I grew up on the ocean side of France, so I basically spend all my summers at the beach. The only thing I was drawing back then were people in swimsuits, kids playing in the sand... Everything changed as a teenager, where I suddenly hated the sun and summer. It was all about black, gothic clothing and metal music. I was only drawing tattooed, pierced pale people that honestly looked a bit suicidal. Now that I am a grown-up, I finally got back to drawing lightly dressed people, sun and beaches, adding some aliens, distorted walls and flowers. I think my work has always been a reflection of my mood.
I'm really not a morning person, so I need my slow life routine before I can get to work: I do yoga before each day of work, this helps me to wake up and breathe because I'm a very anxious person in general. It also really helped me with my back problems, and helped to stay in a seated position for a long time. Then, when I'm ready, I do all the emailing and commercial part and executive work. If I need to brainstorm on new ideas I usually wait after 3 pm, that's when I'm the most focused, and if I can I wait the day after to send my ideas to the clients, just to be more objective and make sure the ideas are good enough!
I think it is something I knew already: find somewhere else than your home to work. I know that when you just start as a freelancer it's hard because the money is little, but it's worth it! Working with other people helps a lot to be creative and productive, to ask feedback when needed and exchange point of views... And lunch breaks are a bit funnier too!
When I started to do illustration back in Art school, I was into every kind of tools I could try: textile, stencil, etching, ink, pencils, painting, collages, embroidery..etc. I think I was really trying to understand my creative personality but it was really hard for me to decide which tool suited me best. At some point, I genuinely got back to pencils and pens, and these last few years I did mostly digital colouring. I still draw on paper though, I think I just love it :) For the creative part, I'm always curious about what other people do, Instagram is a wonderful tool to stay tuned. I also go very often too small press events to see what's new, it's super inspiring and I love to collect handmade/handprinted matter. When I'm at work, especially if I work for myself, I try to open my mind as much as I can and to get rid of my realistic and tangible representation of the world. If the drawing is 'down to earth' for me, I try to think about funny elements I could add. The drawing is over when I feel confident about it, even if it took a few years for me to figure out when to stop. The tip I would give is don't hesitate to contact people you want to work with, it's a very important part of the professional network you build. I know it's hard and that there is always this small voice saying 'maybe my work isn't good enough', but when you get a positive response or a new collaboration, it helps a lot being more confident about your work.
I feel like design is going more and more into animated content. As a 2D illustrator, I can see that not only my network is in need of playful animations, but also these past years on social media we can see a lot more of motion design work. I'd like to learn the fundamentals of animation, I am sure it will become necessary in a lot of different fields, especially advertisement. I personally am much interested in short movies, animated series, and video clips.
I'm having a collective exhibition in Paris @Floréal Belleville in July, then holidays with friends. I currently live in Berlin but I'm moving back to France in September, and I will try to go to Paris for a few days this autumn to tattoo. I hope to have enough time this year to write and illustrate my first children book and I'd love also to do a residency outside of Europe, maybe in 2020.
Website: aminabouajila.com
Instagram: @amina_bouajila