meet: lisa stubbs
this week lisa stubbs in on the blog sharing with us! lisa is a screenprinter and illustrator based in yorkshire. her first book, lily and bear, will be released this upcoming september! i love the positivity that radiates through all of lisa's work, and i'm sure you will too.
what is your background?
i studied graphic design at batley art college (pre-mac era!) and also did a degree in graphics specializing in illustration at leeds university. about six years ago i did a screen printing course at west yorkshire print workshop with clare caulfield (who is super talented) and was totally bitten by the screen printing bug!
how did you get started illustrating & selling?
i worked in the studio of a greeting cards company for four years training as a watercolor illustrator, which was a wonderful platform to go on to be a freelance illustrator. i was predominantly a commercial illustrator but wanted to experiment and sell my own personal screen prints online and etsy seemed the most natural place to do that. i sell on folksy too!
what are your influences?
i have lots of influences, the biggest being my 3 children: lily, skyla and sonny. especially when they were little, the everyday adventures and moments and just being part of a family. i'm also a collector of children's picture books, new and vintage, which inspires my work along with vintage fabrics.
congratulations on the release of your book, 'Lily and Bear'! it is so adorable. what was the biggest lesson you took away from the whole experience of writing and illustrating a book?
i think always remaining positive, believing in yourself and working hard will always pay off in the end. this was my biggest lesson and still is!
you do so many projects, what is your favorite kind of project to work on?
i love all the work i do, i feel extremely lucky. the beauty of being a freelancer is the variety of work, but i think my favorite work is when it's not for anyone and i manage to carve out a bit of creative 'me' time just to experiment and make mistakes. i love learning from the process rather than concentrating on the outcome of the finished product and it's hard to find the time to do this. but when i do, some of my best ideas come from this time which then go onto be incorporated into other work.
what advice would you give to makers who are just getting started?
to set yourself a goal and work towards it in small steps everyday with the positive belief it's going to work out. don't see setbacks as problems but lessons to take yourself to better times and towards your goal and to go with your gut (because it's usually right) and enjoy every minute!
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lisa will be giving away a goody bag with cards and a small print for a lucky reader! this giveaway is open internationally. enter by leaving a comment with 1) your favorite item in lisa's etsy and 2) your e-mail. giveaway ends at midnight on tuesday, june 16th pst. good luck!
thanks for spending time with us, lisa! follow along with lisa at her website, blog, and etsy. :)