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Thursday 15 November 2018

Meet the Illustrator: Patricia Ward

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Whimsical, contrasting, equal parts darkness and light, reflective, loose, detailed.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My glass desk. My ink wells. My numbered drawers, my trolley on wheels and my stereo.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
My absolute favourite medium is ink, followed by foiling or gold leaf, and lately I have become quite partial to integrating resin and wood into my pieces.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Arthur Rackham, Miho Hirano, and Daniel Merriam.


Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
I love now so much, for so many reasons, I don’t really have another time in history that I think I would want to visit artistically. I love the technology we have access to, and the vast wealth of historical art we can reference. There are so many artists emerging right now that we may never have been exposed to without platforms like instagram and facebook. I am so excited to be making art in the here and now, and very excited to see what the future holds.

Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
I love illustration as an art form and have for as long as I can remember. It has always been a part of my career, but it has taken a while for it to become such a large part. I guess I feel fortunate to have been able to explore it through a few different methods; initially including it in my graphic design jobs on cd and magazine covers, then through animation and finally in a more pure form.


Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
Oh my creative work space is always messy!! I try to tidy it before I start each new piece, but sometimes the tidy is closer to moving one pile to another…


What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
The paper nerd in me LOVES stretching the paper. I find nothing more satisfying than a crisp, taut, stretched piece of hot pressed paper... but I love the concept stage and planning the composition… and finishing. I always have a point on every illustration where I think ‘Oh god this is dreadful, this is NEVER going to come together. I have learnt to push through and am always relieved when I get to the end of the work and don’t totally hate it.

What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Don’t stress about finding your ’style’ but do practise as much as possible. Try to pick projects that are closer to who you are as an artist.


Being an only child, Patricia spent much of her time living in her imagination, bringing it to life through drawing and illustration. She loves exploring colour and playing with positive and negative spaces. Her work is vibrant and whimsical, with an underlying sense of a narrative. Patricia believes every illustration should tell a story whether it is accompanied by text or not. 
You can follow Patricia on instagram and facebook or check out her website.