Struthless on Finding Order in Chaos and the Habits That Make It Stick

Aussie illustrator and author Struthless – or, as he’s known offline, Campbell Walker – tunes into our Zoom from his wildly colourful office somewhere in rural New Zealand. Surrounded by an intricate collage of illustrations and ancient magazine cut-outs, it’s clear that this is a person who knows how to create his own brand of calm amidst the chaos.

After making a name for himself across social media with his hilariously kooky illustrations that manage to perfectly balance delight with wisdom and scathing political commentary, Walker has centred his ever-evolving practice on social justice and mental health. His work is comic-inspired and deceptively playful, anchored in youthful naivety with just a hint of delinquency.

“I think there’s something about it that makes me feel young, or connected to other outsiders,” he says.

Now, as a father to two young children, art remains the most consistent ritual shaping his daily life with his family. A typical morning in Walker’s household kicks off with “a whole lot of playing”. “I don't have the agency that I used to and I kind of love it. The days fold out, they collapse, they pour out,” he says.

When he was approached to create a bespoke artwork for the coffee cups featured in the Fuel Your Mornings with Audible campaign, Walker was immediately intrigued. A coffee celebration running from March 24 to 25, the campaign will see participating cafes across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane giving away 150 free coffees each morning they’re trading – all served in limited-edition, artist-designed cups. “Audiobooks are very close to my heart,” he says.

He generally listens to three audiobooks a week and is an avid consumer of what he calls “intense political non-fiction”, which helps him stay in deep concentration mode while he draws.

“Audiobooks are just perfect. It’s somebody doing years and years of research and distilling it down into the most digestible way. It’s like one of the most beautiful delivery systems for information. Audio is maybe the most nourishing type of content.”

Walker’s cup designs are inspired by two bestselling Audible titles: Atomic Habits by James Clear and Reset Your Health with Jamie Oliver. Hooked by both authors’ emphasis on claiming your own agency, he created two wild illustrations inspired by a quote from each audiobook.

“There’s a quote from Atomic Habits that had always stuck out to me, which is, ‘Every action you take is a vote for the person you wish to become. As the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity’.”  In response, Walker created a grid of atomised micro-moments that each represent the different votes you can cast before your day begins.

He reckons that Oliver is a “quiet revolutionary” and was struck by a line from Reset Your Health with Jamie Oliver: “You might not be able to control your city, town or street. But you can control your home and I find that deeply inspiring.”

“I was like, ‘Well, the implication is, if we all control our house or ourselves, we could control the city’. That’s what I mean by quiet revolutionary.”

His Oliver-inspired design is an illustrated house, “controlled on a backdrop of dusk – a time, he notes, that people don’t typically associate with feeling in control.

For Walker, wellbeing isn’t about the individualistic, Instagram-fuelled hustle culture of “wake up at 5am, have nine cold showers”. Rather, it’s about lifting other people up.

“To determine whether a goal is worth chasing, I think it should be measured on the metric of collective improvement. And that will start with self-improvement. But it won’t end with self-improvement.”

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Audible. From March 24 to 25, Audible will be serving free coffee in limited-edition Struthless-designed cups at cafes in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane from 7:30am. Discover Audible’s collection of wellbeing audiobooks here.