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{{short description|Australian artist, writer and film maker (born 1973)}}{{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}}{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

factoids

| birth_place = Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia| death_date = | death_place =| nationality = Australian| children = | area = | cartoonist =| write = y| art = y| pencil = y| ink = | edit = | publish = | letter = | color = | alias = | signature =| signature_alt = The Red Tree (Shaun Tan)>The Red Tree'The Lost Thing'The ArrivalCicada | awards =| website = shauntan.netthebirdking.blogspot.com.au}}Shaun Tan (born 1974) is an Australian artist, writer and film maker. He won an Academy Award for The Lost Thing, a 2011 animated film adaptation of a 2000 picture book he wrote and illustrated. Other books he has written and illustrated include The Red Tree and The Arrival.Tan was born in Fremantle, Western Australia, and grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. In 2006, his wordless graphic novel The Arrival won the Book of the Year prize as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.{{Citation|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald| url =weblink | title = 2007 NSW Premier's Literary Awards | date = 30 May 2007}} The same book won the Children's Book Council of Australia (Children's Book of the Year Award: Picture Book|Picture Book of the Year) award in 2007.{{Citation | contribution-url =weblink | publisher = CBCA | title = Book of the Year Awards | contribution = Winners 2007}}. and the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Premier's Prize in 2006.{{Citation | contribution = Shaun Tan | contribution-url =weblink | title = Premier's Book Awards Hall of Fame | publisher = State Library of Western Australia}}.Tan's work has been described as an "Australian vernacular" that is "at once banal and uncanny, familiar and strange, local and universal, reassuring and scary, intimate and remote, guttersnipe and sprezzatura. No rhetoric, no straining for effect. Never other than itself."WEB, Robb, Peter, The view from outside,weblink The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 September 2013, 13 September 2013, For his career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense" Tan won the 2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council, the biggest prize in children's literature.

Biography

Early life

As a boy, Tan spent time illustrating poems and stories and drawing dinosaurs, robots and spaceships. At school he was known as a talented artist.WEB, Biography: Shaun Tan,weblink Scholastic, 27 August 2014, At the age of eleven, he became a fan of The Twilight Zone television series as well as books that bore similar themes. Tan cites Ray Bradbury as a favourite at this time. These stories led to Tan writing his own short stories. Of his effort at writing as a youth, Tan tells, "I have a small pile of rejection letters as testament to this ambition!"JOURNAL, Shaun Tan: Out of Context, Karen, Haber, Locus, 12, December 2001,weblink 2007-07-25, At the age of sixteen, Tan's first illustration appeared in the Australian magazine Aurealis in 1990.

Transition to illustration

Tan almost studied to become a geneticist, and enjoyed chemistry, physics, history and English while in high school as well as art and claimed that he did not really know what he wanted to do. During his university studies, Tan decided to move from academic studies to working as an artist.{{Citation | title = Visual arts requirements case studies | contribution = Shaun Tan | contribution-url =weblink | publisher = NSW HSC Online}}.Tan continued his education at the University of Western Australia where he studied Fine Arts, English Literature and History. While this was of interest to him, there was little practical work involved. In 1995, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.{{Citation | url =weblink | publisher = AustLit | title = Agent}}.

Work process

Initially, Tan worked in black and white because the final reproductions would be printed that way. Some black and white mediums he used include pens, inks, acrylics, charcoal, scraperboard, photocopies, and linocuts. Tan's current colour works include multiple different colours. He uses a graphite pencil to make sketches on ordinary copy paper. The sketches are then reproduced numerous times with different versions varying with parts added or removed. Sometimes scissors are used for this purpose. The cut and paste collage idea in these early stages is often extend to the finished production with many of his illustrations using such materials as "glass, metal, cuttings from other books and dead insects".Tan describes himself as a slow worker who revises his work many times along the way. He is interested in loss and alienation, and believes that children in particular react well to issues of natural justice. He feels he is "like a translator" of ideas, and is happy and flattered to see his work adapted and interpreted in film and music (such as by the Australian Chamber Orchestra).{{Citation|url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2008/2258905.htm|title=Shaun Tan: Tales from Outer Suburbia|publisher=ABC Radio National|work=The Book Show|date=29 May 2008}}

Influences

Tan draws from a large source of inspiration and cites many influences on his work. His comment on the subject is: "I'm pretty omnivorous when it comes to influences, and I like to admit this openly." Some influences are very direct. The Lost Thing is a strong example where Tan makes visual references to famous artworks. Many of his influences are a lot more subtle visually, some of the influences are ideological.

Patronage

The Shaun Tan Award for Young Artists is sponsored by the City of Subiaco and open to all Perth school children between 5 and 17 years. The award is aimed at encouraging creativity in two-dimensional works. It is held annually with award winners announced in May and finalists' works exhibited at the Subiaco Library throughout June.{{Citation | url =weblink | title = Shaun Tan Award for Young Artists }}{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.

