This week I spoke to Cuban graphic artist Yaimel López, about the process of screen-printing, Cuban art, and the launch of his first art book.

At the time of this interview, Yaimel has been working as an artist for over ten years since graduating from design school in Cuba. He first worked in editorial design before landing a job at a Cuban magazine that produced political cartoons. Working alongside more experienced cartoonists, Yaimel says that he learned a lot from them both artistically, as well as in a narrative sense. He shared that “you have to be very smart in how you talk about things,” when creating these satirical cartoons, and that this style of layering meanings within the image itself has persisted into his current work. For Yaimel, “my work is never decorative. At least that’s not my main concern when I’m working”.

Screen-Printing

After moving to Canada with his wife, Yaimel continued to forge his own style, taking inspiration from many global influences, but naturally, also from his time in Cuba. He attributes his work to the stylized imagery of political graphics from the 60’s and 70’s, as well as the aforementioned cartoons that he worked on earlier in his career. Perhaps his strongest influence is the the strong screen-printing tradition in Cuba, rooted in bold colours and graphic designs. For those unfamiliar with screen-printing, this is a process in which a combination of mesh and stencils are used to either allow or block ink from reaching the printing surface. By applying multiple layers of this technique, an image can contain multiple colours, as well as more complex images. When Yaimel first came to Canada, his first job was working in a shop that screen-printed designs onto t-shirts. While he was there, he was speaking about his love for the medium when a coworker mentioned that he should get the supplies he needed online, and start making prints of his own. Yaimel sheepishly admitted that he didn’t realize that he could gather the necessary tools so easily in Canada, and he soonafter began working to print his original designs. It can certainly be a messy operation, and one of Yaimel’s biggest challenges starting out was convincing his wife to let him convert their washroom into a space in which he could clean and hang his used screens. As someone who has lived with six other people, I’ve definitely seen worse bathrooms.

Translating Photos Into Prints

As a professional artist, Yaimel says that he has worked on many books in the past for other clients and artists, but “I always had a dream to make my own book”. For his inaugural collection of prints, he took inspiration from a photo album his mother-in-law had found in a home she was working in. The pages of this album contained a series of original black and white photographs of Colombian and Venezuelan indigenous peoples taken during WWII. Yaimel was fascinated by these photos and began thinking about how to translate the story of not only how these people looked and dressed, but what they were thinking and doing in their day-to-day lives. One particular image that stuck out to him was a man making arrows. A dynamic composition, interesting layers, and the bold colours he loves all came together to make an image well-suited for screen-printing. For all of the images he produced, he essentially had to disassemble the photos into their distinct colours and forms, and then layer them back upon one another to compose the final images. After several months of designing and printing, he amassed a series of twenty prints for this book. As he had such a strong background in screen-printing, he tells me that his biggest struggle was not the prints themselves, but rather creating the cover of the book. Handmaking the cover proved much more difficult than he had thought, as even just finding a product that was strong, yet flexible enough was a task of its own. From there, he faced further challenges, experimenting with different measurements in order for it to align and close properly. You should judge a book by its cover if so much love has gone into making it.

Life as a Graphic Illustrator Artist

When Yaimel came to Canada, he initially had some difficulties finding work, but not due to any lack of talent. He shared that a barrier he faced was simply referring to himself as a graphic illustrator and not a graphic artist. In Cuba, clients focus on “if they connect with your work,” as opposed to the creator’s title itself, whereas in Canada, calling himself a graphic illustrator did not afford him as many opportunities as he had hoped for. Once he shifted his title to one of a graphic artist, Yaimel says that “people approached me in a very different way,” and he found himself booking more gigs, and having many more doors open for him. He is very excited to share the work from his new book, saying that immersing himself in the imagery and colours of Latin America helped him get through a turbulent year in the world. Yaimel shares that “maybe because I’m a Cuban, being far from my country, I need to connect” back to his memories of home, and that this book is a way to share these memories with others as well.

Follow Yaimel on Instagram, and check out his website to see his portfolio and new book.

Follow A Musing on Instagram for more content on Yaimel and the other creatives in this series.

