Karen Ruffles

A Byker-based visual artist specialising in charcoal landscapes, wildlife and gothic illustration.

About

About Karen Ruffles

I've been working as a freelance artist for over 30 years. I specialise in charcoal pencil drawings and my work has appeared in books, on album covers and even bodies (as tattoos, I hasten to add). I fell in love with charcoal many years ago - I'd always been very detail orientated in my work, and graphite pencils gave me that, but I could never quite get the depth of shadow that I wanted. Until one day I happened to pick up a pack of cheap charcoal ones to try and that was me hooked. They are more temperamental than the regular ones, but the payoff is those velvety blacks. Perfect for an old school grumpy goth like me :) I do a lot of wildlife and landscape work because it allows me to constantly explore new textures and techniques - even after all these years I am still discovering new ways of working with charcoal. It also gives me a huge library of reference materials and experience that I can then apply to my gothic and monster illustrations. I like the fact that I'm still using stick technology, pressing a bit of wood to plant fibres to leave a smoky mark - there's something very grounding about doing that. It's also a kind of magic bringing life to the page in that way - I guess that's why we've been working in charcoal for somewhere in the vicinity of 30,000 years. I am the latest in a very, very long line. To pay the earth back I make sure my practice is as eco friendly as possible. I use plant based printers, recycled or sustainably sourced papers, recycled wood frames and compostable bags. I reuse packing materials and make sure anything I can't recycle is repurposed in the studio or through community organisations. I am also leaning in to the storytelling side of my work, translating my drawings and ideas into other formats to make them more accessible and immersive. This has so far included animation, tactile 3d prints for the blind, audio, and interactive 3d builds with mechanical and electronic elements to encourage my audience to actively engage. I am now looking at how I can combine all these things into augmented reality shows.