Just off the back of celebrating her second year as a full-time freelancer, I got a chance to chat to designer and illustrator Lisa Maltby about her career to date, thoughts about the creative industry and look at more of the fantastic creative work she’s produced.

I wanted to start off by asking about your excellent writing, where you champion the creative industry and promote respect and equality throughout it. Was this something you always set out to do or was there a catalyst to your writing?

 
Thanks for the compliment! For me, words and visual work go hand in hand – they are both equally important for expression and communication and I’ve always invested time into both. When I first started my career I set out to be honest about my journey in order to be helpful to others, if only for the fact that I have faced many challenges and wished there were more people who were a bit more transparent. When I started working freelance a blog seemed the most logical way of sharing my thoughts and opening discussion about the creative industry. I think it also gives people an insight into my ethos and hopefully attracts the right clients to work with (or puts off the wrong ones!). 

Have you given any talks, or would like to, related to the topics you discuss in your blog?

Yes, I’ve given a few talks – I always end up talking less about my work and more about topics surrounding the creative industry. I’m ridiculously honest (perhaps to my detriment) but I think people appreciate that far more than just showing off a portfolio – they need to understand your processes and how you’ve overcome challenges. I don’t think I have any continuous themes, although self belief and equality have probably underpinned a lot of the talks I give because I resonate with those things a lot. I mainly give talks to students but I’m also giving a talk at Glug Leeds in September which is the first time I’ve done a talk in front of peers so that should be fun (and probably equally daunting!). At least I can get a beer at the end of that one ;) 

Your project for typographic put downs was superbly done – and received a lot of positive attention  – do you think you could have handled this project as well using another form of illustration?

I loved doing this project – I suppose it was a form of catharsis for me, realising the ridiculousness of some of the comments I’ve had and being able to disconnect them from how I feel about my work. I tried to use different media in order to illustrate the content of each criticism which meant using more collage, found objects and photography than I do in my hand drawn work. It helped me to solve problems a little differently, which I love doing – I think when you’re an illustrator there is always the issue of style and consistency so it’s nice to do personal work that explores different ways of working. I often experiment with different styles in my personal work. 

Do you have another 12 you could add or are you finding less put downs recently?

Thankfully I’m definitely finding less – maybe this project shut everyone up! Or maybe it’s just the fact that I’m finding better client relationships where we’re a better match and we generally respect one another’s professions. I think surrounding yourself with the right people is key because essentially they are the catalyst for bringing out your best work – if you’re spoken to in a positive way you will always do more for those people and the same thing goes for the way you treat your clients. You learn to trust your instincts a bit and not enter into dialogue with people who just want a cheap deal and have no understanding of the work you do. 

Do you find ideals are changing towards equality in the creative field and a respect for illustration growing? Or is there still much to be done?

I think it’s difficult to tell regarding equality – perhaps now that I work for myself I am able to connect with a wider community of like-minded people and that’s been really positive, but at the same time there is a danger of becoming ignorant to the issues others may be facing. There are a lot of creative leaders out there who aren’t open to change, which is a real shame. They see something working fine so why should anyone else get involved? But for the creative industry as a whole, to strengthen we need more diverse people having an input into our media and having a positive impact. It seems crazy, for example, that only 12% of creative directors are female, yet women are still the biggest consumers. It’s been encouraging to work with many professionals who recognise that a more equal work force would benefit the creative industry.

 
I think illustration is a separate issue but an equally difficult one. As most illustrators work for themselves they are more susceptible to being walked over by big corporate companies and few have support. With the rise of sites that promote cheap logo work or the ease of finding illustrator’s details and sending blanket emails, it means that it is far too easy to find people who undercut. I think essentially it’s about empowering illustrators to have more confidence in their work and respect themselves enough to ask for a decent living. I suppose that’s still an issue of equality in a sense – an illustrator deserves to be paid fairly for their work as much as the next and unfortunately a lot of people still believe creative work is on a par with a hobby or something that shouldn’t be taken seriously. We need to be supporting one another, not undercutting – that’s no good for anyone in the long run.

