Interview with Jillian Anderson
This year we were so lucky to have received hundreds of amazing entries in our Cover Design Contest, and Jillian’s entry was one of our top picks. Her unique floral design is one you can choose from when picking your new cover and is definitely going to be a customer favorite! We love getting to know our designers better, and we hope you feel the same way! Enjoy learning more about Jillian!
Tell us a bit about yourself:
Hi! I'm an artist and surface pattern designer currently based in Medford, Oregon (but that's changing soon!). I'm a wife of nearly 10 years and the mother of a sassy and smart 8 year-old girl. I love being outside, especially in the spring and fall when things are changing, but I also really enjoy summertime when I can be out on the lake on my paddleboard or in the back yard grilling. I think I'm part plant - I get so much life from being in the sun. And, speaking of plants, I love them! I have an unhealthy obsession with plants, both indoor and outdoor, and flowers give me such joy!
How did you become an artist?
I have loved art my whole life. My parents would get me coloring books and markers or colored pencils almost every year and I would spend hours and hours coloring. One year, I even dressed up as an artist for Halloween! I never really thought of being an artist as a career possibility, and so I didn't really take any art classes in high school. No matter how much math and science I tried to force myself to do, I'd always find myself doodling on my homework or my notes. Making anatomical diagrams in anatomy class was my favorite part of the whole year because I got to pull out my art supplies and draw. Somehow, art always came crawling back into my life. Though I was never able to further pursue art in school, I ached for ways to be creative. I've done a bunch of different types of creative arts. I even built myself a loom at one point so I could try my hand at weaving! However, nothing ever brought me as much joy as simply drawing and painting. Learning how to take that love of creating artwork and put it onto surfaces has been the most magical experience, and I'm so thrilled to be able to be a surface designer!
What does your typical day look like?
On a typical weekday, I drag myself out of bed kicking and screaming (I wish I was a morning person, but my brain is wired differently and it comes ALIVE at night!) and get my daughter ready and off to school. Once home, I sit down at my computer and the workday begins. I currently have an Etsy shop that I run as my "day-job," so I do the usual customer service and shop upkeep first thing to get it out of the way. Then I focus on design! This is either drawing motifs and brainstorming collections or doing the computer work to get them to repeat perfectly. I do this almost obsessively and sometimes even forget to eat! At around 2:00pm I get ready to pick my daughter up from school and then ferry her off to her many extra-curricular activities. I always bring my iPad with me and can get in some more drawing time when I'm waiting for her activities to finish up. Then it's home to cook dinner and have some family time before bed. On weekends, I clean and do the laundry. That's all there's time for!
How do you come up with designs? Walk us through the process.
I would love to say that I have this amazing process that helps me craft each design... but that would simply not be true. I think my designs come about in a sort of happy-accident kind of way. I usually just start drawing and then adding things and taking things out... it ends up being a bit like sculpting or molding clay, only I have no idea what the end goal is... I just sort of "arrive" there at the right time. I think I generally have a thought like, "Today I want to draw frogs!" And so I draw a frog, and then add some leaves, and then maybe some mushrooms, and then perhaps a snail or two, etc., until I have this full pattern with all sorts of stuff in it. My designs tend to be jam-packed full of details and motifs, and I would like to say that is probably an accurate reflection of what it looks like inside my brain!
What keeps you creatively inspired?
I am generally inspired most by nature. This answer may seem like such a cop-out, but I honestly feel such magic when I see a flower open in the sunshine or the way the sunset turns fields of dry grass pink. Also, I also find insane amounts of inspiration from other artists throughout the ages. I have cultivated an Instagram account where I see the most beautiful artwork and it inspires me to no end! I can spend hours looking at beautiful art online and it only ever fills me with the desire to create as well.
What is your best advice for staying organized and productive?
Honestly, organization is a foreign language to me! It is something I am learning very slowly, but my natural state is absolute chaos. I am your quintessential scatter-brained creative through and through. I think, and this might sound like the most obvious thing in the world to everyone but me, the most important thing for staying organized is WRITE IT DOWN. Write EVERYTHING down. If you think your brain can hold onto that thought and bring it back to your attention at the right time, you are probably wrong! So, write it down. This is where using a planner has saved my life more than once! For productivity, having a clear goal in mind and time-blocking seems to be helpful. If I start to get distracted, I ask myself, "Will this thing I am doing support my goal?" and if the answer is no, I stop and get back on track.
Thank you again Jillian for sharing your life and creativity with us!