This year I attended the full Saturday of the Sydney Semi-Permanent Design Conference, hoping to come away inspired! Although slightly less interesting than last year (for one reason or another), one of the stand out speakers was Sandra Dieckmann, who is a freelance illustrator and artist that works in London.
She gave a very full , well-thought out, interesting & inspiring talk.
She shared her childhood, her personal stories, her influences, work space, methods, techniques and workflow. It was a great start to the day!
Her method involves hand –drawing her illustrations in lead pencil and then digitally colouring them, sometimes compositing elements together to creates the final image. I love the way she uses patterns, rather than flat colour, to create tones variety – adding depth to the image.
“Drawing & playing with colours and building herself a magical nest filled with textures, patterns and furry faces. Her work mainly evolves around nature, wildlife, dreams, longing and observations and is inspired by all that touches her personally. Time and space. Nature and music. Feelings, friends, conversations and learning”
Semi-Permanent 2013
Some of her beautiful work…
The monumental grizzly bear often features in her work……
Some of her patterns:
I think the most successful illustrators/artist have a ability to tap into their childhood and evoke the inner child within all of us. I find it especially moving how Sandra Dieckmann creates connections to her mother who passed away, through the narrative of the bears she illustrates.
Yep, she definitely brings in an emotive quality… I like how she always starts the illustrations of animals by drawing the eyes first to create that connection. Nice 🙂