Since working with Fos, twenty four year old Suzi has gone on to further develop her commercial portfolio and is finally beginning to clamber her way out of student debt. “ I always drew as a kid, I just didn't realise it was a job that you could get paid for. And it's hard at the start, its been a bit hand to mouth for about the last two years. I always feel like its a struggle but it's not a job you should get into if you want to make money straight away. You feel like you're getting somewhere but then you can just get nothing for another month. I do odd jobs, you cant really give up, you just have to keep going and have a plan. As time goes on, you develop and work on more projects but it takes quite a lot of time for them to come into production. It's often just a matter of being patient.” It's a slow process; it's tough for everyone these days, even when you're young and gifted but hidden beneath Suzi's shy exterior lies a tenacity which paired with her talent, should see her go a long way. With her game plan drawn up, Suzie is working through the list of people and companies she'd like to target for work and having a remarkable degree of success. Recently Suzi worked with Vans on their women's look book. “Working with Vans was genuinely a dream! I just thought, 'well why not email someone, something might come from it!’ I only get in touch with people who I think it would really work with and getting the go ahead from Vans was amazing. I emailed the art director and she was so nice and I ended up doing some illustrations and type for them.” Noting Suzie's Black Flag sweatshirt, whilst the photographer hovers and repositions Suzi in the light from her window I ask her about her influences, guessing music would figure in there somewhere. We giggle about Dalston's 'thrash uniform' and the lack of these faux metallers at any of the gigs; a recent SSS gig at the Shacklewell arms was pretty much empty despite all the posturing thrashers littering the streets of East London. Suzi wears her influences on her
sleeve these days but that wasn't always the case: “I'm into punk bands and going to hardcore shows. When I went to art college I felt like I couldn't really show those influences, and that everything had to look a certain way and be a certain way. I finally realised when I left that not everyone likes the kind of stuff you like and that's what makes uou and your work different so why not put those things in? At college I think you worry that you have to go through some kind of a process but I actually think that some-