Illustrator Paulina Kwietniewska is a master of portraiture, but it was only during her maternity leave in March 2016 that she made the decision to make a business out of it. Jump forward sometime later and her brand, About Face Illustration, is going strong, dedicated to both commissioned portraits as well as other paintings and illustrations, using a variety of mediums, including watercolors, oils, and ink.
“I set up About Face Illustration when my daughter was about five months old,” she shared with the Printed blog. “Sadly, I didn’t know much about marketing at the time, but I was on Instagram and I was following some other mums. One day, I noticed that one of the mums I followed was looking for an illustrator to paint her and her son, so I volunteered.” 500 portraits later, there’s no stopping her now.
Though her portraits rely on references, Kwietniewska admits that most of her work actually comes from within. But she’s also equally inspired by the world around her. “I am easily inspired,” she says, “I recently went to the BP Portrait Awards and all I wanted to do was go home and paint. I also love literature. I adore Nabokov’s Lolita, which I had the pleasure to paint recently. Also, I paint quite a lot from my experience.”
Take a look at some of her work in the gallery below.
