Ali Marbeck is an illustrator from Perth with a love for drawing animals and girls in cozy calm settings. Her art business ali illustrations took off after she held her very first stall at last year’s KickstART Festival Market. We chat to her about how creative hobbies can be therapeutic, whether or not she believes in authenticity and originality, and her future plans.

Tell us about ali illustrations.

At the moment it’s a little online store selling prints and stickers, I also sell at markets. I want branch out and do different products like tote bags and t-shirts, I would also love to eventually start embroidering too. There’s a whole range of other things that I would love to get into. I do personal work but I also do a few commissions like portraits or logo designs and I’ve also done a few tattoo designs.

How would you describe your work?

Usually quite soft, but not too soft, something with substance, I would say quite whimsical and magical. I usually illustrate based off a feeling and my work usually has animals in it. I always think of colour because I think it changes everything. Before starting anything, I usually think about what kind of colours it’s going to have. I feel like a piece will take you and immerse you it with its cohesive colour scheme. Plus, lighting and shadows changes everything and makes things more realistic, so those are the things that I always try to include.

The majority of your work features girls in serene settings, do you ever draw boys?

Not really, hahahaha, it’s actually one of my weaknesses. It’s easier for me to draw girls and I love doing it, it’s more fun, there are more things to play around with because I feel like guys are more rectangular with sharp edges I guess? Which is different to my style which is more flowy, but that’s one of the things I’m trying to work on this year, I want to get better at drawing guys.

When did you start ali illustrations and why did you start it?

I think I always knew I wanted to go into it. I actually started in occupational therapy at uni, I finished a year and was like “Nope, not going to do this.” and switched degrees to illustration. After finding art again I felt a bit like I had come full circle, as one of the reasons I decided to study Occupational Therapy was to help people physically and mentally. Switching degrees began as purely a choice for myself, but after I started posting my art online quite a few people told me that looking at my illustrations made them happy. This was so lovely to hear and I realised that maybe I could help others mentally through my art, just like other illustrators online had inspired and helped me. It sounds cheesy but my main goal became to just make other people feel happy, comforted or understood through my artwork. I properly started doing ali illustrations last year at the KickstART Festival Market. It was my first opportunity to sell my art, and from there I did more markets and I started my online shop. 

How was your experience at the KickstART Festival Market last year?

I really enjoyed it, especially because I got to meet another market stall holder Eillish Round who does embroidery and earrings. We became really good friends, and we ended up doing more markets together after. I actually didn’t expect to sell anything at the markets because I had never done anything like that, but people actually bought my prints and it was such a nice thing. It encouraged me and gave me confidence to say ok I can actually do this. I was so happy I did it, like imagine if I didn’t do that market, I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for it. The markets sort of forced me to start ali illustrations and do it more seriously, and it really helped me and made me realise that this is what I should be doing.That being said, the past year was a massive year of growth for myself and ali illustrations.

What inspires you?

I spend a lot of time by myself and I really like doing that. Going to cafes, or to the park, taking walks by myself, I always notice things like someone’s cool outfit or colours around that are really nice. All of these kinds of things kind of evokes a certain feeling that I get that I can draw inspiration from.

I also go camping a lot with my boyfriend, we’re very passionate about camping. We always spend a lot time in nature, or in really isolated places and that, I think affects a lot of my work. It’s very nature-driven, and I’m always trying to draw those vast spaces.

Have you studied the technical elements of illustration? Or is more self-taught?

It’s more self-taught because I found that while uni is good for fundamentals and set projects that forced you to go outside of your box, you really have to go out by yourself to figure out your own style and practice your art. I feel like if you don’t do that, you kind of end up a bit lost. So, I think most of it is self-taught. I watch a lot of YouTube videos, especially illustration bloggers, I’ve learned a lot by listening to their tips and tricks and I feel like practice help the most.

How did you develop your art style? Were you influenced by other artists?

I knew I always wanted to find my own style because I was always doing realistic stuff when I was younger, I just copied whatever was in front of me in charcoal and pencil but I knew I wanted to have a personality to it. So I kind of took small influences and learned from a heap of different artists. I kind of picked and chose what I liked into something that was me. And the more I drew and practice, my style happen more naturally and develop further.

There’s that argument that says nothing is actually original, it’s just inspired by or remixed from another thing. Would you say that authenticity is a real thing when it comes to making art? Do you believe in originality?

Not really to be honest, I think what’s good about art is that because you consume so much of it all the time, you’ll always be influenced by other people’s art and not just the type of art form you create, all sorts of art forms. I think it’s a nice thing, it’s inspiration and it combines together.

I found that art is a nice way to express who I am and I think that can be original. You can sort of show your personality and what you like and who you are, so in that way it can be unique but when it comes to technique or colour it will often come from somewhere else. As long as you’re not copying directly someone’s style or illustration and making sure your influences come from a huge range of sources, I think it’s ok. 

This reminds me, I read this book called Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon, and there’s this quote in there by Wilson Mizner that goes “If you steal from one author, it’s plagiarism if you steal from many, it’s research.” Everyone has their own opinion on it, it’s very controversial in a way.

Any plans for 2020?

This year I want to try to make more of a conscious effort to make my art more meaningful, I want to start talking about mental health because I have personal experience in that area. I was in a really bad state before I started doing my art again. I kind of lost sight of art for quite a long time back in high school but I went back to it, it’s what I naturally wanted to do all the time. Art was a way for me to deal with how I was feeling. I would love to help others by sharing how therapeutic a creative hobby is, it’s so grounding and it’s an opportunity to express yourself. I would love to share that more. I also want to talk about issues that are important to me like sexuality and body image, and address those kind of things with art. I’d also love to get back into writing, maybe make a graphic novel, or comics or even a picture book.

Check out Ali’s work at her online shop or follow her Facebook or Instagram to get updates on her art journey and the markets she’ll be selling at. Applications to be a stall holder for KickstART Festival Market 2020 are still open, click here to find out more information.

INTERVIEW BY: YOSHIKA KON & SIMEON NEO.