London-based illustrator Liz Rowland makes detailed illustrations that are centered around the community. Full of people, animals, and houses, she creates tiny, uplifting, worlds that celebrate different cultures.
“I studied illustration in Falmouth, England and graduated back in 2011,” she recalled in an interview with Freelance Wisdom. “When I finished up there I wasn’t ready for the freelance life and wasn’t sure what I wanted. A lot of my peers were finding admin jobs in creative studios to get by and I did the same. It was a few years into a Project Management job that I realised I had stopped being creative myself.”
“I started an evening course doing pottery and eventually left my job to travel and figure things out. While I was away I started sharing paintings online and very slowly things built up. I moved to Australia where I met some amazing people who helped me on my way. I stayed in Melbourne for two years building up freelance work around a part time job and by the time I returned to England I was illustrating full time. I think something about being in a new country helped me change things up and push for what I wanted.”
Her strategy clearly worked out, with more than 15 thousand followers on Instagram and clients that include publications like Vogue and The Telegraph.
Talking about her work, she added: “I was aware of finding my own voice in a very saturated market and decided to look at what interests me most in life. Since childhood I’ve wanted to see the world and have been fascinated by people, human interactions and handmade objects. The ways we communicate are usually dictated by the culture we grew up in. In an often difficult and segregated world I think it’s important to celebrate our differences and similarities. I started to explore that through my personal work and that helped build the foundations for my portfolio.”
Take a look at some of her uplifting illustrations.
