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Interview Session: Hidden Eloise and Few Secrets by Keri Smith

Monday, January 10th, 2011

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After such a long time I came to an interesting interview and thought to share with my readers. Hidden Eloise is a lady who has an affinity for bears and dark forest creatures. She is one of the top ten most successful artists on Etsy, and she’s just released a brand new collection of works for 2011. Now let’s go through her interview and her I am sharing her information:

Name: Hidden Eloise
Location: England
Website/Shop: HidenSeek.etsy.com
Blog: HiddenEloise.com
Illustration media: Pencil, paper, some brushes and my computer

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Tell us a little more about yourself!
I’m Hidden Eloise, the pencil and brush behind Hide n Seek. I like fairytales with grim endings.

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Where do you live? What stands out about living where you are, and what is your daily schedule like?
In the northern forests of the olde England where there are only 2 seasons a year and the Sun seldom reaches the rolling hills.
A typical day would be like this: Wake up, enjoy a hot cup of one of my countless obscure oriental teas, read and reply to e-mails, start processing orders, update stocks in my shops, work on various projects and new products, buy materials and things that i’m perpetually running out of, take a break to go practice martial arts and/or archery (aww it does wonders to a tired mind) and by the end of the day remember to take a breath. A non typical day would be like this: Wake up, enjoy a hot cup of one of my countless obscure oriental teas, start drawing and don’t stop until I fall asleep over my drawings.

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Could you tell us more about your thought process when you start a piece?
I will either have an overwhelming desire to draw a specific scene that I was daydreaming about or I will have a very specific emotion hovering above me that needs to find an image to attach to. I depend a lot on random inspiration and whimsy to come up with ideas but when I have a concept I transform my creative process to very thoughtful and technical. I take great care with my pallets and my compositions and I work and rework every element until I’m satisfied, which usually takes at least two-three weeks and often more.

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What’s your favorite project so far?
I enjoyed a wonderful collaboration with the very talented singer Adrienne Pierce for her latest album “Oh Deer”. I did all the art and design for the CD album, something i hadn’t done before, and the whole experience was exciting and engaging and moreish.
Do you keep a journal/sketchbook, and would you mind if we had a sneak peek? (a couple or a few images would be good, if you can manage!)
Hmm, let’s see what i can unearth for you, from this huge heap of white paper that i tentatively call a “sketchbook”.

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What or who inspires you?
I am permanently enamored with some specific old art movements. It can be seen in most of my art for those who know where to look, but i really let myself go in my latest collection and it’s much more obvious. The Dutch Golden Age and especially Rembrandt, Japanese ukiyo-e and more recent Art Nouveau are all hovering above me in their brilliant light. I also adore Shin Yun-bok, he makes me skip beats!

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Interview With Keri Smith

What’s your favourite tool?
Ah, easy question. My Wacom Cintiq 21UX. It is a pen tablet built on a screen so i can draw directly on it. Everything still starts with pencil on paper, no technology can beat that yet, but Cintiq allows me to take full advantage of my computer in the creative process. Importantly, it allows me to work faster and time is always invaluable for an indie artist.
Are you a full-time artist?
I am very lucky to be supported by my art fully but i’m still only part time artist. The other half is a part time, fiercely independent business woman managing and promoting my own business and shops without other agents or outside help. I get to have full creative control and i only need good people that want to have my art in their homes and nothing else. On the downside, i don’t have as much time as i would like to actually make new art but I’m doing my best to organize better and find more creative time.
After this interesting interview let me share some secrets revealed by Keri Smith about illustration and following are few my favorite points:

1. Don’t worry about marks while you are in school. No one will ever ask you what school you went to or what your marks were when you leave it. (this pertains to the field of illustration).

2. You are always working for yourself, even when you work for others. Sometimes it feels like you are just the hired hand (and some clients can be really challenging to work with). But there is always some way to turn an illustration job into something exciting for you. Some ideas: experiment with a new technique (or a new color palette), use it as an opportunity to learn about a new topic, rebel against the job in tiny ways (do some roughs just for yourself in whom you insert subversive material).

3. Focus on ideas instead of tools (technology). Anyone can learn to use the tools, but it is the thinkers who really impact the culture in important ways. In the end the tools don’t offer anything interesting.

4. Worrying about the competition does very little to help your career. I know it’s hard sometimes to ignore what other people are doing (we all think that others are doing better than us), but every one of us is on a different life path. We are all here to accomplish different things and even though it would seem like one person’s path is similar to yours, it is not.

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Category: Interview Session

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