Rosie Boyes
Illustration 2024
Throughout university, Rosie’s art style has developed and become more contemporary as she explored the different areas of illustration she could pursue. Her skills progressed into digital art, which was the focus of most of her work at university level. This is displayed in her Final Major Project; Lazy Girlz. This is a business based on her feminist ideals, using personal experiences to create merchandise for other girls and women progressing into adulthood. These designs feature bright colours and bold typography, with quirky illustrations telling different light hearted stories. This project allowed her to develop her illustration style, as well as learning website building, financing, and social media skills.
The Lazy Girlz project is based on the shift between being a teenager and being an adult. This is a change that a lot of girls struggle with, as they are expected to have fun in their youth but also to be successful in their careers, while also taking time to cook and clean. Lazy Girlz explores the realities of this, such as ordering a takeaway so you don’t have to cook. The themes explored in this project make light of this issue, instead of taking it too seriously.
The inspiration behind Rosie’s work often comes from fashion and portraiture. Her pieces usually feature stylised women, with her signature rosy cheeks. She always uses bright, contrasting colours to make her work stand out as well as bold patterns and shapes that make her work more contemporary. While her work is usually digital, she does like to experiment with different print techniques, using her digital designs as inspiration. She is also influenced by music and has always enjoyed bridging the gap between music and art. This is an area of the illustration industry she is particularly interested in, designing merchandise or lyric videos for musical artists.
Animation is a huge part of Rosie’s illustration practice. With every project, she tries to make a moving element which will bring her illustrations to life. This is a skill she has been developing for years, using frame by frame animation on Procreate. Her style of animation is more old fashioned, still using digital artwork, she uses drawing tools to make her artwork move rather than digital programming.
Rosie’s focus outside of university is to run her business as an extra source of income, making new products and prints to sell on this platform while pursuing freelance illustration. She enjoys receiving a wide variety of briefs and making something completely new for each project. Freelance illustration will give her the freedom to explore different areas and to work with a diverse selection of clients and companies.