And don’t forget to check our last interview with improviser and sketch comedian, Ronald Dario

-BF

This week, I spoke with Jasper Yiu, a commercial artist specializing in watercolour paintings for food-related products. We spoke about her decision to leave a full-time job to pursue a career as an artist, her experience of growing an audience online, and what artistic qualities your pets share with your favourite meals.

Pursing a Career in the Arts

Unlike some of the other artists in this series, Jasper did not pursue an education in the arts, rather pursuing a degree in Computer Science from the University of Ottawa. This is not to say that Jasper is new to painting, as she revelled in the arts during her time in high school. However, she said that as she turned her attention towards post-secondary studies, “I just dropped art because I was insecure about my work”. After taking a few years away from art, she tried painting watercolours for the first time in her last semester of university, rekindling her desire to create more work and start an Instagram account to curate her paintings. Upon graduation, she accepted a position related to her studies in computer science. Jasper continued to build her portfolio in the hours outside of her day-job but eventually realized that “I was working in a job that I didn’t really like or enjoy”. As 2020 came to a close, she made the decision to leave her full-time job and move to Vancouver, picking up remote work to support herself while she continued to invest more time into her art.

Growing an Online Following

The first paying gigs Jasper landed were to paint pet portraits, and this work helped her build a following amongst private commissions. From there, she explored other accounts to see what similar artists were doing and realized that there was more commercial work available for food illustrators. It isn’t an accident that food is also one of her favourite subjects to cover, and her familiarity with the subject matter also helped her enter this field. Transitioning from painting animals to food, she said the variety of textures she has to realistically depict is a challenge in both fields, including wet noses and thick fur to crisp produce and soft dough. As she grew her online following, Jasper reaped the benefits of attracting a global audience, by booking editorial assignments from clients located in Malaysia to Belgium. The majority of her bookings came through her Instagram account, which started as “a visual diary,” and a means to collect her work, but soon became a major influence on the business she received. Despite this benefit, Jasper shared that the ecosystem of Instagram can make it “a bit harder to find your voice independent of what you “think might do well”” and find a balance of posting content that she enjoys with content that she hopes will draw high levels of engagement.

The Perks of Watercolours

When Jasper started using watercolours, she chose this medium simply because it was a low-barrier entry into the arts. Picking up a small travel watercolour set, this was a much more affordable, portable, and compact setup to work in compared to oil or acrylic painting. Something that has remained the same today is that Jasper only uses four to five base colours in all of her work. By starting with such a simple kit, she had to learn to manually mix any colour she needed as opposed to buying additional paints. Retrospectively, she said that “I think having a somewhat restricted palette has given me a better understanding of colour,” and a stronger foundation to apply new skills and tools. One noticeable upgrade Jasper has made is that “my brushes have gotten smaller and smaller” to allow her to be more refined and detailed in her work. Overall, she says that her style is more controlled than when she started, and this has helped her to more accurately portray real life in her own style.

A personal project Jasper has been working on is building a recipe journal, naturally complete with watercolour illustrations. She has been collaborating with different writers to contribute recipes to the collection, but she also mentioned that she also intends to leave many pages blank for the user to fill in as well. Being the architect behind a project like this comes with logistical challenges such as ironing out royalties for the writers, and getting the book into production, but she has been encouraged by the success she has had working in similar projects for other clients. Simply put, she believes that “what you put out there is what might come back to you,” so she is excited to realize her efforts into a finished project.

Jasper’s artistic evolution is by no means complete but she has found that the most rewarding aspect of this field is “finally getting to do what I really like to do”. She said that many of her friends and family were surprised that she didn’t pursue the arts in her post-secondary studies, and acknowledges that “I went on a detour but now I’m back on track”. No less than a year and a half ago she was working in a job that didn’t fulfill her, but she has quickly pivoted and built a following of over 7,500 followers on Instagram. I look forward to the day when this figure is embarrassingly out of date.

To take a look at Jasper’s work make sure to follow her on Instagram and check out her online portfolio. I would advise you to avoid browsing in between meals.

Follow A Musing on Instagram for more content on Jasper and the other creatives in this series.

And don’t forget to check our last interview with painter, illustrator, and muralist, Ciele Beau.

-BF

This week I spoke to artist, Ciele Beau about a busy year of mural-painting and the fascinating ways she uses synesthesia to create truly original art.

