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Speaking with Illustator, Chrissy Clark
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 10:52:00 Europe/London
Chrissy Clark is a talented illustrator who creates fun and cute designs that we’ve just featured in a new collaboration of wall murals.
In our latest Azutura interview, we caught up with Chrissy to discuss quarantine and its effect on her productivity, her use of digital art, sketching with her teenager and much more.
Keep reading to see what she had to say and for a chance to see some of her artwork.
Hi Chrissy, thanks for taking the time to speak with us. Can you start by introducing yourself and telling us a little bit about your life?
I live in East Tennessee but I am originally from Ohio. I’ve always been a very creative person with a big imagination. I like to put it into my day-to-day life.
My husband and I bought a fixer-upper farmhouse and we’ve been busy remodelling, and I look forward to putting a lot of my excess creativity into it. I do a lot of crafting as well. I feel it helps not to pour it all into artwork.
How’s quarantine life treating you? Has it affected your productivity?
Quarantine has definitely affected my productivity, unfortunately. I am a natural homebody, but I still enjoyed a couple of outings every week that I looked forward to plus occasional outings with friends. I didn’t think it mattered so much, but it really does.
I work from home, so being able to leave a few times a week really gave me a boost. Being stuck has tanked my productivity. I think when you are at home, you have a million things around you that you know you need to do - getting out of it clears your mind a bit and opens it for other things like more creativity to come in.
How and when did you first become interested in illustration?
I have been drawing since I could hold a pencil. It’s something I just always knew I wanted to do. My grandfather was an artist as well, so I was surrounded by art since I was little.
What’s a typical day like as Chrissy Clark?
Well, it’s not much different than everyone else, I think as I do work a regular job. When I get off, I split time between housework, my teenager, art, and Animal Crossing - I’m addicted to it thanks to quarantine.
What drew you to digital art?
The amazing amount of choice. I didn’t always have the funds to buy all of the colours I wanted of paints, markers, pencils or pens. With digital art, I could have any colour or type of instrument I wanted. The choices can be overwhelming at times, but I think it’s absolutely amazing that we have the technology to do it. I just love how vivid or dull the colours can be. It’s anything I could ever want in front of me.
Can you tell us about your creative process from the initial idea through to the final piece?
I tend to scribble a lot. I will get an idea in my head, or not, and I will scribble it down in my sketchbook. From there, if I feel the idea is worth it, I will just kind of draw many iterations of simplistic forms until I feel I truly have something. Then I will start a blank page and put it in a final finished sketch format.
I then scan the piece into one of my art programs and ink the image first then start colouring it. I try not to worry as I lay out the main base colours about what they will be. Since it is digital, I have the freedom to change it and play around with the palette.
I play with the colours until I’m happy and then just work on it from that point on adding depth and light until it’s finished.
Where do you find inspiration for your work?
It’s extremely random - I dream a lot and I find a lot of inspiration from that, but also other artists inspire me. Sometimes, I’ll see a picture of a place and something randomly creative will occur to me. It could even be a random object that I think maybe interesting to use as a clothing item - it’s hard to pinpoint.
Can you tell us about how your work evolved as you were initially very inspired by anime and manga but have progressed from these subjects?
I fell in love with manga and anime from a young age. It was so very different from what I was used to seeing every day here in the US - it seemed more beautiful and advanced.
I loved the cel-shading and other techniques in it. I used this as a basis for my earlier works because that is what I wanted to do, but somehow through the years, a different style started to evolve. It was 100% not intentional, it just happened naturally as I grew as an artist. I still hope that people can see that influence in my work because it really set me on the path to where I am now.
You mentioned your teenager loves to sketch which has inspired your work - can you tell us a little about this?
We love to draw the goofiest, silliest, and often time most inappropriate stuff together. When we do this, we have no plan. We often sit across each other and take turns drawing on a page of our sketchbooks. Sometimes we pick a theme and sometimes not. The goal is just to draw something funny quick to make each other laugh or add on to what the other draws to make each other laugh.
It’s amazing how you end up progressing when you do this with another person regularly. It really sharpens your mind and skills and often takes away inhibitions to drawing. It’s not intended to be a beautifully finished piece, just silly sketches that convey the message, but it helps you grow as an artist.
You mentioned you listen to music and podcasts while working - what are some of your favourites?
For music, I love Tricky, Massive Attack, Portishead, Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Rammstein, Dead Can Dance, and the list goes on and on and on, but those are what I listen to the most.
As for podcasts, I love true crime podcasts. My go-to ones are Casefile, Generation Why, and Sword and Scale, but I also love folklore and historically based ones like Lore, Unobscured, and Noble Blood.
What advice would you give to someone looking to get into illustration?
Don’t be afraid to put your work out there. I know that with internet anonymity there comes trolls, but there also comes real valuable critique and visibility.
Only listen to what will help you grow as an artist - valuable critique and input. Keep practising. Don’t shy away from real criticism, it will only make you better, and no one will find you if you don’t put yourself where people can find you. It can be very slow to start, just don’t give up.
What’s the future looking like? Anything big on the horizon?
Honestly, I try not to think about this. I find I put too much pressure on myself and just try to take things as they come. If I see an opportunity, I will take it, but I find it kills my creativity to constantly be looking for the next thing. It can take the fun out of art.
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