Drawing inspiration from RMIT alumnus Jess McGeachin

Drawing inspiration from RMIT alumnus Jess McGeachin

RMIT alumnus Jess McGeachin is the illustrator behind the 2020 Premier’s Reading Challenge and his unique designs inspire children and students to read every day, wherever they are.

The 2020 Premiers Reading Challenge Posters The 2020 Premiers' Reading Challenge Posters, illustrated by Jess McGeachin. Please note, these images were designed in March 2020.

McGeachin completed a Bachelor of Design (Communication Design) in 2009 and has since published the picture book ‘Fly’ (2019) – a story about a girl called Lucy who builds an aeroplane for an injured bird.

In line with the Premier’s Reading Challenge’s theme ‘Reading: Everyone, Everyday’, McGeachin drew inspiration from Australia’s diversity.

“The idea was to come up with characters and locations that feel familiar to everybody, and make sure that everyone was represented in each illustration,” McGeachin said.

“I wanted to capture different people from different background, but really the focus was on everybody enjoying reading.”

The Premier's Reading Challenge has been running every year since 2005 and encourages children from birth to Year 10 to read a certain number of books throughout the year.

Since 2005, the Challenge has led to more than 3 million young Victorians reading more than 50 million books.

Growing up in Castlemaine in Central Victoria, McGeachin said reading was an opportunity to travel around the world without leaving the couch.

“I have very fond memories of thumbing through well-worn Graeme Base books on the lounge-room floor,” he said.

“Reading connects us to those that have been before and those that will come after and reminds us that we’ve faced great challenges together and won.”

McGeachin also works as a graphic designer at the Melbourne Museum, and said RMIT set him up for a strong career as a designer.

“We had a lot of real-world briefs, so that experience – taking on briefs and talking to clients ­– has been really valuable now working as a graphic designer,” he said.

Asked for his advice to aspiring illustrators and graphic designers, McGeachin said to keep testing out different design disciplines.

“Just because you’re good at one stream, doesn’t mean you can’t try other things,” he said.

“I started off doing graphic design and then tried things like animation. Design is so diverse that you shouldn’t be limited to one stream.”

His recommendations for the readers looking to complete the Challenge is to read something that makes you laugh, cry or anything in between.

 

Story: Caleb Scanlon

04 June 2020

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04 June 2020

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