ERICA GLAS ILLUSTRATION

Hello! Happy Friday! We’ve nearly made it through another week of these crazy times, so to keep you going we’re bringing you another Q&A with another lovely creative! This time, we’ve been chatting to Erica Glas – coffee-mad illustrator with a massive talent for creating charming characters, combining marvellous textures with flushed cheeks and beautiful expressions.

JANEY: Hi Erica, thanks so much for featuring! So, who, what and why?!

ERICA: I am a Portuguese illustrator based in the UK. I mainly work on children oriented artwork and aim to become a full time children’s books illustrator. My illustrations are very expressive and full of texture, and I tend to focus a lot on character design. I also do a lot of work inspired by pop culture. Another big part of my work is doing whimsical and stylized portraits of people and animals.
I am pretty sure I was scribbling away even before I started walking, if my mother’s words are to believed! Even though other paths have crosses my mind and I have many other interests, becoming an artist was always my intention, even if it only ended up being a hobby.

J: Amazing! And where do you find your inspiration?

E: When it comes to children’s stories and narratives, my inspiration definitely comes from wonder and magic. Fairy tales and fables are my favourite thing to draw inspiration from. On the other hand, people inspire me greatly – people and the human condition. I like to look at themes of how we feel and how we act, and somehow transfer them into visual language. As I mentioned before, pop culture is a huge influence on my work and I love reinterpreting characters and concepts in my own style. When I am doing portrait work, I really love to find out about who I’m drawing, and capturing their essence and spirit is such a beautiful challenge to me. It’s one of my favourite things.

J: That’s such a lovely way of working, and I can imagine your art outcomes are much more successful once you do have that information, rather than just stopping at what you see immediately in front of you. So how would you describe your illustrative style?

E: Children’s book oriented, with a touch of animated character design. It’s often colourful and full of texture.

J: And please could you tell us what your biggest achievement is so far?

E: Having my work on three published books, by author R.A.Powell: ‘C.E.O’; ‘Odd Socks’ and ‘Odd Socks II – Make Socksville Great Again’.
I have also worked on an animated music video, where I really pushed myself and worked with challenging mediums, which is something I’m really proud of, as well as the outcome. The video is for the song ‘It’s Ok’, by ‘A Puppet Show Named Julio’. [We’ll pop a link to the video below!]

J: Do you reckon you could narrow it down to your absolute favourite thing to draw?

E: People and animals, anything expressive and character design oriented.

J: What do you hope to be on the cards for you in the future?

E: Hopefully expanding my work within children’s books, and working for an illustration agency, all the while continuing to solidify my brand and establishing a solid online shop.

J: Great, some big plans! How was the recent lockdown for you, in terms of your work?

E: It didn’t affect it in a practical sense, as I have always worked from home. But it has definitely had an (further) impact on my mental health, which proved challenging at times.

J: I really appreciate your honesty there, and I hope that people reading this will too. I know that the isolation over the last few months caused the majority of people to suffer with their mental health – I hope that the current (slow) easing of restrictions is making you feel a little better!
So Erica, where can we get our hands on your work?

E: You can visit my Etsy Shop and browse through some originals and digital downloads (very soon I will be having more physical items to sell).
My Instagram inbox is always open if you have a request for commissions or a particular work you would like, it can be arranged!

Well you heard her, go and check out Erica’s lovely Etsy shop, and keep updated by following her beautiful Instagram feed!

We’re off to re-read Harry Potter for the hundredth time, and to think about what it would be like to have even a fraction of Erica’s talent!
Thanks for reading lovelies, have a fab weekend and we’ll see you next week!