Today, I’m delighted to introduce you to my friend, Rebel Challenger. We are kindred spirits who have never met in person, but we’ve been online friends for over ten years! We met on Instagram while taking part in fabric design challenges hosted by Spoonflower.com. Over the years, she has become quite a well-known children’s book illustrator, and recently, I was honored and delighted to find out that she dedicated one of her books to me. ME? Yes, me!
I asked Rebel if I could interview her for my blog, and she very kindly said yes! So here we go!
Hi Rebel! Where do you live, and what is the weather like right now?
I live in Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It’s summer and it is very hot and humid, although for the past few days we have had some rain which has cooled things down a bit.
Your name is so cool! Is there a story behind it?
My mum named the first child (out of four of us) and my dad named the second – me! He had seen a person in the social pages of a newspaper with the middle name Rebel and he thought it was a pretty cool name, especially with the surname Challenger. I didn’t even realise it was unusual until I started high school when I met new people.
How did you become a children’s book illustrator?
I did a lot of illustrative fabric designs on Spoonflower which got me back into drawing after not doing it for many years. From there, I was posting on Instagram and then I started doing a few Instagram drawing challenges. A publisher saw my work and asked me if I wanted to illustrate a book. I tried to act cool, but then immediately said YES!!!
How many books have you illustrated?
I’m up to book 21! This includes mostly picture books, but also a few junior fictions and a few graphic novels (comic books)
What is your favorite thing to draw?
Animals. I love creating little animal characters. Characters that seem to turn up most often when I’m drawing for fun are cockatoos (parrots) and chickens.
What is your favorite art medium to work with?
I love drawing with ink pen on paper. All my book illustration starts this way and is then finished digitally on iPad – which I also really enjoy. I have scraps of paper all over the house with little drawings I have done.
I know that you’re a wildlife carer. What is your favorite story of rehabilitating an animal?
So many stories! But the most recent is the time a lady turned up at my front door with four plover (bird) eggs. I put the eggs under two of my chickens and a week or so later all four hatched! The chickens and I raised them until they were old enough to be released. Over a year later, I still have one who visits the backyard every few days.
Another story is the time I raised three baby kookaburras. The first day they found their voices they were so loud and all I could hear was laughing all day. If you google laughing kookaburras you can hear what they sound like. Triple that sound and that’s what three baby kookaburras sounded like when they started laughing at dawn inside my house!
What kind of wildlife do you see in your yard?
Lots of parrots – cockatoo, corellas, lorikeets. Lots of other birds – kookaburras, hawks, wrens… too many to name! We also get possums, sugar gliders… plus echidnas and kangaroos in the bushland around us. We also get really big goannas(large lizards) and snakes, snakes and more snakes! Eek! You have to watch your step here, especially in summer when more reptiles are around.
What are you reading right now?
I’ve been reading a James Patterson book – easy reading to settle my mind- I had not read in a long while so slowly getting back into it and this was the first book I grabbed off the bookshelf.
What is your favorite TV show?
I don’t really have a favourite. But I do love old movies and I also find myself watching a lot of True Crime programs. My ‘main’ job is as an art director in newspapers so a lot of my time is spent doing work relating to world events, crime and politics, so to counteract all that serious news, I also watch a bit of trashy TV stuff like reality shows where I can numb my brain a bit!
What is your favorite song right now?
Hmmm…. I can’t think of one. I like all kinds of music depending on what mood I’m in.
Do you have any other dreams besides illustrating children’s books?
I like the idea of just doing art for art’s sake. Just drawing or painting what I feel like and then selling it if I want to. I imagine I’d end up with a pile of cockatoo and chicken drawings and no money though!
And lastly, what made you decide to dedicate O.M.G to me?
Ummm… because you’re awesome! We’ve known each other for a long time through Spoonflower and Instagram and I’ve always admired you and how kind and supportive you are to me and others. I hoped that dedicating this book to you would go a little way to say thank you and to show you that our friendship means a lot to me. Also, I just love all the cool things you come up with on Instagram.
Thank you so much, Rebel! I really appreciate your time, your kindness, and your friendship. I can’t wait to see what you create next!
Here’s where you can find Rebel:
Website: rebelchallenger.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/rebelchallenger
Spoonflower fabric shop: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/mulberry_tree
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What a fun interview we did! It was so lovely to do this and it looks amazing here on your blog. Looking forward to more interviews you do in the future!
Rebel x
Thank you so much, Rebel! ❤️ This was my first-ever interview, so it was super sweet of you to agree to it! It was fun!
What a delightful person! How fascinating to learn about her background and her current interests and the setup. So many animals! A Giana in the back yard? I’d faint, too.
But really, what a delight.
Hi Daria! I’m so glad you enjoyed meeting Rebel! She really is delightful!
OMG INDEED!!!! What an incredible honour!!! This is so exciting, Michelle! And well deserved. You are so supportive and encouraging. I love this – women lifting up other women. Also, I feel like I have seen that book – maybe in my local bookstore. I’m not in the children’s section much these days but something pinged when I saw it!
I loved reading this – what a cool woman. Australia is so fascinating, all the wildlife. I feel a kinship to Australians, I think they and Canadians have a lot in common.