Ciele’s journey as a professional artist began by completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at The University of Victoria in 2013, earning a major in Visual Arts and a minor in Art History. After receiving her degree, she moved to Vancouver and spent the next seven years building up her portfolio in the evenings and on weekends, while she worked day jobs to support herself. By 2015, she had started doing more freelance work, and while these jobs often didn’t pay well, she says that each one was a valuable learning experience to get better as an artist. As a freelancer, design jobs were often more easily available than illustrative jobs, and she soon found that she had reached the limit of what she could teach herself. Ciele decided to continue her education at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2017, earning a certificate in Design to supplement the more traditional training she had received from her former degree. With her foundation solidified, Ciele transitioned to becoming a full-time artist in 2018 and began holding her own solo shows, featuring in part, work inspired by and created with synesthesia.

Synesthesia Art

While studying in Victoria, Ciele was tasked with an assignment in which she had to create a painting inspired by a song. She picked “Pro Nails“, by Kid Sister as her song, and ended up painting a piece that she describes as “this crazy mess of just shapes and colour,” but something that reflected her feelings when listening to the song. While certainly abstract to the uneducated blog writer, Ciele said that experiencing this array of visual stimulation was and still is very normal to her when she listens to music. However, this experience proved difficult to explain to the other students in her class. During the class critique of their work, Ciele said that “I was so proud of it, but nobody got it,” as many others fell back on painting literal representations of their songs’ subject matter. Later that year, Ciele was approached by one of her peers who had learned about synesthesia, and had been reminded of her painting. At the time, Ciele didn’t know what synesthesia was, but after doing some research she realized that she had been living with it all her life. In fact, she realized she has multiple forms of synesthesia, but for the purposes of her art, she focuses on colour synesthesia. For Ciele, this means that when she listens to music, she feels colour, “kind of the same way that you would feel emotion…on a chemical level”. This feeling manifests as tangible colours and shapes that she is able to translate into two main approaches to synesthesia art, colour frequencies and chromatic forms.

Beginning with colour frequencies, this is a method in which she translates sheet music into a grid pattern filled with the colours that she feels when she listens to the song. This creates a visual blueprint of the song, featuring a specific range of colours and palette arranged in time with the music. Of course, it would be an oversimplification to describe it as simply a grid, but the end result spans the entire song with different line weights to correspond with the varying notes in the song. Conversely, chromatic forms are an opportunity to translate both the colour as well as the shapes she feels, creating a piece with more movement and less structure than when working in colour frequencies. This results in a product with more fluidity and represents the song in a visually different way than the former technique. When she first starting using synesthesia in her work, Ciele would listen to whichever song she was working with until she was finished with the piece. She says that this became quite overwhelming on a sensory level, as well as the basic fatigue that will come when listening to any song for that long. She has since refined her workflow; when creating a colour frequency piece she will listen to it only until she is able to create a colour palette for the song. From there she is able to use that palette to create her grid, without needing to listen to the song live for the entire process. Similarly, her current technique for chromatic forms is to listen to the song until she creates a sketch of the painting to serve as the plan for her piece. This also serves as a starting point from which she can continue her work without relying on the song. Looking back at how her workflow has changed, Ciele says that when creating her piece in university, “I remember kind of going a little bit insane” listening to the song for that long, so she is certainly happy to have developed a more sustainable practice.

Mural-Painting

This past year was an exciting year for Ciele as she was able to complete several murals, something she had not had the opportunity to do so before. In the past, she had found it difficult to gain experience in large murals due to the difficulty of finding clients with enough trust to allow her to cover an entire wall, as well as the corresponding funds for the volume of paint necessary to complete it. But in the spring of 2020, Ciele received an opportunity as businesses began boarding up their storefronts as the lockdown in Vancouver began to take full effect. She was approached by the Gastown Business Improvement Society to paint a mural on a storefront, with the caveat that it would be unpaid work. While this deterred some artists, Ciele saw an opportunity to gain mural experience, but also create a piece unfettered from any restrictions from the client. Inspired by the proliferation of blue medical gloves in our world, she painted a blue hand taking a bath, reflecting her affinity to “add a little bit of humour” to her work. From the success of this mural, Ciele was selected to be part of the “Make Art While Apart” initiative from the Vancouver Mural Festival, taking her talents to decorate the South Granville area. For this installation, she painted a blue alien covered in Cheeto dust, featuring the quote “You’re doing amazing Sweetie,” from Keeping Up with the Kardashians lore. A classical pairing of imagery and messaging. Finally, Ciele earned a spot in the Vancouver Mural Festival’s installation in the River District, during the run of the festival itself. She painted a girl with bright blue skin, flanked by two coffee cups and the words “Wake Up!” across the entire piece. Every artist has a blue period right? Ciele says that this last mural has two meanings behind it, with the obvious one being caffeine’s place in our morning rituals. But in addition, she wanted to reflect on the social movements that heavily defined 2020, and comment on the world awakening from “that unconscious sort of slumber that people have been in”.

