| By Veronica Wong Diffa
SIMONE FIELD
Illustrator and Graphic Artist
Looking for bespoke occasion cards, phone and laptop cases or even a digital canvas illustration? Simone Field does it all! South African born creative, Simone Field is a self-taught illustration and graphic artist. At the age of 25 she created her own bespoke business; ‘Moan’s Designs’. Being a new independent company, Simone has transformed the majority of her production to digital online illustrations that can be bought through Society6 and Redbubble to reduce extra waste production and to become more environmentally friendly. With her small but successful business thriving, Simone takes the time to speak to Motion Magazine and create some unique graphic illustrations. All she wants is to bring a little bit of creativity and happiness into our everyday lives.
Purchase Motion magazine to see Simone's bespoke illustrations she created here
VWD: How did you learn to do illustrations and graphics?
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SF: I studied art for A-levels and then I went to Reading College and did a foundation Art degree there. I went down the graphic design route when I did my foundation course and afterwards, I decided to take a step back from illustrations. Over the past 2 years, I’ve started illustrating again and am really trying to make it a fine art. My parents are also graphic designers and my sister is an artist, so it makes it easier because we’ve all got this creative touch.
VWD: How did you fall back in love with illustrations?
SF: It’s hard to fall in love with art when you are doing it for A-levels, it just becomes such a nightmare [Laughs]. But after you’ve left it and had a step back from it for a year or two, you realise that actually, it’s quite therapeutic and a calming thing to do. I got back into illustrations about two years ago and I’ve been using a lot of Skillshare videos to learn different things; that’s how I have made it into a business.
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Skillshare is such a great platform for creative people to use. The other day, Photoshop updated and it’s been winding me up and I couldn’t figure out how to do something so simple, and so I went onto Skillshare and it fixed it for me! It’s just brilliant!
VWD: What’s your advice for aspiring graphic designers - do you need a degree to do graphics?
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SF: If you succeed really well in school and you enjoyed going to classes, then go ahead onto university because it is a place that you will learn very valuable information. But if you hated every second of school, then there are definitely other ways of doing it. You’ve got YouTube and you’ve got Skillshare - as long as you are creative and imaginative, you should be absolutely fine. But you have to put in the hard work because it is hard work to try and get yourself somewhere without having a degree. Sometimes you just have to take a step back – it gives you more perspective on what you want to do!
VWD: Where do you get your inspiration from?
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SF: It just depends on where I am and what I am doing! We went to Brighton at the beginning of the year and discovered a 70s cocktail bar; I did a piece of artwork that was inspired from the 70s décor that was in it. I also went to a museum one week and the ‘Gates of Babylon’ were on display and they inspired me to do a piece of work. It just depends on what I’ve seen. It could be a piece of art or it could be buildings – anything inspires me! It just has to be eye-catching and then I can make something from it.
VWD: What is your advice for creative artists that are struggling to find inspiration?
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SF: Take yourself away from everything, especially social media. Just go out into nature and explore different places that you haven’t seen because that’s mainly where you get inspiration from. You know, the natural side of things. Pinterest can be great but sometimes it’s so overwhelming when you’re trying to find inspiration, so I always just try and take a step back. Make trips with friends and find different things.
VWD: What’s your favourite thing to draw?
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SF: I like calligraphy – it’s my favourite thing to do. But when it comes to drawing, I like to illustrate pictures of my friends – it’s great fun! It’s my favourite thing to do, just illustrating people!
VWD: How do you like working best?
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SF: I mainly work with creators; I’ve done a couple of peoples YouTube illustrations. I’ve got a friend who has a channel, she does very well and I do her merch design for her. Through her, I’ve done designs and banners for her YouTube friend that does a lot of travelling. I like to work with people more than companies. That way you’re going off of someone’s vision - I like it to be more natural, like your talking to a person and not a robot. And I don’t mind it not being the perfect brief, just tell me vaguely what you want, so that I have an idea!
VWD: What do you like most about being in the creative industry?
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SF: I think it’s just meeting different people, isn’t it? Creative people are just so wacky! It’s nice to meet different people and hear about how they got into it and it’s just a nice community to be a part of.
VWD: If you weren’t an illustrator, what would your dream job be?
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SF: I could not tell you – I’m one of those really indecisive people [Laughs]! It would probably be something to do with books because I’m a massive reader so I’d probably be a proof reader or an editor, something like that. I don’t think I could completely get out of the creative industry. I wouldn’t be a doctor or anything, I’m just not that clever; my brain doesn’t work that way for various reasons [Laughs].
Purchase Motion magazine to see Simone's bespoke illustrations she created here