Artist Talk

Before I say anything, I would like to express my gratitude to all who have viewed the gallery installation or joined Marcus and me at Kinokuniya for today’s event (17/5/25).
I would like to extend an even bigger thank you to those who have purchased a copy of Young Man. As my own and the studio’s first published and exhibited project, it’s been amazing to learn all about the process of illustration, publishing, marketing and communicating which I will be sure to write more about when I have more time.

This small post covers the artist talk/discussion by Marcus Khoudair and myself (Ethan Scotney) in the gallery, which Paul Pinga Matereke very generously moderated. I was amazed by the turnout of people, both known and soon-to-be-known. It exceeded my expectations, considering the delay in advertising the event—a lesson learned.

Marcus covered topics such as the very ideas and conversations that sprouted the ideas for Young Man. I learned it sprouted from a conversation with a friend of Marcus’ who as a child would have these recurring nightmares and the emotions surrounding that.
Other topics discussed were the points at which major graphical decisions were made and whether Young Man was always envisioned to be the way it is.
My answer to that… no. It started quite traditionally, then one day, while testing graphic methods, I stopped and decided, after much mental agony and pondering, that we must push the envelope in terms of visual storytelling, take a risk, and do something brand new and vastly different. However, the restriction of text in the story was always key, as it enforced universality. From there, meetings were held between Marcus and I. There were some minor disagreements here and there over details, but all went quite smoothly as we work very well together. Further tests with parts of the script, and after that, I dove headfirst into the illustration process, of which took over a year.

However, I feel slightly influenced by the talk occurring in the space. Gallery goers were more active in the space, stopping by to check out bits of the talk and, even more exciting, picking up copies as the talk was going on. It fills me with such joy to see my illustrations of Marcus’ script viewed, enjoyed, and hopefully learned from and pondered.

Again, thank you to all who attended.
Until next time!

Ethan Scotney.


Below are some photos from the event. I hope you enjoy!