Clare Rowe is a British Illustrator. After graduating from art college, she went to a design studio and made designs for the company, Lush - where she worked at the time. This experience taught her how to balance work with her own illustrations. Early on, she used internet blogs, Flickr, and Etsy to push and sell some of her work. Her first competition out of college was with Tiger Print, a subsidiary company of Marks & Spencer, which she won. She became a freelance illustrator working on several of their projects for a couple of years afterwards.
Later, Clare was featured on Design Sponge's blog, a popular website that caused the illustrator to receive various commissions from her feature. She moved from Plymouth to Bristol so that she could better get the opportunity to work on more work, as well as showcase it to a larger public audience. Soon after, she was licensed by Urban Outfitters and Chronicle Books to create exclusive designs - this led her to illustrate a book called "Heels on Wheels." This meant that she sold licenses for her own illustrated designs to these clients. She discovered the risks of this, and losing the ownership of her work when a client or designer decides to change the design themselves. One example of this was the alterations made to her design for a book called "A Safe Place for Dying," which she was not pleased about. Throughout all this, Rowe noted the importance of self-initiated work, as well as illustrating for a living. She found a studio space with other illustrators, inlcluding Tom Frost and Ben Newman. Whilst there she used her self-directed studies to experiment with editorial illustration, which was later used by YCN and Hallmark. Clare later worked at MeriMeri Design Studios for a year, though she struggled with it and was made redundant after this time. She moved on to work at Urban Graphics for six months, as well as working closely with an American agent on publishing her designs for both traditional and online editorial work, including women's magazines. She also found time to pursue her interests in interior design work.
Currently, she is still working with Hallmark and other companies, in freelance card design, as well as using her self-initiated work to fill gaps in her portfolio. No matter what, she focuses on her personal illustration and continues making work. Clare is also studying gor a Master's degree (MA) at the University of the West of England (UWE) - in which she is able to explore creative processes with her work, such as screenprinting and ceramics. She participates in an Artist's Residency at Plymouth College, as well as attending print exhibitions and fairs to keep pushing her work to potential clients. Another current project is her work with making advertisements for a lip balm company. As for pushing her work, she now utilises sites like Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram.
Clare's main sources of inspiration can be found in other creatives, such as Andy Miller (host of the Creative Pep Talk podcast), Kaye Blagrad, and Carson Ellis. She also finds encouragement through Austin Kleon's books: Show Your Work! and Steal Like An Artist. Some things that she has learnt through her career as an illustrator are as follows. Illustrators get faster at working in time - each illustrator has different growth and success paths. All illustrators must share their work, and must learn to not be disheartened from a rejection for a commission, or negative feedback. Every Art Director works with illustrators in different ways, and the work is as hard as it is rewarding. She believes that the most important lesson is that illustration isn't ageist, racist or sexist - it welcomes all creatives no matter who they are.
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