By Areeba Adeeb, Graphic Designer
Art has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I remember asking my brother to draw for my projects which he would either blatantly refuse or do a lousy job, even though he was great at sketching. Thus, the journey that began was less about art but more about revenge and self-dependence. I vowed to myself that I would practice and learn to draw properly to beat my brother at it. Long story short, he is still way better than me in all aspects of art and creativity but the idea of revenge turned into an inspiration. In all these years that I have been around colours and brushes, I have witnessed myself grow as an artist. I may have not learnt about anatomy, or Da Vinci’s Fibonacci Spiral, but through art, I have learnt about patience, the uncertainty of the process and how wrong it is to judge a piece when it is still in its first layers.
While discovering the artist in me, I experimented with a lot of mediums until I stumbled upon watercolours. They were rogue and wild at first and almost made me despise their existence but something in them was also free and calming. I began drawing simple portraits and enjoyed the process. Putting those little details in the irises and adding a white highlight to make the eyes sparkle gave me an adrenaline rush. The details of the faces, the lines, the expressions, the shadows and the light fascinated me when I worked with portraits and adding little details of flowers and butterflies made them even more beautiful.
Butterflies - The focus of this portrait are the butterflies and the freedom they signify combined with female strength
Eventually, when lockdown began, after giving it a lot of thought, I decided to try my hands at digital art and illustrations. My brother encouraged me to learn Adobe Illustrator, and then began the journey of teaching myself the basics of illustration and graphic design. I watched YouTube videos and observed my brother during his designing process and picked up a thing or two. Eventually, I also taught myself to work with Photoshop and InDesign. My brother has been a constant source of encouragement and motivation in my art journey, especially the digital one. He gives off design tips in passing, keyboard shortcuts for the software and keeps nagging about the importance of constantly saving the Illustrator file, something which you always learn the hard way.
Vulnerable - This digital illustration signifies a women and her strength of being vulnerable
Although I have done a little freelancing, interning with Marketing Hues is my first professional experience and it has been delightful so far. I have learnt a whole new bunch of things related to design as well as marketing, something I have always been curious about. The best part of being here is the creative freedom that has not been compromised which I believe is important for artists to maintain their true integrity. Being an artist, a graphic designer and a student is difficult but rewarding. I am still learning and improving at my skills and as a human and will keep doing so for as long as I call myself an artist.
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