This week we’re interviewing a lady who has an affinity for bears and dark forest creatures. Hidden Eloise is one of the top ten most successful artist on Etsy, and she’s just released a brand new collection of works for 2011. Read on about how she first started her shop Hide n Seek and sneak a peek into her daily life as she stays on top of everything! {Images in this post are from her latest collection!}
Name: Hidden Eloise
Location: England
Website/Shop: HidenSeek.etsy.com
Blog: HiddenEloise.com
Illustration media: Pencil, paper, some brushes and my computer
Tell us a little more about yourself!
I’m Hidden Eloise, the pencil and brush behind Hide n Seek. I like fairytales with grim endings.
Where do you live? What stands out about living where you are, and what is your daily schedule like?
In the northern forests of the olde England where there are only 2 seasons a year and the Sun seldom reaches the rolling hills.
A typical day would be like this: Wake up, enjoy a hot cup of one of my countless obscure oriental teas, read and reply to e-mails, start processing orders, update stocks in my shops, work on various projects and new products, buy materials and things that i’m perpetually running out of, take a break to go practice martial arts and/or archery (aww it does wonders to a tired mind) and by the end of the day remember to take a breath. A non typical day would be like this: Wake up, enjoy a hot cup of one of my countless obscure oriental teas, start drawing and don’t stop until i fall asleep over my drawings. 🙂
How did you get your start in illustration?
I was one of those introverted girls that found warmth and safety in drawing scribbles on every surface available. My drive towards art kept strong as i was growing up and i eventually studied traditional fine art and sculpture for a year before i got accidentally (don’t ask) engaged into long studies in architecture where i still kept drawing scribbles on every conceivable surface, much to the dismay of my tutors. After my degree and while i was doing a post-grad Masters degree i decided that enough was enough, i created Hide n Seek and never looked back.
Could you tell us more about your thought process when you start a piece?
I will either have an overwhelming desire to draw a specific scene that i was daydreaming about or i will have a very specific emotion hovering above me that needs to find an image to attach to. I depend a lot on random inspiration and whimsy to come up with ideas but when i have a concept I transform my creative process to very thoughtful and technical. I take great care with my pallets and my compositions and I work and rework every element until i’m satisfied, which usually takes at least two-three weeks and often more.
What’s your favorite project so far?
I enjoyed a wonderful collaboration with the very talented singer Adrienne Pierce for her latest album “Oh Deer”. I did all the art and design for the CD album, something i hadn’t done before, and the whole experience was exciting and engaging and moreish.
Do you keep a journal/sketchbook, and would you mind if we had a sneak peek? (a couple or a few images would be good, if you can manage!)
Hmm, let’s see what i can unearth for you, from this huge heap of white paper that i tentatively call a “sketchbook”. 😀
Would you care to share your studio space as well?
My studio space consists of a large desk, overflowing with long forgotten drawing implements, trinkets, mementos, gizmos and gadgets. I’m afraid it would cost you your sanity if i showed a photo. 🙂
What or who inspires you?
I am permanently enamoured with some specific old art movements. It can be seen in most of my art for those who know where to look, but i really let myself go in my latest collection and it’s much more obvious. The Dutch Golden Age and especially Rembrandt, Japanese ukiyo-e and more recent Art Nouveau are all hovering above me in their brilliant light. I also adore Shin Yun-bok, he makes me skip beats!
What keeps you motivated?
I work doing what i love, with no boss over my head, which usually is enough to keep anyone motivated. For my moments of weakness, i know i can always rely on the people that come and purchase my art. I never expected it to be so fulfilling, dealing personally with thousands of people that want my art in their lives. I work hard so that all my fans are happy and they pay me back with the kindest words. The feedback page has brought me smiles on many a gloomy day.
Could you share with us your progression as an artist — compared to when you first started out, how has your style changed since then?
