I first saw Marian’s work over at coudals where she was smashing ace after ace in a layer tennis tournament. Since then I have frittered away many hours poring over her exquisite typography and immediately recognizable graphic style.
For any disillusioned artist / designer trying to understand how you can avoid commercial ‘design fashions’ and enjoy genuine success from your individual way of working, Marian’s unique skills and her elegantly crisp designs should be inspirational. Attention to detail, clarity, refinement, honesty, harmony … its all there. And if you’re not sure its to your taste at first, then hang around her site a bit longer - I assure you by the time you leave, it will be.
Obviously her illustration and typography speaks volumes more than any brief blurb I can spew up but if you need a little more convincing to check out her work, here are a few quotes from her own writing:
INFLUENCES:
I am Influenced by most of the usual suspects such as 14th–18th century calligraphy, illuminated manuscripts, islamic art, art nouveau, the Arts & Crafts movement, typography, textiles from around the world, old lace, Baroque, Rococco or Gothic anything, psychedelia, grafitti, Victoriana, Money, engraving, Persian carpets … the list goes on.
WORK ETHIC:
I do not know if I am lazy or driven. A little of both. While I tend to work every day, from morning to night (I’m frequently working past midnight), my days are relatively stress free. In the summer I tend to take a lot of breaks and sit in the sun or go for a walk. I spend a lot of time thinking. Just staring into space and thinking. Does this count as work? Sometimes. When I wake up in the morning with the perfect solution to a given problem, have I been working while I was sleeping? Perhaps.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS:
I am impatient; I’m always about 6 steps ahead of myself, and I get frustrated that it takes me so long to reach where I feel I already am. But I have to remind myself I’ve made a huge amount of progress in the mere 3 years that I’ve been doing what I’m doing.
Feel free to leave your own impressions of her work, or maybe there are other similar artists / designers that you recommend I check out? Thanks.