Ciele says that the number of resources and knowledge on synesthesia is vastly different compared to when she began exploring it back in art school. Now that she understands what is happening, she has been able to harness it and further expand her breadth as a creative. Reflecting on her path to a full-time artist, even though she fully committed to life as an artist just a few years ago, the years leading up to it, along with now living with a partner in the music industry have created a “creative, isolated bubble” in which she has lived in for quite a while. And with the bubbles playing such a large role in our lives over the past year, wouldn’t you want yours to be a little bit more artistic as well?

Check out more of Ciele’s work on her website, and follow her on Instagram and Facebook for more content. She has several exciting upcoming projects that I won’t share just yet, so stay tuned!

Follow A Musing on Instagram for more content on Ciele and the other creatives in this series.

And don’t forget to check our last interview with creative, Nadine Nevitt.

-BF.

This week I spoke to Nadine Nevitt, an artist with hands in textile design, art direction, photography and a whole lot more. We discussed her strategies behind designing in different mediums, her inclusion in the Vancouver Mural Festival, and why pineapples are suitable for all ages.

Working in Textile Design

Nadine grew up in rural Ontario and in a way, pursuing an artistic career was continuing in the family business. Her father was an art professor at Ontario College of Art & Design and her mother taught art in primary school. If you ask me, it’s tough to say who had the more challenging student body. Surrounded by art from a young age, Nadine describes family trips to galleries, museums, and spending her formative years exploring many creative endeavours. Despite also being attracted to the sciences and music, she decided to attend Ryerson University and earn a Bachelor of Design with a specialization in Fashion Communication. With a curriculum including pattern drafting, sewing, photography and over four-hundred hours of an applied co-op, she says that navigating through the multi-disciplinary program really helped her create a diverse skillset alongside an equally diverse range of artists. Based on their professions, I would assume that Nadine’s parents would agree with her belief that “any learning is good learning;” she has recently been upskilling her studio lighting and portraiture chops at Langara College.

Upon graduating from Ryerson, she entered an economy in the middle of a recession, spurring her to “always say yes to all opportunities” presented to her. Her first position following her graduation was at Joe Fresh, where she was tasked with creating graphic and colour print patterns for their clothes and homeware. She spoke very highly of the senior graphic designers who helped mentor her there, but after her time at Joe Fresh, Nadine joined Lululemon, to help build their Ivviva line of girlswear. As a result of accepting this position, she moved from Ontario out to Vancouver in 2012 and worked with Lululemon for five years (but has stayed on the West Coast ever since). She describes her time there as a full-circle experience reflective of her multi-disciplinary education, beginning in concept design for prints and then moving to marketing roles in art direction and product photography. Nadine also started her own business five years ago, and now designs her own products, as well as working to support a wide range of clients.

The Vancouver Mural Festival and Art Direction

Nadine has completed three murals in Vancouver, for Turf, Adrenaline Tattoo, and most recently, Breakfast Table in collaboration with the 2020 Vancouver Mural Festival. Working on such a larger scale than her normal work presents a unique set of challenges, so “going in with optimism is really helpful,” as is giving herself some extra time to get it done. For this latest mural, she took a print that she had originally designed for a sweater and applied it to the front of the restaurant. Having a mural in such a heavily-travelled space was a special opportunity for her, as was the chance to permanently add some art to her own neighbourhood. Nadine also spoke of the physical toll that a large mural requires, saying that between climbing ladders, moving equipment, and covering such a large area, “I think I only have a mural in me a year if that”. However, this project also presented an added bonus of chatting with passersby throughout the process of finishing the mural, and Nadine says that the positive energy and feedback she received certainly helped motivate her along the way.

