ghostkitten: Lovely Ink: Interview with Karma Voce

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Lovely Ink: Interview with Karma Voce

This month's Lovely Ink was created by the ever-talented Australian surface designer and illustrator, Karma Voce. I hope her inspiring words and electric colors will spark a mission of dream-chasing and intuition-following in 2015. What perfect way to kick off the new year!

If you want to receive a free 8x10" printable and desktop wallpaper of this print sign-up for Lovely Ink here. Every month, Lovely Ink delivers free inspirational art to your inbox.

II was lucky enough to interview Karma and peek into her creative process and find out her big dreams and inspirations. Enjoy!

Take us through your creative process of making your piece for Lovely Ink?
I spent a night looking at quotes, and then, deciding I would like to try and come up with my own, so I scribbled out some ideas, and moved words around until it was just right. Then, I googled to make sure no one else had used the same words together like that. I have since found someone claiming it as their own, but I am confident it was uniquely mine (as their evidence they pinned my poster!) But when it came to the art, I started with a brown paper background, but ended up going with black as the colours looked more vibrant. I created it all with pen and tablet in photoshop.

What drew you to the inspirational saying you used in your Lovely Ink piece?

I created something that I thought would be helpful to me and others, I wanted it to be inspiring, and I think it has resonated with a lot of people

Was there a moment in your life when you first fell in love with making things?

I think I started very early. My mum had a job in a plasticine factory for a small period when I was a baby, and it maybe started there. I can still remember the smell like it was yesterday. When I was an older girl, my favourite thing was drawing, craft and dress-ups. Nothing has changed ever since! I didn't actually think to go and study art until after I had my son, as a mature age student!

Where in your life do you find the most inspiration for your art?

Oh, I think nature and people are my favourite inspirations, but I love exploring different countries and cultures too, and I love looking at the creative stuff from the past too. I use my local library, pinterest, tumblr, instagram and google to look up visual references.

What would be your absolute dream project - no limitations?

I think I would like to have my own successful label, design jewelry and accessories and women's clothes.

Who are some of your favorite artists, illustrators or surface designers?
I have been extremely lucky to make friends with a lot of great artists and illustrators recently, and they all inspire me daily! I am inspired by the clever and creative women in my art collective - Forest Foundry. They are all fabulous artists. Also, one of my closest online friends, Monika Forsberg of Walkyland - I am obsessed with her unique and quirky style.Very Rad. I lovvve Marimekko, they always have amazing designers. I love Inaluxe, fellow Australians. Rifle Paper Company always does beautiful stuff! Gee, I could go on and on. So much talent in the world.

What are your favorite design or art blogs that you would like to share with your fans?

I love Print Pattern blog by Bowie Style (Marie Perkins). I have been following that for about 8 years. I also love The Jealous Creator for less pattern based art. A fabulous Australian blog, The Design Files, is always good for design-y stuff. And for nature, I love following Jill Bliss. She is an artist obsessed with nature, and she posts beautiful nature photographs and artwork. I use Feedly to store all my blogs, and highly recommend it to people still bookmarking their favourite sites. Feedly makes it a whole lot easier to track.