If I were to define my style these days, it’d be pretty straightforward. Simple rounded shapes contrasted by a modified pointillist painting style. Or: chubby animals with dots. Why complicate things with fancy words.

What defines my work and makes it recognizable for people is mostly my painting style, not so much the sculpting. I didn’t just wake up one day and choose it. I didn’t see it somewhere, tried it out and found that it works. It was a very gradual process that was born from my incompetence and necessity.

The Beginning Was Rough

When I started making figurines, I was shit at painting. I was also pretty shit at sculpting, to be honest, but we all have to start somewhere, right? Even though I went to art high school where we had some painting lessons, I can’t say I ever really learned. (It’s not like I was ever really there to begin with, I skipped school all the time. Don’t do that, kids.)

I had no idea how to properly mix colors to get to my desired result and I was too lazy to learn. I had some idea how to shade while painting on a paper or canvas, however I was completely lost when it came to shading 3D things. But I wanted to make little animal figurines so bad! And right at that moment! I didn’t want to spend weeks learning how to mix colors and how to shade. I had to find a way around it.

And so I cut up a sponge and used it to create gradients. It kinda worked?? It wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst.

I didn’t know how to work with polymer clay so my figurines were pretty wonky. I had an idea of what I liked and I tried to recreate the shapes of sculptures that I saw online but I didn’t have the skill yet so my animals were just very basic, kinda lanky but still cute, I guess. I can’t be too harsh on the past me, she was trying her best.

I started to make pet commissions. People sent me photos of their pets and I would do my best to translate the real life cuties into my simplistic figurines. 

But soon I stumbled on a problem. The sponge wasn’t enough. To capture the essence of the pet I needed to find a way to show off fur texture and the shift of color on their fur. 

Although I saw other artists painstakingly paint on each fur strand and it looked amazing, I knew it wasn’t for me - plus it wasn’t time efficient. I never lost sight of my main goal. I wanted to make these figurines for a living so I couldn’t spend days making a single pet. I’m aware that what I’m about to say is not going to be popular amongst artists, but in order to succeed, I knew I had to be a businesswoman first, an artist second. That meant I had to be aware of the time it took to make each figurine, finding balance between being happy with what I make and not getting caught up in perfectionism.
After trying out a couple of different methods, I figured that my best bet would be dots. Don’t get me wrong, they are definitely time consuming. But they are the perfect balance between detail and simplicity - exactly what I was looking for.

As for sculpting, I noticed that my animals were slowly getting wider and chubbier and their legs were getting shorter. I don’t think I did it consciously but it was solving two of my problems. 

When my figurines had longer and thinner legs, the weight of the body would sometimes collapse on the legs in the oven. I also had some pieces arrive broken to their new homes (but this might’ve been due to improper packaging - running a small biz is a learning curve.)

Plus, I just love chubby animals. And apparently, the internet does too.

Getting sidetracked: It’s all a part of the process

I went through a phase of convincing myself that I need to prove to the world that I can do this and went in a more detailed route with my sculpting. I was getting wrapped up in trying to make everything more realistic, more detailed and just more everything. I feel like at this stage I lost my way a bit and my work wasn’t bringing me that much joy. It looked alright, but it wasn’t me.

When I looked back at my work from the very start, I could feel the happiness I felt at the time from making these very simple and minimal animals and I decided to get back to that.

You’ve arrived at your destination.

My return to simpler shapes was a full circle for me. I got back to what brought me the most joy with a new skillset which allowed me to continue improving and defining my style with each figurine. For the past year or two my style stayed more or less the same because I’m exactly where I was supposed to be… at least for now. There’s always room to grow and change and I hope that my work will continue to evolve with me over the years.