I wanted to leave my fine art roots behind when i started creating art commercially. I wanted to play with new mediums and learn modern illustrative styles. Well, it hasn’t been too easy but i love myself a challenge! As i’m getting more comfortable with illustrative art, things have started coming full circle and it is easy to see my fine art past resurfacing in my latest art. The old and new styles melding and merging into something new and altogether different.
What’s your favourite tool?
Ah, easy question. My Wacom Cintiq 21UX. It is a pen tablet built on a screen so i can draw directly on it. Everything still starts with pencil on paper, no technology can beat that yet, but Cintiq allows me to take full advantage of my computer in the creative process. Importantly, it allows me to work faster and time is always invaluable for an indie artist.
Are you a full-time artist?
I am very lucky to be supported by my art fully but i’m still only part time artist. The other half is a part time, fiercely independent business woman managing and promoting my own business and shops without other agents or outside help. I get to have full creative control and i only need good people that want to have my art in their homes and nothing else. On the downside, i don’t have as much time as i would like to actually make new art but i’m doing my best to organise better and find more creative time.
What advice would you like to give people who are interested in being an artist full-time?
My personal philosophy is that every artwork should be a new mountain to climb rather than the same old path to stroll. Keep growing. Keep learning. If you practice hard and keep adding to your skills, your are bound to succeed. If you stop pushing boundaries and neglect your own training you risk being left behind.
Where do you see yourself within the next few years?
Still drawing, still making things. I have no current plans for world domination. 🙂 The list of personal projects that i want to undertake in the near future is growing instead of shrinking and i like it that way. Expect more unexpected art and goodies that you can’t live without. If i continue making things that you love, i’m happy.
What message do you want to send out to people about your work?
My art embodies the luxury of standing still in perfect quiet while the whole world is screaming around you in endless circles. I want my art to be that moment of stillness in your life.
Tell us something random about yourself!
I used to like strawberry scented erasers but i lean more towards watermelon scented ones these days.
Hmm….looks like “Girl with a Pearl Earring”
The ethereal nature of the work is ghostly and draws you in. Great work and liked the interview too!
Thank you! I really enjoyed this interview.
Oh, you found it Curious! What gave it away? My comments about the Dutch Golden Age inspiration or that i call it “The Pearl”? 😀
Did you spot the other two nods of mine to two masterpieces of old? One is from later Victorian times though! (hint! hint!)
Bear hugs,
Hidden Eloise
what a fun interview and I really enjoy your work too, especially the girl beneath the arrow storm. your message about your art is beautiful. may you find lots more time in that perfect quiet 🙂
She forgot to mention that she copied Jen Corace and Mandy at Belle & Boo. Nice to see she’s copying the Masters now.
Her early works have a clear influence of Jen Corace, but i believe her style is changing a bit.
Oh such lovely and kind comments! As expected from a great blog frequented by artists!
But, my dear Bethany, easy there tiger! 😉
Don’t go throwing accusations before you study your history of art better. The dark path you are treading has been trodden by another before you, but this read might enlighten you: ninjabeaver.net/2010…
Bear hugs,
Hidden Eloise
I think I should have explained myself better in the last comment so you would understand. Your work is maturing to be more of a statement of who you are and your use of medium is taking on your own style instead of seeming to be pushed into a certain genre… flat color when you want to model it a bit more. And you are finding your voice within an historical context which is exciting to view. Unfortunately it is hard for me to appreciate the new without remembering that these other two artists (one of whom I sold prints for in my own gallery) found their own voices in their work and live off of the patronage of said work. It’s not a matter of law… it’s a matter of crediting Jen for her solution to the way she draws an eye, which I see in your earlier work or Mandy who came up with the woods theme and the font to go along with it. Yes, they are successful and it’s good to be influenced by success in your own work… it’s the taking of the concept—their solutions to their work and selling it as your own solution that makes other artists and illustrators not respect that act. You know how it feels to be blatantly copied… but it’s not just the image. It’s the idea. Your idea. Your years of experience that led to that one idea that worked. Seek to be authentic to yourself and you will gain the respect of people like me in this art community and in this every-smaller growing world on the internet. We are the people who buy the prints. And just for the record, I do have my degree in Art Education and have taught Art History for years. I appreciate conceptual art as well as illustration and can see much of where influences have come from. I hope you do have success in your own work… your own work will be much more powerful than using anyone else’s.
