"Housewife" - Q&A with Artist Miranda Parkin

 

Credit: Miranda Parkin

Housewife - Q&A With Artist Miranda Parkin

By: Nathaniel Simpson

    The character of the Housewife from the short film, Housewife, directed by Greta Guthrie and Jake Lazarow, really intrigued me. I thought it was a really great design for this horror character, and I was delighted to learn that it was adapted from an original artwork by artist Miranda Parkin. I was not familiar with Parkin's work before, but after watching the short film and really starting to explore more of Parkin's art, it is evident she has some amazing horror designs that are bursting off the page. Her characters and designs have such personality and incredible design that is so incredibly engaging and delightful to look at. 

    After checking out the short film and interviewing the two directors on the short, I decided to reach out to Parkin to see if she could talk a little more about the character, the short film, and what has inspired her artwork throughout the years. It was awesome getting to hear her responses to my questions and really learn more about this fantastic artist. 

Q:  Can you give us a little background on you? How did you get into art, and were you more drawn to horror art when first starting? Can you give us some examples of other characters you have created?

A: I am, and have always been someone who has been drawn to artwork, even when I was little. I always had crayons, colored pencils, paints, and everything of the sort by my side. My dad was very much encouraging of my artistic career, constantly supporting my hyperfixations to his wallet's dismay. It was sometimes a question if I was going to go into something like art as my career. I did choir for about nine years, had some mental health issues, and was then encouraged by my choir teacher to pursue art if choir wasn't something I was going to do for the rest of my life. In high school and college I was more drawn to classic Disney animation and not anything that scary, but I think when 2020 rolled around and liminal spaces were all the rage, I stumbled down the rabbit hole of ARG's and found footage. I think having Trevor Henderson becoming a mutual of mine a few years ago really inspired me to pick up the horror art and run with it. I can't say I've done a lot of horror art recently, though. Housewife is a bit of an enigma in that she was never really supposed to blow up, so at the time I wasn't really prepared for all of that attention, and over the years she's sort of fallen by the wayside until Jake and Greta picked her up and gave her new life. I also have a series focused on campers who are haunted by monsters in the forest, but again I tend to lose focus, and I haven't drawn them in a little while. I really hope that I can get back on that train again. 

Q: How did the character of the Housewife come to fruition? Were you inspired by another horror artwork or story for this character? 

Credit: Miranda Parkin

A: Funnily enough housewife came from a few different sources. I saw a drag look that I absolutely loved, and the idea behind it was that someone was trapped in a house. I think that was really the thing that caught my attention, and I started experimenting with ideas involving a house-headed creature. 

Q: Your character has now been brought to the big screen in the short film by Greta Guthrie and Jake Lazarow. How did the idea for this to become a short film come around and were you familiar with the two filmmakers before the making of this picture?

A: My boyfriend at the time (who is still one of my best friends in the world) actually acted in another short film of theirs, and they reached out to me in an email that they wanted to turn her into a live action short film. I wasn't really doing anything with Housewife when they reached out, and Jake and Greta are such great filmmakers, so of course I had to say yes! They were over the moon and so am I. I think we all still are. 

Credit: Miranda Parkin

Q: What role did you have in crafting this film? Were you on set when they started filming? 

A:As you see in the short film I actually do the voice of Housewife herself! In the early days before production Jake and Greta were so great at talking to me about exactly what was going on on set and updating me on everything even though I was never on set (I live in LA and they shot it on the East Coast. I definitely was more of a cheerleader than anything.

Q: Like I mentioned to both of the filmmakers in my Q&A with them, the major thought going through my head after watching this film was that I wanted more from this character and this world that you guys created. Are there any plans for the character in the future - either in a short film, feature film, or artwork format? 

A:I believe Greta and Jake have plans to make this into a feature film at some point in the future, and I will definitely be more involved in the making of that as they would be writing the script with my supervision and advice. Obviously they're the filmmakers so their opinion and insight comes first but I would love to be a bigger part of what comes next if they'll have me! I also believe that there are a couple more Housewife things that you'll see in the future, like merch collaborations and streaming appearances...though you'll have to wait and see!

    If you haven't yet, I highly recommend checking out the short film Housewife (https://share.google/c9UCymjGgnTXZP7tN), as well as checking out more of Miranda's work! You can find her work on her Instagram at @parkinart. I highly recommend checking out her designs and following the progress of giving this fantastic horror character a feature-length film!