Connie Lim is an artist who merges illustration and fashion design to create unique and striking images with a strong personal vision. Her clients include prestigious houses like Guerlain, Bulgari and Louboutin. She has exhibited in galleries such as Oxo in London and her work has been featured in books such as The Great Big Book of Fashion Illustration by Martin Dawber and The Illustrator – 100 Best From Around the World (Taschen). Her incredible work can be seen on his website: www.connielim.com.
Connie, what do you seek through your art?
I love drawing people as I find the human form and face very fascinating. My goal is to instill as much emotion as possible so that the person seeing my drawings can feel something. Maybe that is all I can do: try to evoke emotions and fill the world with woman whom I consider beautiful.
My art is a place where I can express myself. It is a form of therapy where I can escape to a world where there is no worry but just exciting creativity. Putting down a line and seeing how the combinations of different marks can form a picture is exhilarating. The more love and attention I give to the art the more close and understanding this relationship becomes and it is my lifelong companion.
You live from your passion. What are the keys to success and the challenges you have had to face?
There are many challenges but the biggest is getting over the fear of failure and self-criticism. It’s also challenging to navigate through today’s social media as a creative where you feel you are competing with all the artists in the world. But to success, as cliché as it sounds there is no way to make it far unless you love what you do. In my personal experience, my obsession for perfecting my craft far outweighs the idea of just making money.
In a context where fast digital content is so important, how do you enhance your traditional drawing?
I am an avid traditionalist and am quite stubborn with this actually. I may be able to paint perfectly digitally, but I love the tactile feeling of the paper, pencils, and brushes. Sometimes digital things can be too perfect and I aim for imperfection with the analogue.
You often exhibit in art galleries. Can you tell us about one of your latest projects and the creative process?
My latest exhibition was with Acid Gallery in Lille France called “Eros”, a collection of erotic art from a group of artists. I had a deep think about what the erotic meant and I find the female form beautiful with the subtle curves and delicate limbs. Each change of the pose embodies a new perspective of beauty. But most of all, the erotic arises from the adornment of the body and how as humans we are drawn towards decorating our bodies to express our sexuality. If the erotic can sometimes conjure up bold and intense imagery, I find the subject more soft and sensual. And so I attempted to capture that emotion onto paper.
What are your aspirations for the future?
As an artist, I aspire to scale to bigger pieces. I am also planning a solo show and an art book with my drawings. As a lecturer, I am in the process of creating my online fashion drawing course for beginners in the fashion industry or students to university. It’s the fundamental foundation and basics of drawing but in a fashion context. This curriculum is a collection of lectures and videos that I think is necessary to know in order to be a successful illustrator or fashion designer. Then I hope it would help people!
Apart from art and coffee, what is your guilty pleasure?
Going out dancing with my girlfriends on a night out! I am from LA so dancing has always been a big part of my life. Dance like no one watching
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Featured photo : © Erdem
