New Artist - 2016__

Millie Marotta

Millie in her West

Wales studio.

Millie‘s sketches

are a lot more

detailed than most!

She prefers to keep

the natural forms of

plant life or animals

as true as possible,

making them

individual by adding

imaginary detail in

the patterns, marks

and textures.

F

or seven years I've

been working as

freelance commercial

illustrator (following

a career as an art teacher), on

a huge variety of projects from

food packaging to creating

patterns for fabrics for clothing

and wallpaper and homewares

• but now books are taking up
  a lot of my time.
  I developed my illustration
  style early on in my career and it’s
  become a more concentrated,
  detailed and refined version
  as I’ve gone on to arrive where

I am today. All my work is

nature based – it’s the core, the

thread that runs through my

work and something I feel very

passionately about. I never get

bored of exploring it, I never

have to think too much about

where my inspiration is going

to come from – it’s always been

something I’ve been interested

in, it’s inherent.

I studied wildlife illustration

at college: and so have a keen

interest in the reality of nature,

its patterns and forms. But at the

same time I like to input from my

imagination, to inject an element

that isn’t there, that’s something

I’ve made up. So my illustrations

are always a mix of the real and

the imaginary.

I live in West Wales in the

UK’s only national park, so

I'm surrounded by interesting

environments to visit which

inspires me. But I’m not the sort

of artist who wanders around with

a sketchbook all the time, I just

find being in the environment

feeds my mind with ideas and I

take that back to the studio (my

spare bedroom!) with me.

Sometimes I might take

photos – for instance, if I’m

working on a commission I might

Much has been written about the adult colouring-in

trend – it’s a new way of relaxing the mind through art,

some say. But what does it take to create ‘calming art’?

We ask best-selling illustrator Millie Marotta...

An illustrator’s

love of wildlife

Millie Marotta

ARTWORK:

PEACOCK SKETCH