Artist Interview - Chiara from Milk

I want to introduce you all to some amazing art I found last week. I discovered Chiara's breathtaking illustrations and after looking through her beautiful myspace page I found myself wanting to know more about her and her work. She inspired me to ask her to do an interview for my blog. I hope you will enjoy learning more about her too.

Tell us a bit about yourself
Chiara Bautista, Mexican, petite.

Other than creating art, what else do you do?

I'm a graphic designer & illustrator. I work for a daily newspaper in Tucson, Arizona. it's just like love: beautiful and stressful job.

Have you always been an artist?
To be honest, I don't think of myself as an artist, "illustrator" fits me better... but yes, I've always liked to draw and paint, since I was a little girl.

Tell us a bit about your creative process.
I always start with something I need to say, usually a feeling I can't put into words, and that's why I have to use images. I never sketch a final version of an illustration because I always end changing almost everything. My work process is messy and I go back and forth, changing stuff constantly while I'm working. It's like... when you're writing an email to an ex-boyfriend, and you have to go back and read again that last paragraph, and after reading it a couple of times you change something here and there because you don't want him to misunderstand your words. Yes, it's just like that.
My [messy] work process includes: pencil & paper, a basic sketch of the main layer, scanner, computer, a vector program (Freehand Mx/Adobe Illustrator), and Adobe Photoshop.

Music appears to be play a very important roll in your art, do you listen to music while you work? What other influences does music have on your creative process?
I always listen to music while I'm working. I love music. I include songs in my illustrations because we tend to attach experiences to the song that was playing at the moment, you listen to a song and somehow the melody brings back a lot of memories & feelings. That's why I can't listen to certain songs anymore, and some others are playing in a loop on my stereo.

There is always so much to see in each of your pieces and yet they never seem cluttered. Is it a concious effort to get this balance each time?
mmm... I wouldn't know... but I can say that I like balance... I guess that's why I'm always moving stuff around while I'm working.

Are any of your illustrations for sale? If yes, where can we buy them?
At the moment I don't have any prints or originals left for sale, but I'll have some more soon and I'll be selling them through my website www.logyumilk.com

Where can we find you online?
...for sentimental reasons, I only post my images on my myspace page.

If you would like to be considered for Featured Artist, please leave a comment under this post and tell me which of Chiara's illustrations you love the most!