In addition to leading her own work, Nadine also works in art direction, collaborating with other designers and artists. She has had a longstanding relationship with Shop DYI in Texas and says that “sometimes it’s refreshing to step in halfway or towards the end of the process,” to offer a fresh second thought, as opposed to being involved from the very beginning. Regardless of when she joins a project, Nadine says that constant communication between herself, her team, and the client is paramount to achieving the best possible outcome. Expanding on this, she adds that “it’s always magical seeing a set of four or five people, all different and really amazing creatives come together” to bring something to life. This work also serves to keep her engaged and refreshed as she can move between several different projects in one day.

Designing Across Mediums

Textiles and murals only represent a small portion of the mediums in which Nadine works, and she explains that scale, material, and client are just a few factors that must be considered before diving into a project. For example, to the uneducated blog writer, it would be easy to overlook whether the design will stretch when the user is moving or whether a waterproof finish would affect the image. Textiles are especially exciting to Nadine as “there’s always an extra element of who’s wearing it, or what kind of fabric it’s going on, and how it’s being styled”. In this way, her art is interactive and personal to the user in a way that other forms don’t necessarily offer. The same piece can be worn in many different ways, granting her designs the ability to cross demographics, cultures, and individuals themselves and have a “completely different life”. As an example of this life, she told me a story in which she was asked to design a sweater with a pineapple image for a Japanese clothing company. Originally she thought it was for a children’s collection, but she had to pivot her design when she learned that it was actually intended for professional businesswomen. Nadine was part of an international group of designers who worked on this line, and she was eventually invited to Japan to promote the products in the stores in which they were being sold. As part of their promotional campaign, Nadine was asked to take commission requests from customers, drawing portraits of their pets or whatever else they could think of. She remarked that “their appreciation for art and the exchange,” of dog drawings across a language barrier was a bizarre but extremely fulfilling experience for her. Travelling to see her work in its natural habitat is something Nadine looks forward to getting back to, as she says that “sharing [art] is the best part whether it lives in a house or on a body. I think any artists would say that”.

To keep up to date with Nadine’s work, follow her on Instagram, and check out her website to browse her portfolio. Amongst other products, she currently has a line of notebooks available, but reach out to her if you are interested in commissioning some custom prints for apparel or other products.

Follow A Musing on Instagram for more content on Nadine and the other creatives in this series.

And don’t forget to check our last interview with Food Waste Recovery Coordinator, Martin Field.

-BF.

This week I spoke to artist Lay Hoon Ho (Arty Guava) about building giant kaleidoscopes, how to make art accessible to children and her recent inclusion in the Vancouver Mural Festival.

OtherHalf Studio : Big Ideas and Bigger Kaleidoscopes

Working professionally as a graphic designer, Lay Hoon is always around art but found the need to balance her corporate projects with her personal work. To satisfy this she decided to co-found an art collective four years ago with photographer Su May Cheah, titled OtherHalf Studio. The inspiration behind this collective was pulled from Lay Hoon’s own life. As a mother, she felt that traditional avenues of enjoying art were quite inaccessible for parents with young children. Quiet museums, static exhibits and no-touch policies are naturally adversarial to the common behaviour of most children and can induce an undue amount of stress on their parents. Lay Hoon decided to create immersive, interactive experiences designed to appeal to the whole family, while also allowing young children to gain an early appreciation for art. The first installation she created was a giant, ten-foot-long kaleidoscope for an art festival in Malaysia. Lay-Hoon is Peranakan, a term that encompasses individuals coming from a mixture of Chinese and Malaysian cultures. She wanted to incorporate this into her piece, so she used traditional patterns and motifs to adorn the exterior of the exhibit, and celebrate her cultural heritage. She admits that there was certainly some trial and error working on this project, but eventually, she was able to create an entirely new experience for families to enjoy.

