Bristol-based illustrator, Ana Jaks, admits that most of her creations consist of colors and flat shapes. “It’s fun and people often tell me looking at my work makes them smile which I love,” she admitted in an interview with Working Not Working Magazine. “I’m constantly trying to evolve and develop my style because it’s a good thing to never get too comfortable. Big arms seem to occur a lot in my work too, haha.”
Although she’s taken to art at a young age it took her a while to make a career out of it. “I’ve always loved drawing but never saw it as a career option,” she shared.
“I also never thought I was good enough to continue with it at higher education. In school my art teacher told me to ‘leave the drawing alone now’ because he didn’t like the way I transformed everything into a cartoon. I quit school and ended up studying Art & Design in college for two years where I was convinced that fashion design or marketing was what I wanted to pursue, until the tutors kept telling me I should consider illustration.”
She ended up studying illustration at Falmouth University and has been working independently since 2015 as a freelance illustrator. She’s also honing her skills, by studying an MA in Visual Communications at Bath Spa. “I ended up applying for Falmouth – which I loved – but still didn’t feel good enough and nearly dropped out after my first year,” she recalled. “Everything I made was with a black fineliner, and then someone exposed me to Posca pens and Anorak Magazine and I fell in love with color, shape, and pattern.”
Now, her eye-popping creations are anything but minimalist. Take a look:
