannot continue the internship for any longer because I’ve accepted my offer for University, that will start next week. So that is the plan for the next three years really.

JAMIE DELA ROSAPHOTOGRAPHER06-01-93

That’s commitment! What exactly will you be doing there?I will be undergoing a Bachelor of Visual Arts where I hope to better my practice as an artist and also to broaden my knowledge of the art world.

You have such a broad skill set, it’s rad! What’s your favourite movie of all time?Oh, thanks. Hopefully I can master them!Ahh, one of the hardest questions to ask a human being haha.Ahm, well french horror movie Martyrs hit me in a huge way the way it hit me when I first watched it. I connected it to it way too deeply. I would watch it to calm me as weird as that sounds.

To calm you? Horror movies scare the shit outta me haha! It has been great to speak with you and learn your interesting and quirky ways.Haha!! Yeah people who have conversations with me about movies get a bit weirded out. It’s been fun!

Follow Jamie on http://jamiedelarosa.tumblr.com/

33

Your collage and photography blend together so

well. We are intrigued by the piece ‘Screams’, can

you tell us a bit about it?

The series is about the body, emotions  and the

world. These elements are symbolic throughout each

image. Screams in particular is about the overload of

information the world lays out on an individual.

NATHAN HYRATT

37

PHOTOGRAPHER

09-02-96

You have some really dope

skating photography, Are

you a skater yourself?

Thanks dude! And yes,

I am also a skater. I’ve

probably been rolling for

about 5 or 6 years now.

That’s sick dude.

What’s the fattest trick

you have pulled off?

Probably a noseslide

to manual on the ledge

and manny pad at

Cammeray Skatepark.

What’s your strangest obsession?

I don’t think I have any strange obsessions.

That’s fair.. What’s your ideal job man?

To work as a photographer for a

skateboarding company and travel

around the world shooting their team. 

Keep shooting like you are and hopefully

you’ll be there soon! Cheers for speaking

with us, see you around man.

I will! Peace.

Nice man, You have recently finished studying

right? Yeah, I just graduated my Diploma of

Photo Imaging about a month ago. I’m so glad

that I did that course, but also glad it’s over.

It was very intense, which meant I learnt a lot

but now I’m keen to just get out there and do it.

Yeah totally man, So what’s the plan now?

I actually have no idea. Just try to get

my name out there and find a job I guess.

I haven’t put too much thought into it, I’ve

just been relaxing for the last few weeks.

Illustrator, Skater and weed smoker... Would that sum up your

lifestyle in just a few words?

Nah I’d describe it more like “Unemployed with bad ankles and a

prescription.” But if we’re getting technical, I guess you’d be right.

I have to ask what’s your favourite trick and who are your main

skate influences?

I think a favourite trick is a difficult question, kinda depends on where its

done. But in general, a really nice ollie never fails. I think Shane Cross would

be the all time favourite, but nothing gets me more stoked then seeing all the

aussie rippers in Sydney. Dean Palmer and the 99 dudes all kill it.

You are currently studying Graphic Design. How’s that all going

for you?

It’s pretty stressful. I’ve done what ever I could to make every piece fun

for myself but there’s just too much shit to do, I ended up ditching 2

classes for this trimester just so i could have at least 1 chill day every

week. Illustrating for fun has become pretty rare which really blows. I

guess full time study is like a job you don’t get paid for. I sound pretty

negative but fuck, its definitely worth it.

Yeah that does blow man. You seem to draw a lot of skulls and

skeletons. Tell us a bit about your work?

When you put it like that I guess my work is pretty cliche. It’s all inspired

by skateboarding I guess. I started being a kook when the first tony hawk

games were put out, so I was reading comics, listening to punk shit and

hip hop when I wasn’t out rolling my ankles and having a bad time. Haha,

it’s been about 8-9 years since that stage though, and nothing was really

a phase. Primary school teachers would always make us paint trees and

shit for art sessions, they always encouraged me to draw and paint so

I never really dropped it. The whole idea of discussing art and writing

essays bored the shit out of me through high school and the teachers

who did it preached bible quotes at the same time. All that really did

was make me do little satanic scribbles for fun haha. I guess that might

be where skulls come in. Not to mention I grew up and still live in the

northern suburbs, which sucks and has nothing interesting about it so

I have nothing better to do than smoke a joint, draw and spin records

sometimes when I’m not stuck inside a graphic design lecture. Otherwise

I guess you’ll find me rapping, dancing, or playing basketball somewhere

in the Hornsby area with my white friends.

KEENAN ALEXANDERILLUSTRATOR07-07-94

43

Rapping hey? What would be your favourite

rap artists that you sing along too?

I don’t rap, but yeah I don’t know, maybe

Wu-Tang, Shyheim or something haha.

Happy to hear wu tang is being pumped

through your ears! What’s the plan after

you graduate?

Probably just bum around and freelance

till I get a paid internship or a portfolio I like

enough. I’ll probably be sending my work to

heaps of brands and shit.

Well good luck with it, Thanks for chatting

with us.

Cheers.

TAYLOR BLAND/PHOTOGRAPHER/29.04.93

47

What is it you love about photography?

I love the notion that I can recreate part of my

being in my images, signifying my perceptions

of time, place, culture and style. I also thoroughly

enjoy using a combination of film and digital.

Experimentation is also a big part of my process

and something i really love. 

That's super interesting. Who is your favourite

photographer and what are your main influences?

Two of my favourite photographers, would have to

be Dina Goldstein and Terry Richardson. Their work

is definitely a source of inspiration for me along with

my 'healthy' obsession of collecting. I find lots of

inspiration in collecting things, displaying them

and photographing them. 

A collector hey? What is something you, let’s say

'healthily' collect?

Yeah I'm a collector.  I wouldn't consider myself

a hoarder or anything  but I do enjoy collecting

eclectically.  Mainly things like bottles, jars, cups,

statues, alcohol bottles, comics and my favourite

would be boxes, cardboard boxes.

Carboard boxes? That's so bizarre! How would

you describe your lifestyle?

Haha I suppose it is a little bit. My lifestyle is pretty

relaxed at the moment, I work part time at a

Jewellery store so between that and sleeping

I enjoy, eating out, taking photos, walking the

outdoors and hanging out with pals. 

Being a recent 'Photo Imaging' graduate, what

are your next steps?

My next steps are to take more photos, assist in

shoots, post on my blog, researching techniques

and just keep on keeping on. As long as I'm

creating I am happy but I am also considering

furthering my education.

Sounds like a perfect plan! Thanks for speaking

with us Taylor. Hopefully we see more of you in

the near future.

Fingers crossed all goes well, haha. Hopefully

you will!

Check out more of Taylor’s photography at:

http://tay-bland.tumblr.com