We were lucky to catch up with Peggy Garard recently and have shared our conversation below.

Peggy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I began working with colored pencil as a hobby back in 2020 just before lockdown as a way to relax. I had brain surgery in 2018 that really impacted my word recall, so I was looking for something that I could engage in fully without wearing myself out.. I started with, believe it or not, a coloring book. I had been given one after my surgery and I was finally getting around to trying it out. I got myself a set of school-grade colored pencils and began trying to match the colors in the original drawings the coloring book images were based on (vintage Vogue covers). I was absolutely hooked.

I started learning as much as I could from YouTube and then expanding into online courses and books. From there, it was a process of learning to develop my own style and refine my techniques. When I think back on how I have grown as an artist, I recall the advice that so many artists gave, specifically with colored pencils, that I ignored. So many recommended starting with a limited palette of colors and developing your knowledge of color and mixing pencils from there. I took the opposite approach of gathering as many colors and pencils as I could, and I think this really slowed my growth.

I absolutely agree now that I’ve spent the last year working on color theory and I would give the exact same advice to anyone starting in colored pencil. The understanding of color theory makes the process of producing a colored pencil drawing so much more intuitive and natural rather than spending time searching for that perfect pencil.

In my mind, this relates to thinking I could skip a step – that I could ignore the advice and be fine and technically I was. I was able to produce good art, but the process could have been even better had I listened to that advice early on.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a hyperealistic colored pencil artist based in Chicago. I produce both custom art for clients as well as my own collection of artwork. I mostly work on animals and nature with an emphasis in dark and moody design. What I’ve learned as I’ve started my business is that the artwork can be great, but the connection to the client is what sets an artist apart. My biggest sales have come from the combination of my story as an artist along with my artwork and how that connects with the client.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m still working on this every day. This is where the marketing comes in as such an important element as an artist. While yes, I think this relates to social media, but I think that oversimplifies it. It’s not a one-step solution to success. My biggest successes have come from connecting with clients and most recently gallery owners. Social media provides a much wider reach, but it can be harder to develop those one-on-one relationships that can really propel your business forward.

One artist I admire a lot who is so successful in her work is CJ Hendry. I’ve been following her work almost since I began in colored pencil. Her work sells out in minutes. She describes herself as “an average artist, but an exceptional marketer.” I think what sets her apart is created value and engagement for ALL her followers, not just those purchasing artwork. I had the opportunity to visit her exhibition outside Vegas last year and it was so clear that the focus was on providing an experience for those who came to visit, and the art was a small part of it. So many people didn’t even know there was art there.

That’s the goal for my business – to create value for my audience on social media regardless of whether or not they purchase my artwork and connecting with who I am as an artist in addition to my artwork.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

A future goal for my art is to donate a portion of my artwork sales to one of the two causes close to my heart – epilepsy research and animal welfare. My goal is to donate a large portion of a drawing’s profit to a non-profit. My hope is to be able to use my practice to give back in addition to providing someone with a beautiful piece of artwork.

The follow up to this is creating my art that speaks to these causes. I work a lot on animal portraits, and I’m continuing to expand my practice to capture a style and subject that aligns with my wish to support epilepsy research. I’m currently working on portraits as a way to capture this subject.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Something I wish could have been done to support an art journey for me would be to encourage it in school as more than a hobby. Throughout all my school years, art was considered a side-option or an elective. Those who were interested in art had to seek it out and as someone who didn’t know I liked art, I never sought it out and was therefore, never exposed to it. Art feels like an afterthought and I wish it was given more importance in education.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.margarettastudio.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/margarettastudio/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@margarettastudio
• Other: Tiktok – https://www.tiktok.com/@margarettastudio

Image Credits

All photographs and artwork are my own.