Interview with MagicalMeily — foriio Creator Series #2
We caught up with the lovely Magical Meily to chat about big projects, taking on graphic design projects versus illustrative projects, and why foriio has been perfect for her workflow. Enjoy the interview!
Please introduce yourself!
I’m an Australian designer and illustrator probably most known for my logo designs. I work mostly with vtubers, but I have also been working as a graphic designer for J-Novel Club on light novel cover designs. I go by MagicalMeily in most places online, but you can call me Emily or Meily! (She/her).
How did you get into the creative field? Were you always in the creative field and wanted to be a creator?
I can’t really remember ever wanting to do anything else. I was always drawing as a kid. Although I went to your typical rough Australian public high school, I was happy to have both studio art and design classes. Although I had liked drawing for a long time, my studio art classes eventually felt more stressful than fun with too much focus on mediums that I wasn’t interested in, so I turned away from illustration for a while and took more interest in design before also choosing to study a communications design course in University.
School was always pretty tough for me as an (at the time) undiagnosed ball of anxiety, autism, ADHD, etc. so I did still find that design course a bit gruelling at times, especially with my final year studying all online during early COVID, and with mandatory photography or motion design classes, but they did at least help me really hone in on what types of design I enjoyed most, and the things that I wanted to steer clear of (motion design, I’m looking at you).
You’ve made all kinds of works over the years so I’m sure it’s hard to choose from all your works, but what is the one piece that you are most proud of?
It’s so hard to choose just one! My skills have definitely improved in the last three years, so some of my favourite designs are more recent, like the logo I created for @oriealis earlier this year. I’m also proud of myself for achieving a cool look with logos for @WickiToons and @DeadmanApollo since at the time it wasn’t something I was less experienced with.
I think though, that I have to be most proud of (and most known for) the logo that I created inspired by Nijisanji vtuber Mysta Rias. It was a purely personal fan design that I completed in just a day or two on a whim, and it ended up getting 13k likes on Twitter, noticed by Mysta himself, and eventually used occasionally during his streams. Graphic design so rarely reaches that level of recognition on social media, and I had so many compliments, and people asking to use it on their projects, someone even asked to get it tattooed! So I’m really fond of that design.
You take on both graphic design commissions as well as more illustrative commissions these days, do you find it helps you stay focused to jump from one to the other? Or do you like to do mostly design work one day and then illustrative work the next?
To be honest, it always feels like I want to draw when I’ve got lots of design work lined up, and that I only want to design when I’m supposed to be drawing haha, so it can be a bit hard to figure out the right balance.
I definitely got out of practice with drawing for a few years, but I’ve been finding myself really wanting to get more involved with it again lately. I think a lot of us are just wired to create, it’s so human. If you get burnt out with your only creative outlet, it can feel really sad and kickstart long periods of art block, stress and self-doubt. Having another to fall back on seems like it would be really beneficial for me, and a lot of other creatives out there. I think swapping between the two helps keep things feeling fresh.
You were recently asked to design the NIJIEN Prism Cup 2023 logo design, what was the creative process of that like for quite a large client?
It was an amazing opportunity! I’ve worked with Selen Tatsuki (the Nijisanji VTuber who contacted me for the logo) once before, so it feels great to know that my previous work was enjoyed enough for her to trust me with another one.
Regardless of how many followers a client has, I believe it’s important to always try to treat everyone professionally, so my process was much the same as usual. I don’t have as much experience working with clients from large VTuber agencies as some other designers may, but from what I’ve noticed there can definitely be more hoops to jump through in regards to getting approval from higher-ups or managers, and more pressure to be confident and professional with your terms of service, pricing, and payment methods.
Knowing that your work will be seen by a much larger group of people can both help and hinder the creative process. It can be difficult to balance your own creativity, the client’s personal tastes, and a large fanbase full of people with different experiences, backgrounds, and design opinions. As a result, it can also be easy to put more pressure on yourself and stress endlessly over making it absolutely perfect, despite that being largely subjective. Having said that, they can be some of the most rewarding and exciting jobs to work on, and the extra bit of recognition and positive feedback for your work that you get from fans of clients with a bigger following is always encouraging.
How important is it to have a portfolio like foriio to show everyone your work?
Freelancing is so difficult, so having a portfolio is one of the easiest and most important steps you can take for self-promotion, or even just keep a personal archival of your own work and progress.
