Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lucille Llewellyn. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lucille, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I think the first time I knew I wanted to pursue art was when I first entered high school. As a kid I was always creative whether it be through drawing and painting or creating mini sculptures with clay, I just never thought about pursuing it as a career. By the time I got to high school I was inspired by the cool graphic novels I would see in the library and animated movies had become so cool and I wanted to know what it would be like to be part of an industry that creates something so beautiful and to some even lifechanging.

Lucille, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi everyone my name is Lucille but everyone calls me Lucy for short! I am an illustrator from LA. I specialize in mostly children’s book illustration or anything in the cute and whimsical realm but I’m always open and trying new styles that can appeal to everyone. To be honest I came into the industry kind of confused on what I wanted and which route would fit best for me. After a little soul searching and a lot of critiques in college from different professors I came to realize that I love making bright and colorful illustrations especially for a younger audience. I found joy in telling my own stories and helping people bring their stories to life. I currently provide services in creating children’s books, personal illustrations, coloring books, and hopefully in the near future stickers and prints of my own! In terms of problem solving for my clients my process typically involves taking their ideas sketching out thumbnails. After we discuss and decide which thumbnails fits their vision best I create larger gray scale sketches, then narrow those down to where I can create color keys and from a final color key I render out our final choice. I think what sets me apart from other artists is I typically like to get things done in a very fast manner so if there is something the client doesn’t like I will typically work on it asap to get it fixed. I also enjoy working with people and want to make sure the whole process is as collaborative as possible. I think what I am most proud of in my career was working on creating two children’s book while also collaborating with other amazing artists to get out a children’s educational coloring book. It was a lot of work to work on both but it was amazing to help someone create their stories and I was able to meet some great people along the way. Something I would love people to know about me is I love making connections with all kinds of people. I want people to feel like even after our work together is done its not just another work transaction, we can come out of it as friends and as someone you would be excited to work with again. I want to be a part of this industry so I can help make stories as extravagant as possible and hopefully inspire other children the same way my favorite picture books and animated films inspired me as a kid.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn was thinking everything was a linear path. Going into college or even this career choice I thought if I went to school and I took these classes it would help me transition into an internship and that internship was going to get me a job. It obviously did not happen that way and I was obviously disappointed at first because I thought I was doing something wrong and I wasn’t good enough. It took some time to heal and a lot of convincing myself that I am good enough and not everyone’s journey is the same. I had to learn that not everything is by the book and that’s okay and me going at my own pace will get me to the destination I want which is in illustration.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

A particular goal of mine is to work on more children’s books. I just loves seeing a story light up and dance on the pages. As a kid all I ever wanted to see was picture books and I still love to look through different picture books for inspiration. I want to be able to impact someone’s childhood with a creative picture book the same way it did to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lucyllewellyn.art/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lu.doodlecorner/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-llewellyn