Awards

1992: L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future Contest: First Australian to win

1993: Ditmar Award, Artwork, Nominated for RelicsWEB,weblink Science fiction awards database,

1995: Ditmar Award, Professional Artwork, Winner for Aurealis and Eidolon

1996: Ditmar Award, Artwork, Winner for Eidolon Issue 19 (Cover)

1997: Ditmar Award, Professional Artwork, Nominated for artwork in Eidolon and the cover of The Stray Cat

1998:Crichton Award, Winner for The Viewer

Children's Book Council of Australia, Notable Book for The Viewer Ditmar Award, Artwork/Artist, Nominated for The Viewer

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, Children's Book, Shortlisted for The Playground

1999: Aurealis Conveners' Award for Excellence for The Rabbits

Children's Book Council of Australia, Notable Book for The Playground Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Winner for The Rabbits Ditmar Award, Australian Professional Artwork, Nominated for The Rabbits

Spectrum Gold Award for Book Illustration for The Rabbits

2000: APA Design Award for Memorial

Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for Memorial Ditmar Award, Artwork, Winner for The Coode St Review of Science Fiction Spectrum Gold Award for Book Illustration

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, Writing for Young Adults award, Shortlisted for Lost ThingWEB, Western Australian Premier's Book Awards – 2000 Shortlist, State Library of Western Australia,weblink

2001: Ditmar Award, Artwork, Winner for The Lost Thing

Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for The Lost Thing Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, Children's Books, Shortlisted for Red Tree

World Fantasy Award for Best Artist

2002: Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for The Red Tree

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature Winner for Red Tree

2006: Premier's Prize and Children's Books category winner in the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards for The Arrival

2007: Ditmar Award, Artwork, Nominated for The Arrival

Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for The Lost Thing World Fantasy Award for Best Artist{{Citation | date = November 2007 | url =weblink | newspaper = Locus Online News | title = World Fantasy Awards Winners}}. New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Community Relations Commission Award for The Arrival

Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year for "The Arrival".

2008: Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Comic Book for Là où vont nos pères, the French edition of The ArrivalWEB, Official 2008 Fauve D'Or trophy: Best album prize,weblink Palmarès Officiel 2008 Fauve D'Or: Prix du Meilleur Album, Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême, fr, 2008-01-27, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080128233259weblink">weblink 28 January 2008,

Hugo Award, Nominated for Best Related Book for The ArrivalWEB, Denvention,weblink 2008 Hugo Award Nomination list, 2008-03-29, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20081221004127weblink">weblink 21 December 2008, Hugo Award, Nominated for Best Professional Artist (also in 2009 and 2010) Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Young Adult category winner for Tales from Outer Suburbia

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Special Citation for The ArrivalWEB,weblink Past Boston Globe – Horn Book Award Winners – The Horn Book, hbook.com, 2016-04-21,

2009: Ditmar Award, Artwork, Winner for Tales from Outer Suburbia

Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for The Lost Thing

World Fantasy Award for Best ArtistWEB, World Fantasy Convention, 2010, Award Winners and Nominees,weblink 4 February 2011,

2010: Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, winner of the Children's Literature Award category and the South Australian Premier's Award for Tales from Outer Suburbia

Dromkeen Medal

Hugo Award, Best Professional Artist

2011: Academy Award, Won Best Short Film (Animated) for The Lost Thing

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award"2011: Shaun Tan: A masterly visual storyteller" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115172909weblink |date=15 January 2013 }}. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Retrieved 2012-08-13. Ditmar Award, Artwork, Winner for The Lost Thing Ditmar Award, Artwork, Nominated for Australis Imaginarium Hugo Award, Best Professional ArtistWEB, 2011 Hugo Award Winners, 21 August 2011,weblink The Hugo Awards, 27 August 2014,

Peter Pan Prize for the Swedish translation of The ArrivalWEB, Tidigare mottagare, Peter Pan-priset,weblink sv, International Board on Books for Young People, 27 August 2014,

2014: Locus Award, Artist

Ditmar Award, Artwork, Winner for Rules of Summer

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Picture Book Honor for Rules of Summer

2019: World Fantasy Award for Best Artist, FinalistWEB,weblink World Fantasy Awards 2019 {{!, World Fantasy Convention|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-25}}:Children's Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year, Winner for CicadaWEB,weblink CBCA Awards 2019 winners announced, 2019-08-16, Books+Publishing, en-AU, 2019-08-16,

