Not many Cities in Australia can lay claim to their very own Academy Award winner. Joondalup can.
The former Hillarys resident – Tan went to Lymburner (now Hillarys) Primary School – and began submitting his drawings to small magazines as a teenager. His first illustration to be published was in a magazine called Aurelias in 1990. Tan has worked as an artist, writer and filmmaker and was the recipient of an Academy Award in 2011 for the short-animated film, The Lost Thing. The 15-minute computer-generated/hand-painted movie was originally a picture book Tan had written years before. While it was a long and complex project, Tan said it was a great opportunity to learn about the differences between book illustration and animated film.
Tan is best known for books that deal with social and historical subjects through dream-like imagery, widely translated throughout the world. The Rabbits, The Red Tree, Tales from Outer Suburbia, Rules of Summer and the acclaimed wordless novel The Arrival have been enjoyed by readers of all ages. For his career contribution to children’s and young adult literature, Tan won the 2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council -the biggest prize in children’s literature. He worked as a concept artist for Pixar’s WALL-E, drawing and painting scenes that were part of the initial creative process. The landscape of Hillarys remains a key inspiration for much of Tan’s work.