Once you’ve discovered illustrator Bodil Jane’s work, you will instantly recognize it. Her characteristic drawing style, mix of techniques and use of bright colors have an appealing effect. Her paintings are often female-centered and inspired by many circumstances, such as flea markets or other busy events. These details make the portrayed person come to life, while it portrays a certain kind of personality. Her illustrations didn’t stay unnoticed; she has worked with big names such as New York Times, The New Yorker, Lush, Unicef and Revlon – to name a few. What drives this creative mind and how does she get inspired? Find the answers to all your questions below.
Cover photo: © Bodil Jane on Instagram
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Illustrator Bodil Jane
Illustrator Bodil Jane was born in Amsterdam and raised in Haarlem – a town close by. She’s been creating things since a young age. During holidays she packed her suitcase with scrapbooks, drawing materials and notebooks. This wasn’t entirely unforeseen: both her parents are freelance artists. Jane’s dad works in advertising, while her mom is an illustrator as well. Therefore, she always knew she wanted to work in the creative industry. After studying Illustration at the Willem de Kooning Academy, she immediately started freelancing, with success. Big names such as The New Yorker and Elle Netherlands have crossed her path since then.
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Style
All Jane’s work combined handwork and digital techniques. She loves to watercolor – something she’s done since she was a little girl. Still, her style is best described as feminine, colorful and dynamic. Tough she’s mastered the art of water coloring, she ‘messes things up’ to make it more playful, while her drawings stay close to reality. Jane visualizes a world in which women are calm and peaceful, both within their bodies and environment.
Inspiration
She gets her inspiration from visiting flea markets, busy places and antique curiosities. In line with this, Jane loves to collect vintage treasures, which also form a source of inspiration. However, since she mostly works for clients, she doesn’t have the artistic freedom to create illustrations from her intrinsic inspiration.
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Key to success
Despite her unique work and style, illustrator Bodil Jane thinks her success is due to her communication skills and knowledge of the creative industry. She knows how to deal with clients and that you have to answer quickly, before possible projects have gone to competitive illustrators. However, she keeps on dreaming and improving her style, which is her main job. Once, she got the life changing advice that [as an artist] you’ll always feel somewhat uncertain about your work, but that’s okay. You just need to create your own path to success and show the world what you’ve got. With these words in mind, Jane keeps on dreaming and hopes she will work for Hermes one day. We are with her.
Check out some of illustrator Bodil Jane’s work below.
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Quite nice, don’t you think? Just like the inspiring story of illustrator Bodil Jane, we have many more inspiring articles. Check out our section dedicated to art and photography here. Or check out our section dedicated to women here. We bet you’ll like it!
