Welcome to the fantastical world of Sara Blake’s distortion – the meeting place for a seemingly endless laundry list of themes. With an organic touch, Sara’s work conveys secrecy, fluidity, femininity, dreams, and, well, see for yourself. Talking to Dirty Laundry, Sara described the process of flirting with that middle ground between commercial and personal work, plus her in-the-zone mentality of letting go.
Girl 6,
part of the ongoing 100 Girls series.
It wasn’t just being inspired about art; it was about being inspired by life forms.
What brought you into making art?
I’m not quite sure; it’s just something I’ve always loved to do. I think I also happened to be surrounded by some incredibly supportive family members and teachers at a very young age who probably convinced me I was better at it than I actually was, but it certainly persuaded me to keep at it.
You grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and then moved to New York to study at NYU. What was that transition like?
I remember it being incredibly exciting and slightly traumatic. I visited New York City for the first time when I was 16 and had my heart set on going to NYU ever since. Serious tunnel vision. I was elated to be in my dream city, but I also didn’t have any friends here yet, and I didn’t know my way around. But honestly it didn’t take long before I found my footing. Instantly I knew I was in the right place. It wasn’t just being inspired about art; it was about being inspired by life forms.
The time-lapse videos of your work as it evolves are incredible and mesmerizing. Walk us through your process.
Thanks! Usually it’s too distracting to set up a camera while I’m actually drawing, but after I get a piece scanned and into Photoshop, having documentation of the whole process can be really helpful for coloring a piece. I usually don’t have a totally clear idea of what I’m doing with color when I start so it’s nice to be able to take video and then scrub backwards. Sometimes I find I’ve actually solved a piece an hour ago and need to revert. It’s not a science or anything, it’s just a way for me to be more aware of my process and learn from my mistakes.
With so many steps and changes, how do you know when you’re done with a piece?
Ha! Good question–I don’t. Usually I just have to cut myself off. Sometimes I can over-tweak. My general rule is that once I am just “OK” with a piece, STOP. Then I try and sleep on it and pull it back up in the morning to see if it still looks balanced. I work pretty quickly, but I usually do need a night’s sleep or a long walk before I can call a piece finished.
You have created this wonderful area between the organic touch of something that’s hand drawn, and the clean and layered look of digital manipulation. How do you find this unique balance that creates your style?
It’s always something on my mind because I do create my drawings by hand and I want them to retain that feeling even after I’ve colored them. Often people think they are paintings, which actually makes me really happy — I feel I’ve done my job. I think in general I just try to keep things as loose as I can in Photoshop. Hard lines and very solid colors often make a piece feel too digital to me. And lots of textures. I use lots and lots of textures.
Often people think they are paintings, which actually makes me really happy — I feel I’ve done my job.
Rooster,
part of the ongoing Animals series.
New York has obviously had a huge impact on your work. You even use textures you find on the street as layers in your pieces. What is it about the city that draws you in?
I think it’s the overall energy. It’s the people that make New York City, and they’ve left their marks all over the place. It’s really inspiring and motivating to be around so many disciplines, leaving evidence of new creations on every corner. Music, food, street art, photography, graffiti, illustration–it’s all here and there’s no shortage. It makes you work harder to keep up with the herd. I love this city.
Part of the ongoing series, Perspectives.
Your style is so unique, yet your work covers so many purposes and contexts. How does your process change from project to project?
It mainly depends on timing and creative freedom. I started my career as an art director, and continue to work in that capacity, in addition to my illustration studio, so I think it’s helped me learn the other side of it all. I definitely feel more comfortable in certain areas. I prefer nature-based, free-flowing pieces, but lately I have intentionally been pushing myself to do more portraits and typography. While they all come from the same place, they all feel like different types of drawing to me.
It’s really inspiring and motivating to be around so many disciplines, leaving evidence of new creations on every corner.
Working with high-end commercial clients definitely has more rules and restrictions. Do you like having the guidelines of a commercial project, or do you prefer the freedom of making personal work?
I like the challenge of commercial work for sure. Big client names are always the greatest learning experiences for me, but yes–there are A LOT of restrictions and it can often times suck the joy and freedom out of the drawing process. So with that said, I like to try and keep an even balance of larger client work, personal work, and projects with small, young, exciting companies who have a little more freedom to play with.
What percentage of your work is experimenting, and what part is planned out?
Client work is about 70 percent planned and I always make sketches. Personal work is about 5 percent planned. All I usually have is a subject matter in mind and I don’t sketch. I draw lightly for outlines and erase but it’s all in one go.
TEDx Brooklyn
I’m a vivid dreamer and a bit obsessive. I can also be a little idealistic and fatalistic, so I guess paper is the meeting place for all that weirdness.
Your work has themes of nature, delicacy, love, dreams, femininity, fluidity, secrecy, fashion, boldness… the list goes on and on. Can you say something about what these themes mean to you?
I think this is just what sort of happens when I stop thinking too much. I have to over-think everything all day long with my graphic design and art direction work. Illustration tends to be my place of freedom and experimentation. I’m a vivid dreamer and a bit obsessive. I can also be a little idealistic and fatalistic, so I guess paper is the meeting place for all that weirdness. I often wake up from a very vivid dream and remain confused for most of the beginning of the day as to what was real and what was in my dream. I think I like that distortion. It’s the same with illustration–it could be real, just maybe, but it’s also all off-kilter.
Tiger,
part of the ongoing Animals series.
Peacock,
part of the ongoing Animals series.
Most of my favorite artists are actually my friends because I get the pleasure of seeing how inspired and inspiring they are first-hand.
What other artists/designers do you admire?
Older fellows like Ernst Haeckel, Gustav Klimt, but then too many contemporary artists to even name. Most of my favorite artists are actually my friends because I get the pleasure of seeing how inspired and inspiring they are first-hand. Just a short list are Sougwen Chung, Joshua Davis, Pomme Chan, Daniel Diggle, and John Paul Thurlow.
What are you working on currently?
I have a couple ongoing personal projects that I’m pretty sure I’ll never finish: a series of portraits of my friends, a series of 100 girls, an A-Z typography project, and the beginnings of what I hope to be an animal book for kids. I’m also slowly but surely working on the next release for my illustrated textiles company ZSO-NYC (www.zso-nyc.com). As far as client work goes, I’m working on a couple identity collaborations with small companies that I think are awesome. I’m doing a couple custom leather jackets for Scotch and Soda–couldn’t be more excited about that one. I also have a day job. I’m a designer for IBM.
Girl 13, part of the ongoing 100 Girls series
Girl 9, part of the ongoing 100 Girls series.
In what ways has your work evolved, and where do you see it going?
I’m constantly learning, and I think now that I feel very confident with my process, over the past few years I’ve been more free to really figure out what I like stylistically in terms of color, composition, etc. I’m starting to like more muted colors. I’m also hoping to bump up the scale of some upcoming work.
What’s one experience that you will never forget?
Swimming with stingrays and sharks in the Great Barrier Reef. Meeting a hummingbird face to face on the top of a mountain in Yosemite.
Finally, what are three things you want to do before you die, and what would your last meal be?
1. Travel the world
2. Be a good friend, sister, and daughter
3. Freedom to draw all day long, everyday, nonstop
Last meal: my mother’s carrot soup and brussel sprouts