AR: Describe your art style in three words.
Expressive, dynamic, storytelling
AR: What is your workspace set up like?
I’ve created a small home studio during lockdown, inspiration stuck to the wall ahead of me and a laptop and drawing board along with light box to my left. Many plants and an easel for larger scale work.
My process involves hand drawing imagery alongside collaging from painted papers or old magazines. My inspiration wall currently has the likes of Basquiat, Daumier, Frida Kahlo, and Van Gogh, all though the images posted here are constantly changing and I hope some of their brilliance seeps in through constantly seeing these images. I love to work to music and am currently listening to Bicep’s new album as well as exploring classical music.
AR: How has your life and experiences influenced your artwork?
I found reading and writing difficult growing up, but loved storytelling and creating. I instinctively drew and painted all the time, at the back of class at school and when I got home. Illustration seemed to make perfect sense as it combines narrative with imagery, and so this is what I studied at Art School.
AR: What/who are your biggest influences? Artists or otherwise
I wrote my dissertation on the 18th Century satirist Hogarth, drawn to his way of telling a story through sequential images, much like a comic strip. His subject matter often involved cautionary tales, depicting the stages of a person’s downfall. The written language is not needed to understand the story and message, it is pictorial storytelling and this still greatly appeals now. Other artists that still inspire me are Daumier, his ability to caricature in such a nuanced and sophisticated way and captures the light and atmosphere perfectly using just a pencil. George Gross for his his social commentary, lampooned characters and his expressive use of varied line work. The colour combinations, balanced compositions and textures of traditional Japanese wood cuts, alongside Aubrey Beardsley economy of line, pattern and decorative characters also have greatly influenced me.
Other than artists and illustrators, nature, reading, ideas, people, dreams, characters, observing, and the joy of making something from nothing.
AR: What’s your favourite piece in your portfolio and why?
Currently my favourite piece is “Unconscious Conscious” as it’s new and was created during the first lockdown, inspired by a dream of being lost and finding my way out of a jungle. I collaged the artwork from old magazines and then developed it into a large three colour screen print. If you look closely you can see a small figure running, floating, hiding and eventually finding their way out, bottom right of the image.
Click here to check out Ellie FP's full collection of stunning artworks!
