My art brings me happiness and makes me smile – Saara Arts
Meet Saara Arts from Art Desk, an emerging Indian illustrator and visual storyteller, based in the state of Tamilnadu. She defines herself as “that kid who loves to draw all the time, everytime”.
She is a self-taught digital artist, as she learned all her skills by observing her favorite artists, searching for the right tools online, and practicing a lot. Currently, she works as a freelancer, happily doing what she loves for a living. Other than drawing, she also enjoys cooking!
She works mainly with individual clients, for whom she creates personalized artwork, from caricature portraits to wedding cards, couple portraits, and also friends and family portraits. These portraits have a cartoon style but with realistic textures, a tenderness reminiscent of children’s characters, and vibrant color palettes.
Learn more about this rising artist and her strong inspiration in Indian culture.
And don’t miss out on the video, where she shows us her workflow in Procreate!
What life events influenced your decision to become an illustrator?
I think it happened eventually. At first, I could feel that the moments I was creating art were the happiest times for me. Later, I used to create art to forget my sorrow and trauma, and I felt it helped a lot. My art brings me happiness and makes me smile again. When I started to post my work on my social media, I got to know new people who were interested in it, and new things relevant to the art field.
What sort of illustration do you do?
Other than work-related illustrations, most of my work is inspired by things around myself or about my own life.
How much of the culture of your country (India) has influenced your style or the subjects you illustrate?
Since most of them are about me and most of my clients are also from India, my style of work has strong cultural references. I love that too.
Personalized wedding card, one of Saara’s services.
Many of your illustrations feature human beings. Have you tried illustrating other subjects, such as animals or still life?
Yes! I practice a lot drawing animals and other creatures. But the reason why many of my illustrations have human figures is that I love drawing human faces! I started my journey as an artist drawing human portraits. I used to draw my friend’s portraits and gift them on their special days, as I felt no gift would be more personal than their own portrait! It made them feel so special and happy, and their happiness brings me joy.
What are the projects you are most proud of?
I have so much to share about this… but everything is a work in progress. The best moment for the creator is always getting nice feedback. They are so precious to me.
What skills do you think an illustrator should have?
I believe no one is born an artist. You can learn anything, of course, but to develop a skill, you should have regular practice and patience through the learning process. You need to develop a drawing daily habit.
Art is such an enormous field, so my advice is to pick one type of work or style you want to learn and work on it for a time. Otherwise, you may get lost in the clusters. Focus on learning one thing at a time.
Do you believe habits help creativity? What do you do to overcome a creative block?
I think habits definitely help creativity! To overcome a creative block, the first thing I’ll try is to draw my current mood. The expressions on my face or how do I feel.
Second, I’ll try redrawing my old illustrations, or some of my favorite artists’ works.
Third, I’ll draw my own outfits or any other celebrities.
You can pick any three topics and just repeat them when you’re having a creativity block. Because the idea behind this simple trick is to pick a pencil and start. Once you’ve started, you will eventually get back on track.
What do you like most about being an illustrator?
The most important thing is that I can express whatever I feel through my art. Secondly, I’m just so happy because I’m doing what I love as my profession.
What does success mean for you?
Honestly, I never ever have goals. I just pick opportunities that come my way. So for me, there is no success or failure.
I’ve faced a lot of struggles in my life that I can’t share, but the lesson I’ve learned is that life is too short. There is no need to complicate it, I’m just happy with myself and with what I’m doing now. And I’ll be even happier if I have any chance to help others. That’s it.
Under water, a collaboration with Toesmith shoe brand. First time in India, they have introduced high-quality customizable shoes.
What techniques and resources did you use to design your last few pieces?
The tools I’m using are an Apple iPad and pencil. Software is Procreate.
Tell us more about why you choose these tools. What are your favorite features?
I’ve worked in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. The best part of Procreate is that I can draw effortlessly with the stylus pen (Apple pencil) like I’m drawing on paper with a pen. That’s the reason why I’ve chosen Procreate. Of course, I could buy a graphic tablet to start with. But another reason is that, as a beginner, I see artists I look up to are mostly using Procreate.
How do you learn about new techniques and tools?
I’m a self-taught artist, which means I’ve to learn all things by myself. This is an amazing era where you can learn anything and everything from the internet, free of cost. I have my favorite set of artists to learn from them.
Can you share which artists you follow, to learn from?
There are so many artists actually. Keshrt (Keshav Rathnavel) is my first big inspiration. I’ve been following his videos from even before I started doing digital work. His works are so adorable and his videos are definitely most useful for any other artist who just starting out.
Have you ever found that someone has copied your work or used it without your proper permission? What do you think should be done in this circumstance?
Many times. I worried a lot about it initially. Now I just ignore them. They can steal my work but they can’t steal my thoughts and imagination. If it is for a learning purpose, I would be happy to let them use my artwork.
What jobs have you done other than being an illustrator?
Even though I’m a computer science engineer, this is my first job.
What’s your workday like?
Now my home is my working space. It’s a bit demotivating when working, as I can take as many tea breaks as I want hahaha. Jokes apart, I have a nice space and I’m by myself all day, so it’s quite easy for me to get started.
Family portraits, another service Saara provides to her customers.
What type of illustration do you enjoy the most: analogic or digital? Why?
Digital work is my favorite. Because you can do pencil sketches, watercolor paintings, gouache paintings, markers, everything in a digital medium. It’s quite interesting, right? Of course digital medium is real art too. It takes the same effort as the traditional one. But the advantage is you can erase and undo things effortlessly, and another advantage is that it can be less expensive, one does not have to invest so much to get started.
What’s been your most challenging project to date?
The project I’m currently working on. It’s been a while since my style has changed to cartoons. And now I’m working on a project with a different style. It’s quite challenging!
Can you tell us more about this project?
I can’t talk much about it yet. But in the meantime, I’m also working on another two kids’ books. It’s going great so far!
Eid Celebration. Indian culture clearly inspires this emerging artist’s work.
How do you handle a client who isn’t sure about what they want?
Yes! It happens. I’ll try to communicate with them to explore together more ideas, offering them new possibilities to choose from.
Have you heard of MasterBundles before? What do you think about this project?
I don’t know much about the MasterBundles project, but I would love to know more!
Saara Shows her Workflow
Meet Saara Arts from Art Desk, an emerging Indian illustrator and visual storyteller, based in the state of Tamilnadu. She defines herself as “that kid who loves to draw all the time, everytime”.
What are your concerns?
Thanks for your response!
