Friday, September 2, 2011

Feature Friday~ Julia Staite

Happy Feature Friday!
and a happier one than usual as it is a 3 day weekend :) Today I have an interview with the very talented, Julia Staite. A wonderful illustrator who I first stumbled upon when ohhhhing and ahhhhing over her illustrations in an issue of Small Magazine. The whimsical circus themed prints won me over and I had to get to know the person responsible for such adorable work! Well ladies and gentlemen, here is the lovely Julia Staite...


Tell us a bit about yourself

Hello! I am 30 years old, mum to a (very nearly) 2 year old daughter and live in London.

I have been working as a freelance illustrator for about 8 years now. I have worked for magazines, newspapers, publishing houses and ad agencies but after taking some time out to have my daughter Beatrice I decided to open an Etsy shop to sell my prints and illustrated items.
I love making things - I love to sew and knit in my free time - so it seemed like the natural thing to do. Now I can combine my love of craft with my love of illustration.

Highwire Girl - Illustration print
Highwire Girl

What inspires your illustrations?

Lots of things! Folk art has always been a great influence on my work and these days there is such a fantastic community of artists, crafters and makers that its easy to find inspiration - just a quick browse on Etsy makes me want to get making! I also love drawing animals and giving them characters.

Circus Horse - Illustration print
Circus Horse

What are your favorite mediums to work with?

As you can see from my work I like to mix any medium I can get my hands on! Collage, paint, pencil, fabric - whatever feels right I use!

Alphabet blocks - set of 3 illustrated alphabet blocks
Set of 3 Illustrated Alphabet Blocks

How would you describe your creative process?

When an idea starts forming in my head I often have a browse around the internet for reference material which helps me get a more solid picture in my mind. I then sketch and sketch until I'm happy before I start on the art work. When I'm creating the art work I make decisions about colours and materials as I'm going along, so I don't always know exactly how I want something to turn out! I create the majority of my illustrations by hand, just using photoshop to finish off or clean up the scanned image.

Alphabet blocks - set of 3 illustrated alphabet blocks
Set of 3 Illustrated Alphabet Blocks

Can you share a peek at your current project?

I'm currently working on more alphabet blocks. I am illustrating the whole alphabet so that customers can buy personalised sets from my Etsy shop. Its quite a lot of work! Obviously each block has 6 sides each of which has a unique illustration or hand drawn letter/number, but something I found after having my daughter was that I loved having things with her name on! Of course she has her own set of blocks already! Personalised blocks should be available to order in my shop from next week


Thank you Julia!
Be sure to visit Julia's shop to take advantage of the exclusive coupon for Folklure readers, and be one of the first to snatch up a personalized block set :) 

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