“I just enjoy capturing women who are comfortable in their skin. I appreciate that it doesn’t always last, so why not make the most of it and share it instead of hiding it away.”
Welcome to Mamamia’s art endeavour, the Voulez-Vous Project. Every week we celebrate emerging artists, designers, illustrators, creators and cats who dress like their owners (not joking). Our aim: to help the internet become a slightly more beautiful, captivating, or thought-provoking place by making art accessible.
To find out more about the Voulez-Vous project, click here. Click here to see all the previous Voulez-Vous posts.
Kelly Thompson’s illustrations are an exploration of the fearless femme, brought to life by colour. Her work is in increasingly high demand amongst leading fashion brands, and for good reason. It’s incredible.
Thompson’s passion for illustration began at a young age, growing up in New Zealand. As a child she would copy Rembrandt portrait paintings in coloured pencil. She later completed a Bachelor of Design at university, majoring in photography, before returning to her love for illustration.
“I wasn’t that great at photography and wanted to learn something new (random 18-year-old thought process). In my final year I did one illustration paper, got my best marks of the entire degree, and thought that maybe I had just invested a whole lot of money in the wrong direction!” Thompson explains.
Since moving to Australia in 2010, Thompson has worked for major brands such as The Jacky Winter Group, Escada Paris, Maybelline NYC, Nintendo, The London Sunday Times, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Covergirl.
As a female drawing females, Thompson loves capturing women who are simply comfortable in their own skin.
“Initially I drew the girls that I photographed and was particularly interested in the moment when a model stopped “modeling” and was just herself. Knowing my subject was very important to me, and I found and still find it fascinating how females often do what they expect you want instead of just being themselves.”
“It’s interesting the response to my work sometimes at shows, some people just think they’re babes, some think they’re self portraits or underage girls (they’re not), and some are very critical of the nudity; I love to watch people bring their own hang ups to my work and see how differently it can be interpreted.” Thompson says.
When it comes to refining her work, Thompson occasionally uses Photoshop and Wacom to achieve bolder colours, but can’t go past the classic pen and paper.
“I love drawing by hand as I enjoy the methodical process of pen to paper and chipping through an illustration, I also feel a bit creatively claustrophobic if I’m on a computer all the time.”
Inspiration for her projects stems from her ‘colour fanatic’ personality. A previous job as a MAC makeup artist learning how to blend and understand colour palettes also amounts to her bold works.
“I’m more than a little obsessed with plants and gardening, I love the textures, colours and fluidity of plants and how they are slightly creepy quietly moving around without us noticing! I’m also hugely inspired by fashion, not so much the day to day, but the statements and the OTT; more and more I feel my work becoming less minimal and much more about pattern and colour and adding more.” Thompson explains.
Thompson dreams of working with people like Stella McCartney or brands Miu Miu and Cartier, but for now she’s working on ‘something new’.
Together with fellow illustrator, Andrew Archer, the pair has formed UNA – a creative endeavor uniting brands, clients and agencies to connect with consumers and solve marketing problems through stunning visuals.
“Over the last couple of years our work has diversified a lot to also include more creative consultancy, and we both found that clients were not only interested in our personal illustration abilities, but also us as individuals, our ideas, our suggestions and the creatives we associate with.”
Take a look below at some of Kelly Thompson’s beautiful projects.
Kelly Thompson Artworks.
You can follow Kelly on Instagram here.
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Do you know an artist (or are YOU an artist) who creates beautiful or thought-provoking work and whom you think should be featured on Mamamia’s Voulez-Vous Project? Send an email to lizzie.marton@mamamia.com.au.