QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Hello you guys!
Well well well, its been a while since I wrote a blog post am I right? I honestly get so caught up in daily life I often forget I even have a blog!

Anyways, this time next week, I'll be in NYC, hopefully drinking some prosecco.  If there's two things I love, its going on holiday, AND GOING TO MANCHESTER AIRPORT. That place transforms me into a crazed woman, (even more crazed than I normally am) so Im in a very good mood at this moment in time.

Ive had such an exciting past few days, creating some work for a good cause and one of my illustrated ladies made it on the cover of an independent magazine, and the list goes on.

To celebrate my excitement and happiness, Ive started a lil sale over on my insta, and now imma answer some questions that have been left in my insta messages and in the comments of my photos! enjoy you lot!





Who are your favourite artists?
There will hardly be ANY thought going into this question, my favourite artist/illustrator? Laura Callaghan 100%. She is my all time FAVOURITE illustrator, no questions asked. Laura's work blows me away. With a question like this I could go on forever about how much I love her work. It's just so unique, detailed and aesthetically pleasing, she's literally everything I'd love to be as an illustrator. Granted I look at her work and think "well damn my work looks pretty crap", but I guess we all feel that way with someone we admire!


What programmes do you use to create your illustrations? do you use a tablet?
The main programme that I use to make my illustrations is a lil app named Pixelmator. I always say I use Photoshop, because that's pretty much what Pixelmator is. Unfortunately as a student I cant really afford to pay (however much it is) a month for photoshop, so Pixelmator is an ultimate life saver, and was £25 straight up. No monthly fee's, thats it! As for tablets, I don't use them for my work, there's just something about them I don't like within the context of creating illustrations. Im very precious over my drawings so I like to stick to what I know! Everything I do is done by hand, I draw by hand, well I don't physically edit by hand, but I use my hand to move the mouse so that counts right?


Who are your favourite people/fashion brands to draw?
I draw so many people, but of course Im going to have favourites, there's just some people out there who's blogs/instas I can go through (not a stalker I PROMISE) and just save image after image to my to draw folder. Out of all of my illustrated ladies, I just ADORE drawing Nadia Lee Cohen, Megan Ellaby, Annie Hanlan and Amy Roland. Also, how can I forget, anything Marc Jacobs! and maybe a little Gucci on the side.


What's the process of illustrations like?
The process of illustrations sounds like a long one, but time really does fly when I'm having fun! So here we go. First off I draw the image in pencil. Next I go over the the image with my trusty fineliners. I have three specific pens with different thicknesses, I have a thick nibbed pen for defining lines (0.6), and extra thin nib for tiny details (0.05), like eyes and lips, and I also have what I call my my medium nibbed pen (0.1) is used for inner lines and details such as hands! If you're still here, you're a bloody trooper! lets carry on. Next up I blu-tac the finished image onto my wall, and turn on all the lights. Time to get out my trusty phone and take a photo using one of the black and white filters on the iPhone camera. Then I send it over to my mac, drop it in my editing software, get rid of any unwanted lines, fix up any mistakes, add the colour, save it and pop it up on insta! (I'm literally out of breath from writing this!)

Where do you get your inspiration from?
Everywhere basically! be it a photo in vogue, an illustrator on insta, certain photos or people on insta, a collage on a website, you name it! Im kind of like a sponge when it comes to inspiration, I just absorb any possible thing that could inspire me! I think creative people such as Bowie always inspire me, so unique, memorable, and of course push boundaries! I wouldn't like to be the type of person who's safe and does things by the book, so I think anyone or anything creative keeps me inspired!


What are you working on at the moment?
At this moment in time? nothing! How exciting do I sound?! Everything is kind of cooling down at the moment, I'm off to NYC on Sunday as you know, so Im kind of happy that everything is quite breezy. I cant just leave the post at that now can I? The most recent work I've done is for Megan Ellaby. This lil babe is doing a charity clothes sale at Jimmy's NQ on the 25th of June, raising money for the families of the victims of the Manchester attack (so get yourself down there!) I created a section of funky posters for her (57 to be exact, big up to Megan for being a STAR after i bombarded her with them all). I cannot forget one of my illustrations made it on the cover of She Is Fierce Mag! Never heard of em? well you're missing out! this mag is right up the street of anyone who loves anything creative, unique and aesthetically pleasing, so check em out if you have a chance


How do you choose what images you're going to draw?
I browse. A lot. I am CONSTANTLY searching for things/people to draw. I go through instagram, websites, and reliable fashion photography websites. I sound like the biggest stalker ever (I'm not trust me). I cant exactly explain how i choose an image,  there's something inside of me that just knows "this is a definite image to draw".

So there ya have it, a lil thanks to the people who's asked me these questions, I think you're all fab!
Until next time!

Olivia
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