I am so excited by today's feature. I have long admired Amy's work and am thrilled to share her talent with you! She has some super rad skills with a pen and pencil and you can even get some of her artwork at the Arts on Main market in Pretoria. She proves that local is indeed lekker!
“'Illustration' is a term used fairly loosely to outline my art, design and continuous doodling. My work largely leans towards portraiture in various mediums, focusing on capturing the nature and personality of whomever and whatever is my subject, be it people, animals or objects, often with an added twist of hand typography. I offer a variety of personalised and quirky illustrated projects that are often based around the ideas brought to me by clients," Amy says.
1. How did you
start and how long have you been doing this?
Art has always been at the heart of most of what I do, but it’s only
since I’d finished varsity and started in my 8 to 5 design job last year that I
really started developing and focusing on promoting my illustrating and freelance
commissions in my own time. I not only found that I had a lot more free time
during lunch breaks and outside of work than I had while I was studying, but I also
really needed to get away from the computer and back to pen and paper and creating
with my hands. Things really seemed to start developing after I bought and
began filling my first Moleskine journal with drawings, collages and musings
early last year.
2. What sort of
products do you make? Do you also provide services?
A general focus of my works is portraiture, but not limited to just
faces, rather portraits as visual descriptions of my subject matter, from
people to trees to buildings to objects. I provide personalized illustrative
services to anyone who would like to have their ideas (calm or crazy) or
perhaps the likeness of a loved one visually captured. I’m also very active on
social media continuously sharing (especially on Instagram) whatever work or
doodle I’m busy with or have just finished, so I guess I do some visual entertainment
in a way too.
3. Where do you
find inspiration for your creations?
People, my surroundings and general media – often sitting in front
of a computer all day I tend to come across many interesting and inspiring
things on the internet, especially via Twitter, that spark an idea which I jot
down and revisit again later. My journals and random scraps of papers I’ve
scribbled on when an idea strikes house a lot of base thinking and inspiration,
but often I actually find that a blank page and a pen while listening to music is
where most work starts.
4. What are some
of the challenges of being your own boss?
To be honest, I’d have to say being “clueless” a lot, at this stage
there’s still a lot of trial and error that I go through to find what and how
things work with dealing with clients, costings, time management and general
business things.
5. How do you
perceive the South African creatives/design landscape?
Inspiring, diverse and professional (generally). I have a handful of
really great and talented creatives which I follow quite closely, not only for
their work and technique but how they individually navigate the creative
industry and the local platform. It’s also far more encouraging and relatable
looking at our homegrown talent because it feels more obtainable and possible
to get to that level of success compared to looking at the international
landscape. Local is lekker!
6. What is your
favourite colour/ material to work with, and why?
I’m all about colour, but when it comes down to picking a favourite one
and material: black ink, definitely. I love its possibility, its easy
transitions from bold lines to subtle suggestions, from outlines to typographic
possibilities. Give me any surface and a fineliner, brush and ink, ballpoint
pen or koki and I’m a happy doodler. Its permanentness can be both exciting and
frustrating, a challenge which I enjoy.
7. What would you
do if you won the lotto?
My rational self would invest most of it and be responsible before
booking a flight to somewhere beautiful and foreign that offers endless drawing
possibilities… and wine. Once all my sketch books, experience and inspiration
levels are sufficiently full, I’d head home and set up the most amazing and
inspiring personal studio space with all the art supplies that my present self
can only dream of at the moment…
8. Where to from
here?
Buying that lotto ticket…
9. What has been
your proudest moment since you started?
Realising what I sincerely want to do. Finding that passion and
direction really helps to inform everything I do now with the consciousness of
where I want to go –being a full time independent illustrator and making a name
for myself in the industry, both local and abroad. I plan to get involved in
more solo and group exhibitions, grow my client base and work on my own
projects to keep exploring techniques and subject matter.
FIND AMY HERE
YOU CAN WIN!
Like Amy's Facebook illustration page and share the post with the necessary comment to stand the chance to have YOUR COVER PAGE personalised and illustrated to use on FB &/twitter. To enter, click here.
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