Nicole, I’m so glad you enjoyed the interview, and how cool to remember seeing one of her books in your local bookstore! I have always been fascinated by Australia, and I adore Australian accents. Do you think you’ll travel there someday?
This is fascinating and such a delightful interview. Also, you have a book dedicated to you, Michelle. That is BEYOND cool.
I love that To Much to Bear in Montana fabric.
Thank you, Elisabeth! I’m still in awe over having a book dedicated to me. I’m so glad you enjoyed the interview!
This is so very fun. Congrats on the book being dedicated to you, the Outstanding – if the title fits, right? I so enjoyed checking out all of Rebel’s art, and learning about your long distance friendship. We are living in a wonderful age when we can connect with one another in this way. The animals depicted in this art are inspired and so cute. What a fascinating career and name Rebel has. Thanks for sharing, Michelle.
Ernie, I’m so glad you enjoyed the interview! Yes, it is wonderful that we can connect with one another through the Internet.
Oh how fun! Isn’t it great when Internet friendships last for years? 🙂 The animals are so so cute!!
Rebecca, I never would have believed that I’d value Internet friendships so much, but they often are some of the best. It’s fun to meet kindres spirits from all over the world.
What an amazing honor to have a book dedicated to you! I am going to look up these titles and request them from my library. My boys, ages 5 and 8, both still really love picture books. My older son, Paul, pretends like he’s too old for them now that he reads chapter books, but when I read books to Will at bedtime, Paul almost always sits on the couch and listens. I love picture books so much, too! I might enjoy them even more than my boys! My kids are lucky to have so many amazing, diverse titles to choose from. The picture book industry seems to have exploded in the last 10-20 years!
I love the story behind Rebel’s name! Combined with Challenger it is quite the cool name! She is such a talented artist. I so admire people who can draw as that is not a talent I possess (I’m not being modest… I am truly terrible at drawing).
PS your valentine arrived this week! Thank you for brightening my day!
Lisa, I know! I still can’t believe it’s real! I hope your library will be able to get some of Rebel’s books in for your boys. They are so fun! I love picture books too because the art tells so much of the story. Sometimes the art even has different stories going on aside from the main story, and I love that!
I’m happy you got the valentine, even if a bit late!
I really enjoyed “meeting” Rebel Challenger! I love the bear pillow and the Be Happy picture. I am going to look for the books because they look perfect for my grandson 🙂 That was a very interesting interview Michelle.
Hi Dulcie, I’m so happy you enjoyed the interview! I hope you can find some of Rebel’s books – they are really fun!
I love this so much for you, my friend! What a lovely honor! Rebel sounds like such a fun human! Great interview, Michelle! 🌈😘❤️
Thank you so much, Kari! ❤️😊🌟
This is so cool. And sweet. What a wonderful friendship. The internet is the greatest thing if you use it right. And what an Honore to have a book dedicated to you. I am just sitting here happy and smiling. And Rebels name is indeed outstanding. I first thought it was a fictional character you are talking about. A new inhabitant in the dollhouse. Ha.
Tobia, thank you! I’m so glad it made you smile! ❤️
What a fabulous interview, Michelle! Rebel seems so cool and I *love* her drawings. How special that she dedicated O.M.G. to you!
Thank you, Suzanne! I love her drawings too! I feel really honored by the dedication!
Wow, Michelle, what a surprising honor! The interview is fascinating… (I am always fascinated to get a glimpse of other “artist’s” lives)… it can be such a fun but challenging thing to do… draw what somebody else wants you to draw, if you know what I mean! Her drawings are wonderful and full of gentle humor… they remind me of Grace Boynton’s illustrations… she did a lot in the seventies and eighties also animals and humorous representations. And learning so much about Australian wildlife is fascinating… if a bit unnerving too! I really wonder what those lizards are like… do they run fast or just crawl around? And yes, the most surprising thing for me about the internet has been finding kindred spirits we are unlikely to ever meet for real… but have such a positive influence anyway! (I mean Dollhouse people are not generally recognizable on the street or even in your own workplace!!! – Just sayin’!) :):) It took me years to “come out of the closet” at my workplace… and it was even a liberal forward thinking kind of place! :):) But I digress…. don’t I always??? …. what I mean to say is what a wonderful informative interview and kudos to Rebel for all her work…. on paper and in her RL relationship with wildlife! Thank you for introducing her!
Hi Betsy! I’m so happy that you enjoyed the interview! It’s true that Australia has some very WILD wildlife, and Rebel has so many great stories about creatures that have visited her yard. I love that you “came out” as a dollhouse person at your job! I admit that hardly any of my “real life” acquaintences know about my dollhouse. It just doesn’t come up in conversations! I’m so glad I met you so we can discuss dollhouse stuff!
oops… that should be Sandra Boynton! My apologies….! (I once knew a Grace Boynton and got their names confused!)
Sandra Boynton is awesome! I love her books!
That was totally cool! I thought that “Rebel Challenger” was a pseudonym for someone who is a rebel (from Gretchen Rubin’s 4 Tendencies) and a #8 on the Enneagram!! Such great little illustrations and what a thrill to have a book dedicated to you, especially when you have never met in person.