Jenny Lloyd Interview
Jenny Lloyd | @jennyariane
Tell us a bit about yourself. Who you are, where you're from and what you do!
I'm an independent artist and designer from the UK, now based in beautiful Amsterdam, where I make colourful handcrafted and digital collage illustrations for magazines, album art, book covers, surface pattern, zines, and other custom pieces and commissions. My background is as an illustrator and graphic designer, but more recently, I was encouraged by my enduring obsession with visual culture to start integrating collage into my portfolio – one of the most fun, rewarding developments of my creative career so far.
How did you get your start as an artist?
I was obsessed with picture books as a kid, encouraged to be creative at home, and luckily enough, also in art classes at school. That led me in the early 2000s to study for a degree in illustration. Right now I'm a freelance designer and content creator, but I've had a lot of different jobs alongside being an artist. The one thing that remains is that I'm always being creative one way or another.
“My background is as an illustrator and graphic designer, but more recently, I was encouraged by my enduring obsession with visual culture to start integrating collage into my portfolio – one of the most fun, rewarding developments of my creative career so far.”
What do you love most about what you do?
What I love most is the freedom I have (outside of client work) to create art about whatever I want, in any style I choose, and watch my skills and portfolio grow – alongside the joy of nurturing connections and community with other creative people. Being an independent artist can be painful, but it also does help that I can indulge my fascination in whatever I choose, and on the best days, it makes me endlessly happy.
What do you find the most challenging?
As a freelancer, often the most difficult moments of my practice are during times where I have fewer clients, or maybe my passive income streams aren't doing as well as they might be. I find the anxiety of that really tough, and it can cause a big drop in my confidence, and become a serious barrier to creativity. I'm learning to trust the process, but sometimes it feels like the occasional deep insecurity is the cost of the freedom I have, so I think it might be a lifelong journey.
When things get tough, where do you find the inspiration to keep moving forward?
I find inspiration from all kinds of places – sometimes something as simple as two colours or textures that fall together on my work table and beg to be combined, an amazing book, or music, or a beautiful conversation. Most of what I do is record all my tiny ideas and observations, and then focus on a few to make art about. My natural instinct is to constantly try to understand the world better, and I think I do that by creating my own little worlds. I have a long list of ideas, so often it's just about combining a visual note with a concept, even if it's just a really simple one.
What is an art supply or collage tool you can not live without?
For my design or digital work, I absolutely could not live without my laptop. I love the infinite power you can have when creating digitally. For handcrafted collage, I can be a bit more romantic – at the moment I'm absolutely addicted to the soft, torn-edged pages of old black-and-white photography books.
Top three songs you keep on repeat?
This changes pretty much all the time, but my top most played includes the Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Heads Will Roll”, Feder’s “Goodbye” feat. Lyse, and anything by Röyksopp or Yotto.
Podcast you can't get enough of?
I adore all kinds of storytelling, and all kinds of stories inform my work. My most-loved podcasts are improvised actual-play sci-fi or fantasy fiction, set in worlds designed by the story creators. I love so many, but to start with some favourites would be Friends at the Table, Dimension 20, Rude Tales of Magic, and Worlds Beyond Number.
How do you fuel for the day?
Black coffee, a slice of toast with marmite, a soft-boiled egg.
“Most of what I do is record all my tiny ideas and observations, and then focus on a few to make art about. My natural instinct is to constantly try to understand the world better, and I think I do that by creating my own little worlds.”
Tell us about your vision for the future? Go big! We want to root you on!
In the short-to-mid term, I want to make enough as an independent artist to continue doing what I'm doing right now... maybe with a local studio space outside my home, so that I can make more of a mess getting into mixed media, create my own handmade collage papers, and spend more time offline in creative community. I have a lot of things I've made - handmade jewellery, zines, etc., that I'd love to find more regular stockists for. I'm just beginning to develop a surface pattern design portfolio based on my collage work, so my aim this year is to begin to find opportunities for pattern licensing for wallpaper and fabric. Within the next couple of years, I would absolutely love to have a solo show somewhere here in Amsterdam. Further into the future, who knows!
Jenny Lloyd
instagram.com/jennyariane | threads.net/@jennyariane
jennylloyd.pictures | patreon.com/collagecvlt | collagecvlt.co