Her next kaleidoscope was for the Asian Civilization Museum in Singapore. The museum had struggled with generating engagement from younger audiences and had challenged Lay Hoon to incorporate their existing exhibits into her own piece. She achieved this by using images of the artifacts in the visual projections of the kaleidoscope, creating an environment that she describes as most definitely, “Instagrammable” for the visitors. One of the philosophies behind OtherHalf Studio is to “transport people to a place where they can just enjoy art and relax”. Integrating additional music and video projections into this piece was another way for her to do so in this installation, reinforcing the truly immersive nature of her work. Lay Hoon says that the key to creating art that appeals to younger generations is to incorporate movement and sound to help distinguish her work from the pre-conceived notion of stuffy museum exhibits. These factors also help rewrite the traditional rules of what art can be, making them fresh and memorable for audiences regardless of their age.

ArtyGuava’s Debut at the Vancouver Mural Festival

Lay Hoon’s latest project began at the advent of COVID-19. She had moved to Vancouver two years ago, and the sudden restrictive lifestyle that came with quarantine amplified prior feelings of homesickness. To help get through this she decided to illustrate “sunshine, tropical fruit or [other] memories of home” to take her mind off the current situation and serve as a visual journal. (If you haven’t figured it out, guava is definitely her favourite fruit). This series is different than her usual work both in style and workflow. Working within a specific theme was a shift from her usual art, as she was more accustomed to working on individual pieces in watercolours or realism. As for the style, she decided to move away from realism, shifting to depicting feelings and emotions as opposed to focussing on realistic proportions and shading. Holistically, Lay Hoon decided that “I needed to draw something that will make me happy” when she began this series. It turned out that it made a lot of her followers happy as well, and she has continued to grow this theme through today.

As her Instagram following grew, Lay Hoon met fellow artist Carmen Chan, who had previously earned a selection at the Vancouver Mural Festival. With Carmen’s encouragement, Lay Hoon decided to apply to the festival this year and was selected to make her first appearance. While she was not familiar with translating her illustrations to such a large scale, her experience creating giant kaleidoscopes certainly helped her visualize this piece. Titled, “Dance With Me,” her mural depicts a group of women dancing together at an outdoor party, surrounded by colorful flora, fauna, and of course, fruit. Describing the essence of her mural, she says that despite our current circumstances “I wanted to show that one day we can celebrate together again,” and revel in the care-free company that we previously enjoyed. “Dance With Me” is currently on display in the River District Crossing alongside several other murals curated for this year’s Vancouver Mural Festival.

Despite her busy professional and personal schedules, Lay Hoon says that “when I’m doing art it’s not really work,” and often finds herself accidentally working late into the night. Looking back on her career so far, she said that even with such a varied portfolio, no particular project stood above the rest. To Lay Hoon, “every little project is precious,” but she also acknowledges that a key to maintaining her high level of production is to be able to look ahead to the next project as she is wrapping up another. For her, the most rewarding part of her work has been hearing the positive reception that visitors have experienced when interacting with her art. She shared one story in which she was working on the back of one of her kaleidoscopes as it was on display. Hidden from view, she was able to hear positive reactions to her work from visitors as they passed, which was especially nice since “they’re not trying to praise you or say nice things to your face”. Hearing the immediate and unfiltered positive reactions to her work affirmed all of the time and effort Lay Hoon put in while setting it up, and continues to be a driving source of motivation today.

To keep up with Lay Hoon’s work make sure to follow Arty Guava on Instagram, and check out her website to see her complete portfolio. “Dance With Me” is on display at the River District Crossing, so head there to see it in person, alongside new murals from other local and international artists. Finally, to bring a fresh piece of Arty Guava home with you, head to Lay Hoon’s Society6 page to browse work of all sizes, shapes and mediums. If you’re going to be staring at your wall all day anyway, you might as well be looking at something beautiful. Check it out!

Follow A Musing on Facebook and Instagram for more content on Lay Hoon and the other creatives in this series.

Don’t forget to check out last week’s interview with filmmaker, Godfrey Cheng.

-BF

This week I spoke with Sofia Shamsunahar, a self-titled doodle artist, and newly minted comic book artist. We spoke about learning to enjoy life’s mistakes, her evolution as an artist and the release of her upcoming book.

