Artist Creates Beautiful Art Deco-Inspired Illustrations

By
Pie
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Sophie Melissa is an award-winning illustrator who draws inspiration from art deco posters.

“I’d describe my style as graphic, colorful, and bold,” she told Ape on the Moon. “I take a lot of inspiration from the composition and layout of art deco posters from the 1930s, which I studied in my first few years at Falmouth.”

She uses rich colour palettes, bold shapes and decorative pattern to create exciting commercial illustrations. Her creations have a nostalgic aura, taking us to a time where life is simple yet colorful.

“I love working digitally but also love the imperfect nature of hand-drawn work. I combine both of them by starting each illustration as a pencil drawing and, once created digitally, I overlay traditional textures I’ve made through mono printing.”

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Day Five and Six of #MarchMeetTheMaker ✏️ A close up and Full Time / Part time – Here is a close up of an editorial I worked on for @wired I am working as a full time freelance illustrator, and I really love my work. It’s my hobby, passion and job all in one but there is absolutely nothing with working along side. The creative industry is so tricky, none of us have any idea where we will be next year. When I graduated up to last year I was up at 5am and stacking shelves at 6am, then working on my illustration until late – and honestly really enjoyed the human interaction despite the lack of sleep! Lots of people need a part time or even full time job to pay the bills or even give them a reason to leave the studio! There is nothing wrong with that! I also think this is one of the reasons I would love to find a shared studio space soon 👩🏼‍🎨

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Day Two of #MarchMeetTheMaker is how you started ✏️ (This is a ramble one for those who actually want to read on!) I planned to study design as I’d always loved drawing and creating so I did an Art Foundation year at @bucksnewuni which was so much fun, lots of experimenting, and it was there I discovered illustration was even a degree option and I remember feeling so excited at the chance to turn what I loved doing into my career. I actually dropped out of my first uni in Birmingham immediately after a few weeks, as I realised the course wasn’t for me (or worth the 9k a year!) so decided to go with my heart and apply for @falmouthuni which was my best life decision yet 🍃 Studying illustration there was an amazing experience – the tutors were so passionate and helpful and I learned so much and was surrounded by so many amazing creative people! Towards the end of my degree we visited New York and the feedback on my portfolio from art directors really gave me the confidence to get my work out there. I exhibited my work at @newdesigners in London that summer, and won the SAA new talent in illustration award, which introduced me to my amazing agents at New Division. This here was first commission a few months out of university for Scouting Magazine ✏️I am always learning more and developing as time goes on, but I am so happy with where I am in my career and am very thankful every step in my journey to get here! ✏️

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