Thank you for the great interview! I’ve been following her work for a wile and even though I always loved it, I believe that her latest work is even better. Being a children book illustration junkie, I also follow the amazing work of Mandy from Belle & Boo (which is clearly and openly inspired by vintage children book illustration) for a wile and honestly, I think that her work and HiddenEloise’s have very different messages. Belle & Boo’s vibe is very pure and naive. It doesn’t show one bit of the darkness and ambiguity that HidenEloise work has. In my humble opinion saying that HiddenEloise copies Belle and Boo and Jen Corace would be equivalent to say that Max Ernst copied Salvador Dali or that Pierre-Auguste Renoir copied Claude Monet. These were also artist that used similar styles to deliver clearly different works.
Of course many artists are influenced by other artists but that misses the point. The Impressionists worked together, showed together… We’re talking about Illustration that has been liscensed. If you really look at Mandy’s work and then at earlier work by Hidden Eloise you’ll see she directly took the idea of how Mandy put the children in the woods and then had initially copied the same logo type design to use as her own. If she’d given Mandy or Jen credit for influences that would be a different story. There are numerous examples of copies from Jen’s work. The point is that these two women are still working, still selling these images and are hugely successful and well-known. To deny that they had influence because it’s quite obvious, is to show that your only motive is monetary and that it’s okay to copy. Then why is there an issue with this other company copying Hidden Eloise? It shouldn’t even be a concern for her since this is what she has done when she started out. I think it comes down to a matter of respect for fellow illustrators. Amy has shown so many unique illustration styles from artists on this site who all have similarities but take unique paths in their art. I was just surprised that Hidden Eloise was included. We do have a love of Jen Corace, Mandy and Vermeer in common though… she definitely has good taste in artists.
Bethany, while I do see what you mean when you say that you see some references to Jen and Mandy of Belle and Boo’s style in Hidden Eloise’s work, I agree with Lucia that Hidden Eloise’s work has a darker slant to it than either illustrators. I’ve also followed Mandy of Belle and Boo from the beginning, and did you know that at first her Etsy shop was named Milly Molly Mandy — after characters from her favorite children’s book? Some have said that her style was referenced from those children’s books. And what about others who referenced from the same book she did? Would they be copying Belle and Boo, or Milly Molly Mandy? Referenced or not, Mandy has successfully made Belle and Boo into her own, and that’s because she injected her own personality and style into them that no one can truly copy.
I do think that Hidden Eloise’s work in 2008 seemed to reference vintage illustration styles (which she has now stopped producing in favor of her own style which really started coming together in 2009), but the main point is that she has a different point of view altogether when you compare her work with Jen and Mandy. She’s slowly growing as well — and her experimentations and new work remind me of anime characters instead; which is not wrong either, seeing as how illustration, like any other discipline, is a mix of innovation and creativity — which ultimately means the blending of different experiences to create a new one. (please note that this does not apply to outright plagiarism, like the Paperchase episode)
She was chosen to be featured because of her growth as an artist, and her fearlessness to push and create new work. I held out on featuring her earlier as I needed to see more of her work to decide (yes, I take things very seriously here) — although she had lots of fans and sales. It was her new work for 2011 that finally caught my attention.
Hidden Eloise I think your work is just lovely no matter where your influences are from! You are clearly very talented with that nifty graphics tablet. Well done on the new artwork – you should be most proud 🙂
I agree with Bethany and actually don’t see any “darkness” or depth in the narrative of Hidden Eloise’s work. I think cutesy versions of the Old Masters is frightfully kitsch (and not in a good way), and overall, the work is extremely derivative. Sure, artists and illustrators are influenced by the world around them, but the key is to take your influences and make them your own. Derivative work never rings true. It lacks integrity.