You guys, I’m so excited to interview one of my favorite creative women today. Tammie Bennett is a talented artist, surface pattern designer, and illustrator. She shares amazing resources and behind-the-scenes creative process posts on her lovely blog. She’s super helpful, creative, and friendly too!
Let’s get started.
Thank you so much for joining us, Tammie! What is your creative mix? Tell us about all the awesome things that you do.
I draw with pen and paper, and do digital illustration and pattern design. I also do mixed media/collage and paint with acrylics. I’m a mom to 3 hilarious kids, and best friends with my husband. I coach cross country and track for our middle school. My husband and I also own and direct several running camps, races and other running events. I’m a practicer of gratitude. I write in my journal daily and always include a few notes of gratitude. I’m also doing a project for 2014 where I sketch a tiny little thing that I’m thankful for. I’m posting these on my Instagram (@tammiecbennett) under the hashtag #365tinythanks.
How long have you been illustrating and how did you get started?
I’ve been illustrating since late 2011. I took the Mondo Beyondo E-Course and realized that deep down I wanted to do something art related. That same year I took an online painting class with Lisa Congdon and Mati Rose and had a blast. Shortly thereafter, I came across an ad for “Art and Business of Surface Design” course and a whole world opened up. I never even knew there was such a thing. I had been a quilting fabric hoarder for a couple years because I loved the patterns but had never thought about how those designs and patterns got onto the fabric. The second I even knew it was a possibility for me to create art that could be placed on fabric and other products, the curtains opened and that proverbial choir was singing mightily! I took a few Adobe Illustrator® classes from Alma at Nicole’s Classes, the Art and Business of Surface Design class, and spent hours each day doing research. I’ve been drawing or painting every day since.
You’ve been producing a lot of awesome work lately, especially over the past year. What are your primary goals as an illustrator? Are you looking to license your work, sell prints, take on freelance projects? Some combination of all of these things?
Thank you. I actually just updated my business dream list so this is a fun question. My primary goal as an illustrator is to license my work. I want to see my work on fabric, stationery, office supplies, tech goods, home goods, children’s toys, scrapbooking….you name it. I also want to illustrate a children’s book and an album cover for a cool band. I would love to sell prints, but only when I get a helper to package and ship because those are the parts I don’t especially love.
What are your primary struggles as an illustrator and how do you deal with them?
I have several struggles as an illustrator. I would say the biggest is scheduling my work time around family. I have three young kids and they are in school, so I do have a big chunk of daytime in which to work. I try to get everything done before they get off the bus after school, because once they walk in the door, I want to be 100% present and focused on them. I’m blessed that I get to work from home and be here when they get home, BUT my creativity is raring to go and I get into my best rhythm right as they are about to come home. I’ve been trying to adjust my creative clock to make my art flow in the morning hours, but it hasn’t happened yet. We don’t have childcare so when they are out of school (summers, holidays,etc) I have to find a balance between being a mom and being an artist. Throw in an endless stream of doctor and dentist appointments, gymnastics, track practice, playdates, lots of school projects, and school events and you have a lot of holes in the work schedule. I have found that as I’ve gotten older, the interruptions are really hard to bounce back from, and I do best when I can work uninterrupted for a chunk of time. I do have a super supportive husband who does his best to give me art time in the evenings and on weekends.
How has blogging or social media impacted your work? Personally, I love that you share so much of your creative process on your blog. I always get excited when I see one of those posts!
It’s funny – I went through a phase where I thought I wanted to be a blogger, but I found a lot of pressure in that. I am happier now being an artist who blogs. Now I can focus on what I enjoy most. I enjoy creating art, sharing it with others and seeing what others have created in return.
I love blogging and social media, but I need to work on being more consistent. I’ve fought hard against having a sort of scheduled system, but I am realizing that it may be the best thing for me. In the past when I’ve let a week or so go by without blogging or being on social media, I felt like I was treading water in an ocean with no sight of land. Now that I’ve realized I really enjoy, and need, the connection, one of the habits I’ll be building this year is to spend at least 5 minutes a day on social media (excluding weekends). I know this is probably backwards from most people’s goals for this year, but to me it’s important to not let days go by without being a part of the conversation.
I have made so many fun connections and found so many inspiring artists and bloggers through social media I really enjoyed the selfie mini-project you and Sandra put together. I have a couple collaborative projects coming up this year that I’m super excited about and I wouldn’t have those without social media.
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, Tammie. Best of luck at Surtex this year! I can’t wait to see all of the amazing work that you do in 2014. xo
You can read more Creative Mix interviews here.