Welcome to my monthly interview feature! I’m so
excited to be interviewing all the fabulous artists, illustrators and designers
I’ve meet over the years (both personally and virtually!) and sharing their
artwork and experiences here on Bird Meets Worm. Look for a new interview on
the first Tuesday of every month.
This
month I am pleased as punch to be catching up with the lovely Illustrator/Designer,
Erica Hite! Erica lives in San Diego, California (a fellow Cali girl!!).
During the day, she runs after two little boys, and in the evening, enjoys
working in her studio on various fun projects. Erica has about 16 years of
design and illustration experience, including work for Target, Limited Too (now
Justice), General Mills, SC Johnson, Kraft Foods, skateboarding apparel
graphics, scrapbooking products, and more! You can view more of Erica’s artwork here.
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| Life is an absolutely ADORABLE circus!! |
Q: You’ve been
participating in Lilla Rogers’ Global Talent Search 2014 and recently submitted your totally adorable Round 2 artwork
submission. Dish with us about your experiences competing in the GTS and what
you hope to get out of it, top prize or no top prize.
A: Right before we were to receive the assignment, my
computer decided it didn’t want to work anymore. I was torn whether I should
take my computer in and wait the possible lengthy time for it, or purchase a
new one. I ended up getting a new one and decided I would later fix my computer
for my kids to use. It is admittedly faster and perhaps I was due. I was able
to get my new one set up and ready to go just in time for the contest.
I really didn’t imagine I would make it into the top 50 in
the first round. My illustration seemed quite different from what other artists
submitted. I felt unsure of it as it was a complete 180 from my vector
submission from last year and what I thought was a simple composition. In
hindsight, I wish I had created a mixed media piece for the second round as well.
If it is feasible to enter next year, I will, but there are many opportunities
out there besides the competition.
I learned quite a bit during the competition and I’ll take
those lessons with me to my next projects: 1) embrace doing things differently,
2) continue to get more comfortable in my recent new mixed media style, 3) go
with my first ideas and don’t second guess so much, and 4) I have wonderful
friends out there that believe in me and it feels incredibly good to have their
support.
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| So sweet, so fun, so wanna going camping with mouse! |
Q: You have a new fabric collection coming soon from the
fabulous company Windham Fabrics. Hooray! Tell us all about it—how the
partnership came to be, what the development process was like and, of course,
about the collection itself!
A: I saw a post on Facebook in one of my Make Art that Sells
course groups about submissions to Uppercase Magazine for the Surface Pattern
Design issue. The submission deadline was that day, but I thought I’d give it a
go and submit. I sent in both patterns from Lilla Rogers’ class and Sabina’s Trends Online Class Workshop. Patterns from both classes made it into
the issue and Windham Fabrics contacted me soon after the magazine issue was
shipped.
When I spoke to Windham on the phone, they talked about a
contract and had me send some images to them. They picked out what they wanted
me to work on, gave an rough outline of expanding my pieces into a set of
coordinating fabrics, and I started on my Mouse Camp collection soon after. It
was a learning process for me on making proper repeats and colorways, but I
have to say it’s been wonderful working with Windham. They’re super friendly
and easy to communicate with. I’m really grateful that they contacted me
because they’ve been a dream client. I couldn’t have had a better introduction
to the bolt fabric industry.
Q: As an Art Mama, in what ways do you create a balance between the duel
full-time jobs of being a professional artist and being a stay-at-home mama?
(Note: I love this question, because I’m an Art Mama, too!)
A: I’ve found it easier to segment my days into play with
the kids and me time. Trying to work while the kids need my attention
frustrates them and me. There might be opportunities I can snag a moment or two
to jot down ideas, do research on the iPad, do some hand work like quick ink or
watercolor sketches, but I save most of my work for when the kids are somewhat
done with the day. Before bed, I also find time to decompress and read.
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| Fall fabulous—enough said!!! |
Q: Your artwork is both light, whimsical, graphic as well as
dark, watercolor washy, sophisticated. Tell us about the two sides to your
artistic style and the inspiration that feeds both.
A: I feel like I have a split art-making personality. I have
a love for art that is spiritual, surreal, moody, and sometimes messy, but I
also love the light, joyful, graphic, and retro. I suppose just like my
personality, I’m a dreamer and I like to escape in fantasy books and imagine
other worlds, ponder the finiteness of life, but I also feel optimism and
sometimes desire simpler things and a return to childhood. When looking at the
different styles, the connection of the two isn’t obvious to me; they’re both
quite different.
The watercolor and ink style is more free and less thought
out, I guess more like sketching, in a sense. I find it a wonderful and
carefree way of working. I like that I don’t have to make the lines perfect and
in fact push the imperfection of things. The vector art style on the other hand
is more planned out, more researched, more ideas jotted down, composition
sketches made, and then final sketches to draw over in a vector program.
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| Love the ethereal watercolor & meditative sentiment! |
Q: Tell us about your MOST favorite art project that you’ve created: one from the past and one from the
present.
A: It isn’t really an art project but a job I think fondly
of sometimes. I worked at a high-profile packaging design firm on a team
sketching and presenting concepts, art directing illustrators, and putting
together designs and presentations for actual consumers to give their opinions
on. It was a challenging but exciting job that contributed to my work ethic and
my desire to learn and experiment.
A recent project I enjoyed very much was in my Make Art that
Sells Bootcamp class. The task was to use our favorite beverage to inspire a
piece of art. I made a few coordinating pieces and had so much fun drawing
different types of fancy tea pots and cups.
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| Simply lovely! Just lovely! |
Q: Describe your most perfect Sunday.
A: On my perfect Sunday, I sleep in. A very long and lazy
time. Someone makes me breakfast and a delicious cup of sweet tea with milk. I
read for awhile (preferably by a quiet pool or lake) and then curl up to take a
nap. Then read some more and maybe work on a creative project. I have no chores
to do, no worries, just pure, blissful relaxation.
Thank you so much, Erica!! Everyone
here at Bird Meets Worm can’t wait to see what you create next!