Sophie Louise is truly one of the most gifted digital artists I have met. She has done a handful of pieces for me already that I will be featuring in my next project, and I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to have collaborated with her on my next project A Dormant Howl.
Now it is my immense please to bring you her answers to my interview questions and brief biography.
1. What’s your background?
I have been interested in drawing for as long as I can remember, but I really started to take it seriously at the age of 11-12. I took part in as many artistic topics as I could in school and eventually went on to earn a GCSE in Graphic Design and A Level in Fine Art. Most of my art to begin with was traditional art, mainly using pencil, charcoal or Acrylic Paint. When I was 18, I took an art course in College which included a whole variety of different art types including: Photography, Graphic Design, 3D Design, Print-Making, Fine Art and Textiles so technically, I know a little about a lot of different art types. It wasn’t until I turned 20 that I decided I wanted to try out Digital Art. While I took classes in all the arts I mentioned before, Digital Art is completely self-taught for me, and is the form I practice most these days.
2. What does your work aim to say?
I like my art to transform the viewer into a different world. I know that sounds ridiculously dramatic, but I fell in love with Digital Art because of the endless possibilities to create such fantastical pieces of art. I know it can be achieved with traditional art too, but there’s just something about digital art. I think it’s because I am a huge movie lover too, so to see something in front of me that looks so realistic is just mind blowing to me. So I hope that when I draw these pieces, people have the same reaction as I do and use it as a form of escapism.
3. Who are your biggest influences?
I would say my biggest influence is an Illustrator called Charlie Bowater. She was the artist who originally inspired me to try out digital art and to this day, I look up to her work. With that being said, I am constantly being influenced by a lot of different artists, whether they’re digital or traditional. I like to keep myself surrounded by inspirational artists because it is what motivates me to get better at my own art.
4. How have you developed your career?
My career has been developed over two and a half years so far and I have done that solely by using social media. I have stuck to drawing as much as I can, improving where I can and interacting with the art world as a whole. I try to post regularly to build up a portfolio and then from there, I started to complete commissions for people once I’d got a little bit better overall.
5. How do you seek out opportunities?
You’re probably getting bored of the answer now, but I also use Social Media to seek out opportunities. I am constantly on the lookout for people that may need a digital artist to create something for them. In the past, I have put myself forward to design a print for a bookish company. But mainly, it’s just about putting my name out there to help me gain those opportunities in the future. It’s something I’m still working on.
6. How do you navigate the art world?
I am constantly searching all over the internet for different pieces of art. I use some websites as a form of inspiration and can often spend hours scrolling through piece after piece of gorgeous art. But I don’t only use it for inspiration. As much as I love to create, I also really love being on the receiving end too, and social media is the best place for that. I am always scrolling through my accounts and immersing myself in so many beautiful pieces of art. It’s what helps to keep me inspired. So long story short, I use the art world for motivation and leisure at the same time, with it being something I’m so incredibly passionate about.
7. How do you price your work?
I price my work depending on how long it takes me to complete a piece and the difficulty of the aspects. For example: I spend an average of 5 hours on a regular piece, not including difficult backgrounds. So for a fully rendered piece, I charge around £8 per hour. That is just to cover the amount of work I put in, as well as money I need for resources I’ve used. But I charge a little less depending on the detail within the piece required.
8. Which current art world trends are you following?
I don’t tend to follow many trends in the art world unless I have the time. I sometimes like to do ‘Draw this in your style’ competitions where the followers I have will have a chance to create something that I’ve drawn in their own style, but it’s not something I do very often. While I like to create fandom art, I like to do my own thing, rather than dealing with the pressures of keeping up with trends.
9. What is your favourite genre to create?
My absolute favourite genre to create is Fantasy. I love to create pieces that are magical and whimsical. I find it so easy to fall into a drawing if it’s fantasy themed because I really love to immerse myself in that world. I guess it’s a form of escapism for me, just as much as reading a book or watching a movie.
10. Do you like to create original pieces or would you rather create fandom art?
I really LOVE to create original pieces and it’s something I need to work on doing more. During 2021 I want to work on a lot more original art. As much as I love doing fandom art, it’s difficult to build up a portfolio with those kinds of art pieces because so many people save and reshare and while the ideas are mine and I have spent the time drawing them, the characters don’t belong to me. I want to create a whole portfolio of drawings that belong solely to me, with my own characters, landscapes and themes. But I really do love drawing fandom art. It calms me and I love bringing mine and other people’s favourite characters to life through my art.
11. Any given place, how long do you think it takes to create?
It completely depends on how much detail I have to put into a piece. I can create a portrait in a minimum of 3 hours, but other times it can take me 8 hours. Drawings that include more details such as more people or specific backgrounds can take me a lot longer. The longest I have ever spent on a piece is 29 hours, but that is of course over a few days.
12. What would you say is your end goal in your career?
Eventually, I would love to be a book cover designer or a movie poster designer. My favourite thing to draw is characters in a setting, and I have always been so in love with movie art. To combine all of those things and be able to create posters that are used to advertise films, tv shows or books would really be a dream come true for me.
From Artist:
“I’m Sophie, a Digital Artist from the United Kingdom. I work mostly with character art and would one day hope to become a movie poster designer or a book cover designer. I spend most of my time reading, drawing or writing and it’s where I find my inspiration for my own art.”