2020

Adaptations

• The Red Tree, a play based on Tan's book of the same name, was commissioned by the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.Queensland Performing Arts Centre Media Release {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819102943weblink |date=19 August 2006 }}
• The Red Tree, a music performance created by new composer Michael Yezerski with Richard Tognetti; performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra with the youth choir Gondwana Voices, and accompanied by images from the book.Australian Chamber Orchestra The Red Tree Accessed: 2008-05-29
• The Arrival. Images from this book were projected during a performance by the Australian Chamber Orchestra of conductor Richard Tognetti's arrangement of Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 15
• The Lost Thing has been adapted as an Oscar-winning animated short film.Lothian Books
• The Lost Thing inspired an album by Sydney band Lo-Tel, complete with artwork from the book.
• The Lost Thing has also been adapted as a play by the Jigsaw Theatre Company,WEB,weblink Jigsaw Theatre Company, 6 November 2007,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070830130621weblink">weblink 30 August 2007, dead, a youth theatre company in Canberra. This was the main event for the National Gallery of Australia's Children Festival (Canberra) and at the Chookahs! Kids Festival (Melbourne) in 2006.
• The Lost Thing was the theme for the 2006 Chookahs! Kids Festival at The Arts CentreHomepage – The Arts Centre – the home of the performing arts in Melbourne in Melbourne, with many different activities based on concepts from the book.
• The Arrival was adapted for the stage by Red Leap Theatre.WEB,weblink The Arrival – Red Leap Theatre, Australian Stage, 12 January 2009, 12 January 2009,
• The Arrival was again projected on a screen to an orchestral score, performed by Orkestra of the Underground with 18 pieces created by musician and composer Ben Walsh. This was performed in the Opera House in Sydney, The Melbourne Recital Centre and Her Majesty's Theatre in Adelaide.WEB,weblink Orkestra of the Underground,
• The Rabbits was the basis for an opera of the same title by Kate Miller-Heidke which was premiered at the 2015 Perth International Arts Festival.

Works

Books

As illustrator

• The Pipe, by James Moloney (1996)
• The Stray Cat, by Steven Paulsen (1996)
• The Doll, by Janine Burke (1997)
• The Half Dead, by Garry Disher (1997)
• The Viewer, written by Gary Crew (1997)
• The Rabbits, written by John Marsden (1998)
• The Hicksville Horror, by Nette Hilton (1999)
• The Puppet, by Ian Bone (1999)
• Memorial, written by Gary Crew (1999)
• Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link (2008)

As author and illustrator

• The Playground (1997)
• The Lost Thing (2000)
• The Red Tree (2001)
• The Arrival (2006)
• Tales from Outer Suburbia (2008)
• The Bird King and other sketches (2011)
• The Oopsatoreum: inventions of Henry A. Mintox, with the Powerhouse Museum (2012)
• Rules of Summer (2013)
• The Singing Bones (2016)
• Cicada (2018)
• Tales from the Inner City (2018)
• Dog (2020)BOOK, Tan, Shaun,weblink Dog, 3 November 2020, 978-1-76052-613-9, Crows Nest, NSW, 1191088993,
• Eric (2020)
• Creature (2022)

Installations

• Mural in the Children's Section of the Subiaco Public Library (Perth, Western Australia).WEB, Shaun, Tan, The Tea Party,weblink 6 September 2014,

References

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

• weblink" title="archive.today/20010302070555weblink">"About Shaun Tan" Aboriginal Student Support and Parent Awareness Program Retrieved 27 December 2005
• "About Our Authors and Illustrators". Lothian Books Retrieved 27 December 2005
• Haber, K. (2001) "Shaun Tan: Out Of Context", Locus magazine Retrieved 27 December 2005
• "Media Statement (2005)", Western Australia Department of Education and Training Retrieved 27 December 2005
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060819102943weblink">"The Red Tree", Queensland Performing Arts Centre Retrieved 27 December 2005
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20050616144807weblink">"Shaun Tan Award For Young Artists", City of Subiaco Retrieved 27 December 2005
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060819001754weblink">"Shaun Tan: Biography", Dreamstone Retrieved 27 December 2005
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20050514153021weblink">"Shaun puts students in the picture (2000)", The University of Melbourne Retrieved 27 December 2005
• "Tan, Shaun", AustLit Retrieved 27 December 2005
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060103115511weblink">Tan, S. (2001) "Originality and Creativity", AATE/ALEA Joint National Conference Retrieved 27 December 2005
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060103101445weblink">Tan, S. (2001) "Picture Books: Who Are They For?", AATE/ALEA Joint National Conference Retrieved 27 December 2005

External links

{{Library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooks=no|about=yes|wikititle=Shaun Tan}}{{Commons category|Shaun Tan}}

• {{official websiteweblink}}
• {{isfdb name |7201 |Shaun Tan}}
• {{IMDb name |1316810 |Shaun Tan}}
• Shaun Tan collection at Beinart Gallery
• InFrame.tv interview with Shaun Tan on the animated adaptation of his book The Lost Thing
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070831013750weblink">The Lost Thing: Online interactive version
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20081024123945weblink">Interview with Shaun Tan on Australian Edge
• weblink" title="archive.today/20121230225221weblink">Webquest on "Representations of Belonging" – using the picture books of Shaun Tan by Julie Bain
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060821132851weblink">Webquest on "Viewing the Viewer" – postmodern picture books for teaching and learning in secondary English education by Julie Bain
• Drawn Outsider – profile of Shaun Tan
• Shaun Tan's Gallery with biography and artbooks on Inside Your ART

{{World Fantasy Award Best Artist}}{{Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winners}}{{Authority control}}