UWO art student brings stories to life

Oshkosh native Sonja Funnell has found a niche in the local art scene of her hometown and its surrounding cities.

In addition to being a Bachelor of Fine Arts student at UW Oshkosh, Funnell is a published illustrator with the bulk of her published material falling into the genre of children's books.

"I became involved with illustrating children's books in high school, when I applied for a job from a local author who was looking for an illustrator," Funnell said. "Her name is Amy Young, and the book is titled ‘Because You Serve'."

Finding her next illustrative opportunity came by way of local author, Darrin Anderson, who had been searching throughout the country for the perfect illustrator for his work, a children's book series entitled "The Adventures of Henry."

"I was searching for months to find the right illustrator, but I couldn't find what I was looking for, for art," Anderson said. "I reached out to the department here, where I was connected to Sonja. We had an interview where she brought me her portfolio work and one of the books that she had published."

To Anderson, finding Funnell to fill the role illustrator for his books seemed to be an act of fate.

"The same night, my wife came home and said that a coworker of hers had a girlfriend who was an artist," Anderson said. "I looked her up online, and it happened to be the same person I had met that day. It was going to happen one way or another."

The premise of Anderson's books came from the stories he would tell his son, Henry, before bedtime. Various stuffed animals were the inspiration for the characters in these stories. Funnell said illustrating the anthropomorphic characters of Anderson's books gave her a whimsical artistic outlet.

"I like the way I get to bring a child's vision to life and have fun with the characters and colors, more than is possible in more serious art pieces," Funnell said. "I like being able to draw animals with a lot of personality and drawing the adventures children see in their imagination."

An artist since before she can remember, Funnell said she was ready to accept the seemingly challenging opportunity to illustrate Anderson's books.

"I always loved drawing, and made my own illustrated books in second grade," Funnell said. "It's a fun challenge to get a sheet of text and have to interpret it into an image that children will enjoy and want to spend time looking at. Each book is so different and presents a whole new set of characters and backgrounds to work on. "

A well-known individual throughout the art department of Oshkosh, Funnell garnered high praise from her former professor, Richard Masters.

"I have had her in three of my classes, two of which were illustration courses," Masters said. "I noticed early on that Sonja possessed exceptional drawing skills that she readily adapted to her illustration projects. Sonja is one of those rare students who has both the talent to excel and just the right attitude when it comes to further developing herself. I have no doubt she will do exceptionally well after she graduates."           

Gracious and humble, Funnell said she revels in the artistic advantages she has obtained.

"I am very proud of my work and never imagined that the opportunities that I have gotten would have ever been available so early in my life," Funnell said. "I'm very thankful for this."