With hints of the sensual, and always with a veil of salubrious beauty, Eveline Tarunadjaja’s illustrative works beckon the eye to dive into the dreamlike worlds, and intricate patterns, that they espouse.

As a self taught artist who moved to Australia in her teens, Eveline has since pursued her artistic passion with a vigorous can-draw attitude; experimenting, developing and pushing her style through trial and error. With comic-esque undertones and sultry combinations of naturalistic and feminine themes, she has garnered interest not only from aficionados within Australia, but from galleries across the world. Not content with merely putting pen to paper, however, Eveline has also delved into the world of t-shirt printing and yardage patterning, extending the intricately gorgeous art that is her trademark into the wearable world.

With work in the upcoming Go Go Gocco Go show at Outre Gallery this Friday , and as she draws her way towards her next solo show in November, Eveline kindly gave us a bit of her time to satisfy our curiosity – and to indulge our love of fine lined, illustrated femmes …

You moved to Melbourne from Indonesia when you were fifteen, those are some pretty formative years – would you attribute the move here to part of the impetuous to pursue your creative work? Have you always had a love of drawing?

I had always love drawing when I was growing up.

I read a lot of Japanese comics when I was little and learned how to draw from those. I’d make up stories in my head and draw my own characters. Moving to Melbourne just kind of broadened my exposure to a lot of different styles of art, beyond stuff you learn at school (we don’t really get much art history lesson in Indonesia), to more independent comics, like Adrian Tomine.

As you have said elsewhere before, you haven’t had much formal training in art, how did you go about learning the ins and outs of
illustration – or did it come naturally and purely develop over time?

In terms of technique – I did my experiments and learned from my mistakes. Everything else that I need to know, I asked my friends – or google.

In terms of style, it just developed over time.

Are you working in the creative industry full time these days? What usually consumes your day to day activities?

I’m working for myself, doing illustrations and just started a t-shirt label with a friend of mine called As Prescribed.

At the moment, since my solo show is less than two months away, I’ve been drawing like a mad woman – and if you don’t see me drawing, I’m probably thinking about what to draw next.

Your illustrations, on the surface, appears loose, but has a very defined, well thought out line work, and for many illustrators it is the “line chase” that pushes them forward with their work – would you say the same about yourself? Is there a quest to push the limits of this line work when you are drawing?

Well, I like the idea that when you see something from afar, it’s totally different up close. I try to push my own limits, but it’s not necessarily with lines or details.

Sometimes they’re just there to help me build the bigger picture. 

A lot of your work has influences from semi-porn and other erotic art, and you’ve cited in the past that you’re influenced by a bit of soft-porn comic imagery from both France and Italy – what is it about these things that drive some of the undertones in your work, or are you now looking into other areas of influence?

I’m still somewhat influenced by them, and I still try to subtly convey the sexuality in the women, even though I’m not sure if it shows at all.
I guess I’ve had to kind of tone it down a bit, as my mum is on Facebook now … :P 

Hair also seems to splay everywhere in your pieces, and we love that – you do have an amazing attention to fine detail – do you ever have issues of getting lost in that detail, or is that the whole point?

Personally, I never feel lost in the hair, I suppose, but I had a period where I had to fill every space with details and I kind of like it – but a friend asked me once if I was feeling suffocated, so I try to keep things in balance.

I want others to be lost in it, but also have some space to breath.

We notice that you have some work in the Outre Gallery Gocco showcase – have you done much work with Gocco prints, and what do you like about them? For the uninitiated, what exactly is Gocco and why does it seem to be a favourite tool amongst illustrators?

I’ve played around with Gocco a little bit, mostly for screen printing t shirts and yardage patterns.

It’s quite fun to do once you got the hang of it. I like it because it’s an accessible tool to use for printing on materials. I haven’t done many prints on paper before this show, so it was a bit challenging for me to get the right look – as it’s not something I’m used to.

I just quote Gemma Jones on this. “Gocco technology was invented in Japan (1977) as a home-use, lofi mini screen print system that allows simple, multi-colour printing.  Using flash bulbs and small thermal print screens, this ingenious invention has been adopted by artists who love the unpredictable, handmade quality to the process.”

Earlier this year you had a show at Thinkspace Gallery in Culver City – how has the experience of exhibiting overseas been so far, and how did you get involved with the show at the gallery there?

I like exhibiting overseas. The pricing and commissions is slightly different, but all in all there isn’t much different in comparison to exhibiting locally.  I never run into problems with any of the galleries that I’ve been involved with, which is great, and doing shows in different countries gives me more exposure.

I usually get involved with shows by knowing other artists, getting involved with other group shows, and getting in touch with galleries that seems to show similar styles.

What other shows and projects are you currently working on that we can hope to see your work in, and where?

• The Outre Gocco showcase opens THIS FRIDAY (16th September 2011)
• I’m working towards my solo show at No Vacancy Gallery (QV Melbourne) which opens on the 11th of November 2011.
• Our first round of t-shirts from As Prescribed will hopefully be ready to launch at the end of the year with Sean Morris (WA), Kubota Fumikazu (VIC), Maricor Maricar (NSW) and myself.

In terms of the future – do you have any ideal projects or dream projects that you want to tackle?

I’d love to do more installation/set design projects or to be able to start a travelling project – call me greedy but I just have too many to mention :P

You check out Eveline’s website for more info, and her Facebook fan page!