I studied at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane for a year, then moved to Sydney and completed by Bachelor of Design at the College of Fine Arts (UNSW). My first graphic design job was in Brisbane, in my first year of design school, at a small studio called Vaux Creative. While I was studying in Sydney I worked at a lighting shop and sold flowers at the market to pay my way through the degree. In my final year of uni I did an internship as a designer at Animal Logic and this turned into my first full-time gig in the design industry!
Artist and designer specialising in lettering and illustration.
I spend a few hours replying to emails, try and go for a run or ride during the day while the sun’s out, then settle in for 6-7 solid hours of work from 8pm-3am.
I don’t take on studio interns, but I do take on painting assistants for large scale murals. I usually do a call out on Instagram a few weeks in advance.
Craft, versatility and one thing that is completely unique to you.
I am a freelance commercial artist — so most of the time my studio is just me! I do have two reps: The Jacky Winter Group in Oz and Levine/Leavitt in the U.S — so that’s helpful for the production side of things.
When I was full-time I wished I was a freelancer. Now that I’m a freelancer, 90% of the time I love it, 10% of the time I wish I had the structure, sick pay, security and work cookie jar of an in-house designer.
I just worked on a very fun project with Apple for their Pencil and iPad Pro campaign. The artwork is now live in Apple stores and I’ve been receiving photos from people all around the world — which is super cool.
I think there was a lot of “fake-it-til-you-make-it” in the early stages of my career. Actually, there’s probably a fair bit of that happening still! One particular obsession of mine was always the idea of the “designer’s studio”. When I was in university I was living in a tiniest, shittiest studio apartment yet whenever I applied for uni grants, wrote professional type letters or sent invoices I listed my address as “Suite 53/74…” instead of Unit 53….haha I thought it sounded fancier.
I’m an analogue girl at heart – I try to include pencils, ink and painting in most of my projects. That being said, technology is so important to help speed up the design process and in the last year, digital drawing apps and the Apple pencil have become a staple in sketching up roughs and colouring my work.
More personal work and passion projects.
I would love to receive an email from Alain de Botton asking me to paint a huge mural of one of his quotes somewhere!
Professionally I’ve got a fair few exciting projects and trips booked in. I’ll be painting in Sweden as part of No Limit Festival in September, speaking at Smashing Conference in Barcelona and Adobe MAX in Vegas in October, then coming home to have a solo exhibition at the Jacky Winter’s new Lamington Drive gallery at the end of the year. Personally, I’m hoping to expand my cooking repertoire, spend more time with family and friends and try to get better at managing stress.
Website: gemmaobrien.com
Instagram: @mrseaves101