Julia Gash is a British illustrator and map maker extraordinaire based in Sussex. Although she spends her time with her two cats and three chickens by the sea in England, Julia is perpetually traveling the world through her art. She creates colorful depictions of iconic cities, campuses, and landscapes across the world, all in her playful illustrative style. To learn more about Julia and her unique creative process, we asked her some questions about how she found her art style and how it has taken the world by storm.
Give us some background on your career as an artist.
I have always felt a deep state of inner peace and calm when I draw. I remember first feeling this when I was about five years old and it's never left me. The world just ebbs away as I create my own. I went away to Brighton Polytechnic to study illustration and then onwards to Central St. Martins School of Art in London for a postgraduate qualification in printmaking.
I inadvertently started a fashion brand in 1990, which became successful as a quirky British brand. In 2007 I set up an eco-print factory, in which we collaborated with Fair Trade certified factories in India to make a range of natural cotton and jute tote bags, which we then printed in the UK. The business was a great success and I began to design tote bag prints for retailers who had the budget for bags but no artwork to put on them. This led to me creating a range of London map themed illustrations for the London Olympics 2012 and catapulted me into creating locale illustrations, printed onto sustainable and stylish souvenirs for retailers across the globe.
How did you find your illustrative style and why do you think it appeals to such a large audience?
I consciously draw in a childlike style and try to capture a sense of awe and wonder of a child discovering the world for the first time. I think this is what appeals to people. They connect with this sense of wonderment and I hope that my work offers a playful and honest interpretation of the world in which we live.
You create art that represents a wide variety of locations. Assuming that you don’t have the time to visit each and every one of them, what does your research process look like in order to decide what the most notable landmarks of each place are?
Retailers fill out a design brief template, which guides me on what to draw, capturing key landmarks, local culture, wildlife and heroes. I often spit the brief back to them to ask for more information if I don’t think it’s going to create a strong design!
What are some challenges you run into while trying to accurately represent these places?
The biggest obstacle to drawing landmarks is … trees! I get so many photos from retailers, showing their library, science building, student union or wherever, for me to draw … and there are trees obscuring the building and strangely enough, they don’t realize that I can’t see through them!
Has your artistic practice allowed you to discover any places that you would like to visit?
Every time I draw somewhere, I want to go and visit it! It’s torturous drawing Bermuda on a cold, winter day in England. I drew Oregon and Washington a few years ago and then hopped on a plane three weeks later to discover some of what I drew! I love to travel. I have a campervan called Bertha and recently drove from England to Greece and back, stopping off in France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Austria on route. Loved every mile of it!
On a footnote … I was in Portland a couple of years ago and on an incredibly hot day, I wandered into your store and found my artwork printed onto water bottles. I love it when I stumble across my work around the world or when people share photos of my artwork in their home or spotting it on their journeys. It gives me a buzz!
You can check out our Julia Gash University of Oregon products here and more of Julia’s artwork here !