Anchor Points: Sharon Milne

I’m sure most of you know Sharon’s work from some of Vectips’ Inspirational posts, a bunch of tutorials and articles on Vector.Tutsplus.com, her volunteer work over at deviantArt, or her tutorials on Inside Adobe Illustrator. She does some pretty amazing work with Adobe Illustrator so peruse the chat a learn a little more about her!

The Chat

Hey Sharon, thanks for chatting with Vectips! To start, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Hiya! My name is Sharon, most people call me Shar and I often go under the monika ChewedKandi. I’m a Freelance Vector Artist/Illustrator and write tutorials and articles all about vector… it’s addictive stuff! I’m also currently a Community Volunteer over on deviantART, formerly look over the vector galleries, at present in a mentor capacity. I live in Great Britain, in the awesome city of Newcastle Upon Tyne, with my partner Paul, two cats Sameria and Harley Quinn and dog Shelley.
When I’m not vectoring, I’m either gaming, watching cheesey TV shows, listening to music or enjoying the company of my family.

If you could magically turn into a Illustrator tool, what tool would it be and why?

So many tools, so many possibilities! I think it would be the Live Paint Bucket, because it’s a quick and effective way to fill areas with colour – reminds me of the Paint Bucket in MS Paint, so still true to her roots. Speaking of roots, the Live Paint Bucket would certainly come in handy with my constant change of hair colour!

What’s your favorite Illustrator technique?

If it can be done with an art/scatter/pattern brush, I’ll be doing that… I love techniques which involve brushes. Brushes have so much versitility! I’m always discovering more and more I can do with them. I’ve recently finished a series of articles and tutorials (the first is online now!) for Adobe’s blog: Inside Adobe Illustrator. The second, which is due online soon, encorporates something which surprised me… I pushed what I thought was impossible with an art brush. I can’t say much, but let’s say it’s influenced by one of my own cats, Harley. I can’t wait for it to go online!

Do you use any non-digital tools in your work?

In all honesty, not really… I almost feel ashamed for this because I know so many of my peers who start work with sketches, scan in their work and go from there. The nearest thing I get to working “non-digital” is writing a concept with ideas on a piece of paper and saving it for later.

A lot of my sketches that I do do are in Photoshop or Illustrator and I work from there. More than likely playing on stock images and manipulating them as I go along.

What are your favorite sources of inspiration?

A lot of my portrait work I do is inspired by Drag Queens. I’m a major fan of Drag Queens and their over the top make up, hair and personas. They exaggerate trends and fashions which translate well into illustration.

For my animal vectors, the majority of the times it’s how my own pets behave. I’m a big animal lover, so I tend to imagine silly conversations they have with each other or what their bizarre looks are saying… I know it sounds strange, but I think any pet owner will appreciate this frame of mind. Every animal has it’s own personality and it’s just a matter of putting down on an art board!

Thanks again for the interview! Any parting words of wisdom?

No thank you for the honour Ryan, I love VecTips! Parting words of wisdom: Every new project, don’t be afraid to push yourself, experiment and explore yourself/work/software and when doing so, don’t be afraid to make mistakes and start over!