At the age of 29, illustrator Alicia Souza thinks that she is in ‘retirement mode’. While others maybe pursuing awards, Souza is content with the pursuit of happiness and happiness to her is illustrating. On the other hand, she thinks her big break as an illustrator is yet to come — despite having worked for Google, Yahoo!, Air India and other corporate honchos. “There was never ‘that-one-project’ that changed the game. It was a series of continuous, ongoing work,” says the bubbly artist, who also as her own spot in the sunny online world with her eponymous store.
Born and brought up in Abu Dhabi she went down under to study design and communications. She freelanced for Chumbak from there and came to Bengaluru to work for them. When she was in Australia, she had started her Facebook page and that’s when she faced her biggest challenge, to come out of her shell and put her illustrations out there. “I had no choice,” explains the artist about getting over her awkward self. She continues to receive overwhelming love on the mentioned page, “Honestly, it’s like all the good in the world,” she gushes. But wait! What about trolls of the big bad online world? Those, she just ignores. She adds that sometimes her work is copied as well. “I honestly just want to tell them that they are starting off on the wrong foot, it’s all about being true to yourself,” says the artist who doesn’t have the time or the bandwidth to take legal action.
She calls her style of illustrations ‘the impatient style,’ because she really does not have time for a more stylised approach and in this simplicity of her work lies it’s appeal. Expressive eyes on a pleasant face created with simple strokes convey more than any other details could. She comes up with illustration on her feet and draws ideas from everything, yet she is a diligent worker. And though she thinks she can retire, about 50,000 people (the number of likes on her FB page) anticipate her drawings everyday and she sure doesn’t disappoint.
Reach out: aliciasouza.com