Every month Brave Island runs a Young Creative of the Month fund, where we spotlight a local young creative with an interview on our blog, and support them with funding of £100. For April, it’s Susie Barnard, a multidisciplinary artist focusing on graphic design and illustration. This fund launches at the beginning of every month, you can apply to be Young Creative of the Month for May here.

Please can you tell us about your creative practice?

I’m currently a graphic designer and illustrator, but I also have a love for working with textiles and other crafts such as beading and pottery. My creative identity is based upon my love of the natural world and whimsical designs, along with gorgeous colour palettes. Although I work in very different styles and mediums, depending on if it is graphic design, illustration or other types of craft, the core values and inspirations are always my main focus.

When I first start working on a project it nearly always starts off with some rough sketches in pink gel pen. I find using a pen so much more freeing, as you can’t rub out lines and just have to keep moving forward with the design, these drawings aren’t there to be perfect, they’re there to express your imagination on a page. Pink is my favourite colour so I find it fun to work with this colour pen, I also find you can never become too serious when working in pink. I was inspired to work this way when I saw a writer saying how they always wrote drafts in comic sans, you never expect anything good to be written in that font and because of that you don’t have the same need for perfection, and therefore creativity flows freely.

After I have my sketches and ideas I start to play with what style and mediums I want to use, I often explore the sketch in more depth by redrawing the design in an app called procreate, it helps me work out the little details and the balance of a picture, this also gives me time to reflect upon what mediums I want the final piece to be in, for 4 points castle I had originally planned a lino print design, but my ultimate design was brightly coloured acrylics on canvas.

For me the most important aspects are the focus of the subject, you must love the idea to get a good result, and a big focus on playing with colours, why keep the colours the same as a picture when you can change them to whatever you desire. I love the shape of daffodils, but have never been keen on their shade of yellow, so why not paint them blue instead? Art can give you a freedom like nothing else I’ve found.

You said you’re switching from studying business and accountancy to illustration, this is quite a change! What inspired it?

Switching from studying business and accountancy to graphic design and illustration has been a big change in career path for me. Due to health issues as a child, I missed years of school, and had not taken an art class since I was around 13. This meant although I enjoyed being creative and artistic, I never saw this as being a career option for myself. I chose to go down a practical route, studying business before moving into accountancy, as it would secure a reasonable job with good pay. By 2019 however I found I was not enjoying this career path, and the jobs that would come from my qualification weren’t something I wanted.

Then in 2020 when the pandemic hit, we had our first lockdown and things really started to change for me. I had time to sit down and be creative, I was painting every day, even if the artwork was very basic at the time, and I found an art community on Instagram. This really inspired me to continue down my artistic journey, seeing all these amazing creatives running their own businesses was inspiring. It was also fun to get critique, see what trends there were, and to really take in just how different and varying peoples art styles were.

By 2021, I was studying accountancy and working on my art as a hobby, after barely passing an exam, I felt I had finally come to a crossroads. I could either start working harder with accountancy or change career path and it was a much easier decision than I expected, I didn’t want to be an accountant, I wanted to be an artist. So, I applied to study Graphic Design at the Isle of Wight College, I had to put together my first ever portfolio within a few weeks, and a month later I had officially left the accountancy course to study graphic design. I never looked back and 2 years later, I still feel this was the best choice I have ever made, I’m due to study illustration at university in the autumn, something I could never dream of just 2 years ago. It is amazing how far you can come when you find the right thing for you.

What’s your favourite project you’ve worked on so far?

I have completed a lot of projects independently and for my course, but by far my favourite project is the one I am currently working on. I want to run my own business using my illustrations and designs like the people who inspired me a few years ago. For college we had to set ourselves a 6-month project and I thought there was no better time than now to start my own business. It’s nice to know my years studying business haven’t gone to waste!

At the moment I am busy creating artwork, business branding, packaging, products and planning many different ideas. I am not solely an illustrator or graphic designer, I love to sew and crochet so will definitely be including some of this work into my business as well. There is so many things to explore, and a lot of things to learn, but it is worth it when you hold a product you have created from nothing.

One of the ranges I am particularly enjoying working on is a turtle collection, using the rescue turtles I work with at The Isle of Wight Reptilarium as inspiration. When I start selling products from this range, I plan to donate a portion of the profits made to help support them. I already sell crochet turtles, and I have designed pastel turtles based off our residence to create the collection.

Where can people find your work if they’d like to support you?

I have a website for my portfolio www.lunawingscreative.weebly.com if you’re interested in my graphic design and range of artwork. I also have an Instagram @susieanna.designs, this Instagram account showcases a lot of my early work and I am currently updating it with all my newer designs, There is a lot of exciting things happening on Instagram, and hopefully there will be a new Etsy shop up and running within a few months too, so stay tuned!