Former advertising art
director Sofia Hydman has
loved illustration since first
seeing The Little Mermaid
in 1993. “I wanted to grow up drawing
pretty girls and work for Walt Disney,”
she says. Based in Stockholm, while
she’s not working for Disney, she
loves that her career means “spending
my days drawing pretty fierce girls,
working for myself.”
These girls are often sparked by
the work of photographers Sofia
finds online showing “attitude and
interesting poses”. She sketches by
hand and finalises in Photoshop,
After Effects and Cinema 4D to create
colour and gradients. “I almost never
do analogue stuff anymore – I just
don’t have the patience to watch paint
dry,” she says.
Sofia describes her recent work with
The New York Times as a milestone
project: “They asked me to illustrate
turds in 3D and I was over the moon.”
She adds that it’s often the lower-
budget projects that turn out to be the
“most fun ones. I always appreciate
being contacted by smaller magazines
who stand for something good.”
Her aims this year are to develop
her skill set through more personal
work; and she’s collaborating with
illustrator Patrik Mollwing to launch
an animation studio: “Very excited
about that! Thrilled and terrified!”
sofiahydman.seɀ̇LjGʗǫȳLjȶ
MAKING SASSY, VOLUMINOUS AND CHEEKY DIGITAL ART
REPORT