"I wanted to figure out my own 'visual language',
a way of working that was unique to me"
"I think I've always known that I'd be working in a creative environment" said Emma Jackson, when I asked her what inspired her to pursue a career in illustration. "I never imagined doing anything else. When I reached university I knew I wanted to focus on drawing - I wanted to figure out my own 'visual language', a way of working that was unique to me."
Having completed her degree at Falmouth University,
Cornwall last summer, Emma returned to her native Belfast and launched her own business designing and creating stationery, prints, paper-cuts & installations. She has since completed commissions for local shops; show-cased her work at markets and events throughout Northern Ireland, and designed her wonderfully cute "Sad-Sailor" Lino Print to raise money for the charity Movember.
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| iPhone Case available to buy through Love Through Design |
"Falmouth [University] offered great links to industry," she continues, "and lots of trips and visits to meet art directors, designers and other illustrators who were actually doing it for real."
Now 'doing it for real' herself, Emma's current work appears to continue to embrace her love of simple, clean lines and block colours with her main passion - paper-cuts (creating images from cutting and layering paper elements) - cumulating in striking graphic pieces.
Her collection entitled Aesop's Fables, inspired by classical tales including The Fox & the Grapes and The Crow & the Swan, was featured in an exhibition on Children's Classic Literature in Belfast's Botanic Gardens in October 2013.
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| The Fox & the Grapes |
It's been a busy year for our local girl.
Emma's brand-new website, emmajackson.eu launched last week and I asked her what her plans are for 2014.
"I really just love where I am right now; I feel like my work is constantly changing and I have learned so much in the past few months from leaving university in July to starting my own business and working it out for myself. Personally, if I can continue to do this for as long as possible - working for myself, building a client base - I will be over the moon."
You can find out more about Emma Jackson Illustration online at
www.facebook.com/emmajacksonillustration
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