Vigya Atri
WSL had the opportunity to meet with the lovely freelance illustrator, Alicia Souza. Her illustrations are adorable and following her Facebook page is an absolute delight! We got talking to her about her herself, her work and more.
1. So tell us, how did you get into illustration?
I was always been interested in drawing and art since I was a child. As I grew older, one of my school teachers had a talk with me and spoke to me about how art was my calling. Post school, I went to Melbourne, Australia to do my undergraduate study in Graphic Design. It was towards the end that I chose illustration as an elective and that’s when I knew that this was my calling.
2. What happened once you graduated from college?
I pursued freelance illustration after college but also took up other jobs such as banking to support myself as there isn’t a continuous flow of projects when you have just started out. After a while, I moved to India to work with Chumbak. A few years later, I decided go down the freelancing road and there has been no looking back since.
3. Tell us about the challenges you faced when you started out?
Getting the projects can be a little tough when you’re starting out as you’re yet to establish yourself and build a certain credibility as an artist. Another little problem that I faced when I began freelancing was speaking about money with the clients. Of course, over time, these challenges slowly phase out.
4. Tell us about the challenges you face as a freelancer today?
There’s only one thing that I’m afraid of, and that’s getting stuck in a rut. It’s very easy to keep doing the same kind of thing over and over again without realizing it. I want to push myself constantly to try and do something new and not get stuck in a loop.
5. Your Facebook page is very popular, with over 45,000 likes. When did you start the page? And did you do anything special to promote it, or get it to be so popular?
I started my Facebook page roughly 6 months into being a freelance designer. Thankfully, every like on my page is completely organic and I have never had to sponsor or pay for any form of advertising. If there is one thing that I did, it was to make sure I posted an illustration every single day. I do have a cheat day where I put up my dogs photos instead of an illustration, but that is very rare.
6. Was there a “this is it” moment with the Facebook page?
The likes have grown steadily and gradually, but there was a post that I did on ‘How To Tie A Lungi.’ It did extremely well, got a lot of shares, page likes and overall, was a great confidence booster for me.
7. What sort of projects do you usually take up? Corporate or Personal?
I mostly work on corporate projects. However, I do, do personal projects too, but that’s quite rare.
8. What are your illustration charges like?
A lot depends on the time and effort I put in. The baseline is Rs.5,000 which is pretty rare, and in many cases it can even go up to Rs.60,000 or more.
9. Tell us, do you think there is any difference in the creativity between the two genders? Is one more creative than the other, or is there any difference in the kind of work?
Not at all! There is no difference in the level of skill or creativity between a man or a woman. When you look at an illustration, it’s usually very hard to tell whether a man or a woman has done it unless it has some strong male or female tones and characteristics.