Art as Self-Care

Sofia took art classes throughout all levels of high school, but her passion did not initially translate to academic success. She told me how she used to consider only classical, realistic paintings to be “true” art, and relegated her doodles to the margins of her homework. This inner division resulted in diminishing grades in art class, and she admits she was barely passing until her teacher accidentally graded one of her doodles. Granting her an A on the fortuitous submission, her teacher said “Sofia, I think you’re on to something with these doodles,” complimenting her simple and imperfect linework. Sofia cites this as the point at which she began investing more time into her art, and when she started to consider that her doodles may hold some artistic value of their own.

In her third year of studies at The University of British Columbia, Sofia encountered difficulties in her personal life and returned to doodling “as a form of self-care”. During this period of her life, she says that “drawing made me feel really good… I had the power to make something when I just felt like, you know, really small”. Posting a series of doodles and stories from this time on Instagram, her followers responded overwhelmingly positively to both her art and her message of mental health advocacy. From a desire to continue to help others through their own trials, Sofia began posting her art more often with “the intention that people would reflect [on] their well-being”. Producing regular content resulted in an increased following on Instagram and spurred Sofia to explore more artistic avenues. She won a competition to paint a mural on a bike cage at UBC and was soon approached for more engagements across campus. These included commissions to paint murals on university grounds on behalf of several student organizations, and weekly gigs drawing live portraits alongside live music. While some commissions came as a result of the organization’s values aligning with the messages in Sofia’s doodles, some came simply from fans of her artistic style. Sofia also was invited to speak to other students about the intersection between her art and her own vulnerability; articulating the use of art as self-care.

The culmination of her artistic arc at UBC is an upcoming feature in a documentary series on local change-makers. Over the course of filming, she visited all of the locations on campus that helped shape her journey including the murals and wellness services that she had engaged with. She said this was a great opportunity to “step back and see all that I had done at UBC,” as well as a humbling moment to recognize the acclaim her art has received. I’ll be sure to share it when it is available.

The Art of Making Mistakes

The acknowledgement of vulnerability and life’s hiccups in Sofia’s art is also tangibly reflected in her personal style. Sofia says that “I don’t mind making mistakes,” and leaves scratched-out misspellings or misaligned lines in her doodles to support this notion. Moreover, this license to make mistakes allows her to “capture all your feelings in the moment” without overthinking or overplanning. The subject matter in her doodles has varied over the last three years, but animals have remained a consistent theme in her art. She says that this harkens back to what she drew when she was younger and is a reflection of her desire to keep her inner-child alive. Animals were frequent guests on her homework doodles, but the challenge of simplifying their anatomy keeps this subject matter fresh. As for the stories behind her doodles, Sofia says that the inspiration usually stems from learnings reflecting on her own personal development. Starting with this prompt, she moves to determine what subjects best symbolize the story. She says that her art has recently evolved to become more story-driven, incorporate more text and categorically now might be more akin to a comic than a doodle. Even though she has refined her style since she began, she still celebrates how “there’s some beauty with how imperfect it is”. This line is coincidentally also how I introduce myself on first dates.

After graduating from university Sofia travelled through Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan, documenting her time through her doodles without any definite intention on what to do with them. Upon her return, she emailed a general manager of a publishing company that she had found through a mutual connection. Sofia says she didn’t necessarily expect a reply, let alone a reply in less than an hour expressing interest in publishing a series of books based on her art. She said she feels extremely grateful for this opportunity, and is still surprised that her art has garnered such interest. Progress in production has been halted due to COVID-19, but her first book will be titled simply, Sof’s Doodles. In this book, she will compile stories from her recent travels along with the themes of finding balance and learning how to be happy with herself. She admits that some artists do not value her doodles as much as “traditional” art, and this has been a bit frustrating when networking with other creatives. To them, I ask where is your publishing deal?

Reflecting on the last few years, Sofia said that “I still can’t wrap my head around it. Like for me, it’s just a fun thing I do on homework, you know”. Mental health advocacy continues to be a core tenet of her work and she continues to find great value in connecting with individuals who relate to her doodles. Making meaningful connections with likeminded individuals has been an unintended, but welcome aspect of her doodles; growing her platform for both her message and her art. For more on Sofia, follow her on Instagram and check out her website to see upcoming work and the backlog of her portfolio.

Remember to follow A Musing on Facebook and Instagram for more content on Sofia, and the other creatives in this series.

And check out last week’s interview with sketch comedian, Kevin Saxby.

-BF