Your work seems to aim mostly on illustrative typography – does that stem from your time as a designer?

I think that has played a massive part but I also remember as a kid being really interested in typography. I used to ask for pens and calligraphy sets every Christmas and would spend hours playing around with writing in different ways. I always noticed the way signs were written or the style of typography on books and so on, so I think the interest has always been there for some reason. Working as a designer really helped me to have a good understanding of spacing and how different typography worked well for different things or in different compositions. 

What prompted you to start your career as a freelance illustrator? Where you always wanting to be an illustrator?

I wanted to be an artist or an illustrator since the age of around five – I never envisaged doing anything else really. I did a degree in illustration and tried to work freelance when I graduated but to be honest it didn’t work out. I found it really demoralising and really hard to pay my bills. I ended up doing a number of different jobs – working in a printers, a busy marketing department and then a design studio. I think it did me a lot of favours in the end being able to work commercially and in different industries that taught me things I am now benefitting from. If anything I think the main thing I’ve learnt is to be a better communicator – I think that’s the main thing you need as an illustrator. 

Your book about curious cocktails is inspired (I agree with your son about putting lime in drinks). Do you have any other strange recipe books in the works? Does your son get a part credit as creative lead for that project?

Ha ha, yes I definitely need to credit him in the book. We’ve actually just been talking about making some of them out of fake slime and other things and he was full of great ideas – kids are the best inspiration. I definitely have some other ideas to expand on the book although I’m not really one to milk an idea too much – I always like to do something a little different with each personal project. I’m a big kid at heart though so any excuse to do something funny or gross and I’m there. 

You’ve worked for Chatsworth and Harewood House – and Sheffield and surrounding areas has some beautiful places. Do you find a lot of inspiration from where you live?

Yes I do. I grew up in Otley in West Yorkshire so I’ve always lived close to countryside and I think nature plays a huge part in my work. Maybe that’s why a lot of my work is observational and based on life. I also love the colours in nature – you think you have something bright on screen or in your sketchpad and you really can’t capture just how rich the colour is in reality. I think nature is probably both my biggest ally and biggest competition – I’m always getting ideas from it but I’m equally frustrated that I can’t really compete with it. I think that’s in part why I stopped being such a realist – I wanted to find try and find different expressions of things that couldn’t be seen anywhere else. 

How did those projects come about? Did you find it a challenge creating the work for both houses respectively?

I used to work with Chatsworth House in my old job because I designed a lot of their general leaflets and they had seen a lot of my personal work. A while later they got back in touch with me because they thought my illustration style would fit in well with their marketing material. It’s great stuff to work on because I can create the design and illustration hand in hand and it’s always great to go around the house and overhear people commenting on your work. Chatsworth are part of the same group of houses as Harewood House so they referred me to them. Initially I wondered whether a different way of working was needed but they specifically wanted my style of work and actually I think it works really well – it helps to create a buzz about the two houses and tie things in a bit. I also think it’s important to reflect the tradition and detail of the houses which my style of work does well.

 

You have recently displayed work in exhibitions. Is that a new thing for you or is it something you actively try to get involved in? Do you find it an advantage to display for new work and contacts?

I’ve done a few exhibitions – I much prefer being part of joint exhibitions because you really connect in with the wider creative community and you get to be inspired by lots of different artists. To be honest, I struggle a bit with displaying my own work which sounds crazy when I post so much on social media about the projects I work on. I think, because a lot of my work is commercial, it feels like I can hide behind the brief or the client a bit but when something is totally out of your own head you can feel a bit more vulnerable about putting it out there. It’s a totally different thing having someone passively discover your work online and like it. But when you’re inviting people to an event to see your work, that feels a bit different. For me, exhibitions are more a chance to give something back to your community rather than make money – you make complete strangers laugh, smile or think a little differently about something and you don’t ask for anything in return. Of course it’s great when you sell a piece but I’m always chuffed when I see someone stop and pause over something I’ve created. 

Lastly, what’s the one thing everyone should do today?

Probably eat something. Maybe burritos. ;)

Visit Lisa’s site to view more of her work, and you can find her on Twitter at @Lisa_Maltby.