Emily, a third year illustration student at OCAD in Toronto, draws imaginative figures that you'll want to stare at all day long. She went to OCAD to study photography but moved into illustration in first year. "I've never regretted the change for an instant! Being at OCAD at first was a shock, because all of us went from being the top art students at our various high schools to just average. The challenging part of that was trying to differentiate myself from the rest of my talented classmates! The competition at OCAD is fierce, but I love it. Since coming here my style of illustration has changed dramatically and this is due much in part to the professors; I used to draw pretty realistically but over my years here I have been pushed and challenged into creating a more stylized approach." In first year she won the OCAD illustration scholarship and the overall response to her work has been positive.
When asked about the themes in her work she states "Thanks to my grandfather, fairy tale elements and children's folk tale elements play a large role in my work, especially mushrooms and toadstools - I love to draw them! Nature has also always been largely elemental in my pieces (most often trees and flowers - water lilies and peonies, recently), but lately I've taken to drawing pine cones, strawberries, raspberries and squirrels (in particular those reddish ones found in Britain with the tufted ears). Dolls and food (especially cakes) seem to pop up in my pieces a lot as well. Though a lot of my themes seem 'cutesy' I try to add an edge to them, some odd twist, so they are not as soft." Her pieces definitely mix fairy tale themes with quirkier images. Overall, it creates a really cool effect. To check out more of Emily's artwork check out her blog and, if her artwork amazes you like it did me, she will be launching her new site in the near future!
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