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Art Source
Left: The majority of Nicola Evans’ work in the last few years has been for greeting card publishers.
Good ‘Evans
Working from a garden studio, by the coast in East Sussex, where artist Nicola Evans lives with her husband, two children and two cats, provides her very own creative space where she can happily experiment with colours and textures, explore new techniques and materials and best of all, make as much mess as she likes! Here, Nicola shares more about her creative life and loves.
“I think if you do something that you love for a living then you are pretty lucky and I’m happy to say that I’ve been able to do just that. Growing up I spent a lot of my time happily drawing away by myself and at school the art room was always where I felt the most at home. I guess even then it was always clear that I was going to do something creative. After my A levels and completing a BTEC in Art and Design I went on to complete a BA(Hons) in Graphic Design and Advertising, specialising in illustration graphics. Several months after leaving University I couldn’t believe I had landed my first card range. At the time I was juggling early morning shelf stacking, working in a bar in the evenings while in the day trudging my portfolio round London and beyond to meetings. It was only through developing a good working relationship with my first client that they mentioned about getting an agent and they suggested giving Advocate Art a call. I’m so pleased I did. After joining, my career took off and 24 years later, I am still Illustrating full time. Today I work from home on the South Coast with my husband, two children and our two cats Bluebell and Mabel. A lot of my early work involved children’s illustration, but more recently I have developed a passion for drawing florals and other organic forms. I love gardening and my Above middle: Typography features prominently in some of Nicola’s favourite place to visit for inspiration designs. Above: Nicola’s versatile style has to be Kew Gardens. Sussex is extends into contemporary cute. Far right: Nicola is adept at creating also surrounded by some beautiful step repeat patterning for giftwrap countryside and historic landmarks and other products.
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Top: Celebratory icons always have a place in greeting card designs as Nicola proves. Above: A delicate touch and soft colour palette features in this Christmas design. Left: A love of nature and greeting cards combine in this design buy Nicola.
and fortunately the beach is only a short walk away. All these things play heavily in what I like to draw the most. The majority of my commissions over the past few years have been from greeting card publishers who I really enjoy working with. Plus, I’m incredibly passionate about keeping the tradition of sending cards alive and I still love receiving them myself. However, I have also Illustrated books, stationery, gift wrap, tableware, CD covers and puzzles to name a few. Occasionally, I also take time out to paint large paintings which I sometimes exhibit. It’s fun to get the big brushes out and do something more spontaneous, totally different and messy!! A lot of my work now is digital, but I do miss painting. I used to have real fear of moving to digital but nowadays I quite like to be able to have a mix of the two and it works really well for me. Being an Illustrator can sometimes be quite lonely so over the past few years I’ve taken the leap into joining several art courses online. Although a little apprehensive at first this has really helped to open me up to new ways of working which perhaps I never would have tried before. Equally it’s a great way to receive critique from other creatives. It’s been a really positive experience for me and I plan to make this a regular thing. Looking back through my career, I have worked with so many wonderful clients worldwide. It really is a great environment to be a part of and I’ve learnt that not everyone will like what you do, but as long as I can keep selling my work and I do what I enjoy then that’s good enough for me!” l Nicola Evans is represented for licensing and commissions by Advocate Art.
If you are an artist, photographer or verse writer and would like to be considered to appear in Art Source, please contact PG’s Jakki Brown on jakkib@max-publishing.co.uk. This is an editorial feature and as such is free of charge. PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 49