The absolute necessity for an online portfolio in the modern day was really stressed to us at university. In our final year, we had to create an online portfolio website, and every single option available then was so incredibly expensive, exclusive, complex, or lacked professionalism. I would’ve saved a lot of money and stress if foriio had been around at the time, so I really hope it continues thriving and can be that accessible portfolio format that I was missing at that time.
What’s your secret to creating such a large variety of different logos? Do you look around a bit for inspiration or do you find it outside of the design world?
Honestly, I think a lot of it comes down to listening to your client’s ideas, and properly researching a lot of inspiration. I really pride myself on being able to deliver on a vast array of styles and unique typography!
I have an initial text consultation with the client where they can provide reference and inspiration images, and describe what they have in mind. I then collect more inspiration images on my own and create a lot of sketches so I can provide multiple options. I’m quite a literal person, so I do mostly get my inspiration directly from other designs or illustrations. Basically, get your main idea down, then refine it more and try a bunch of variations. I think this goes for art and design but look into design principles. Contrast, hierarchy, pattern, balance, proportion, movement; even just focusing on one of those can really help you come up with a unique composition. Try distorting, angling, curving, and changing the perspective to achieve something with more personality.
As we’ve seen time and time and again, many creatives experience burnout/imposter syndrome/etc. Do you have any advice for fellow creatives?
That’s definitely something I’m familiar with. With a constant barrage of content on social media, it can be really easy to compare yourself to others. Whether it’s your work speed, style, commission prices, number of followers, etc. it can really send people into a spiral.
Something that can help me sometimes, is looking through positive messages from my past clients. When I get positive feedback from clients or friends, or a good response to a work I posted online, I screenshot it and save it to an inspiration folder to look back on when I’m feeling negative. Reading through messages where people say they’ve been staring at your hard work for an hour, that it’s beautiful or inspiring, it really means a lot when you’re doubting your own skills, and I think it’s a great little collection to acrew and build upon over time as an artist.
Try out different organizational methods and see what works for you. Daily planners, to-do lists, sticky notes, timeblocking, setting timers, or rewarding yourself. Even if it only helps a little bit, it’s better than nothing. I have found that I operate best without a waitlist, and only working on one project at a time. My ADHD brain can get really muddled and confused if I swap between too many projects at once or feel guilty about keeping people on a waitlist for so long since my health can be so unpredictable.
I get daily headaches and migraines, so this may not be applicable to everyone, but: Plan in lots of short breaks, sleep, drink water, eat meals, and use eye drops or an eye mist. Basically, take care of yourself!
What has been the most rewarding aspect of your freelance work so far?
I’ve made incredible friends. Whether it’s past clients or other VTuber designers, I’ve genuinely met multiple people that I expect to be friends with for a long time. Not to mention so many more that pop into social media replies or DMs every now and then. So many of my clients are such wonderful, kind people, and since it’s a pretty niche, albeit, growing group, it’s a reliable way to interact with people who have similar interests and hobbies that I do! Managing your own business and personal image on social media can be really exhausting, but that feeling of posting a new work and seeing compliments from both friends and strangers is really rewarding.
Do you have any words for other creators who are looking to get into freelancing or illustrations in general?
Make all of your information clear! If people are scouting through multiple people to commission, or trying to decide if they should follow you and they go to your page and can’t INSTANTLY see a display of your work and a link to your commissions information, a lot of people are likely to click away. Special media banners, pinned posts, and link aggregator sites, these can all be super helpful to display information straight away.
Be prepared for it to be difficult, and try to go into it with a mindset of just having fun and see what comes of it. Work on things that you’re actually interested in, and people who like your work will find you. Find a systems that works for you, be professional and kind. Clear communication goes a long way. Also, make sure to look up how you should be doing your taxes if you’re operating as a business haha!
You’ve had your foriio since the beginning of 2022 and have continued to champion us on Twitter, what aspects of foriio have been most beneficial to you?
Personally, I use foriio to upload unique showcases of my work that I don’t post anywhere else since the format allows it. I can post these tall vertical graphics that feel so satisfying to scroll through and can have more personality than just a rectangle that has to be cropped to one size only. It’s so much more versatile. I’ve also made good use of the private works function. It’s super useful to show off some works to potential job offers that might not be ready to be revealed publicly, or just other sneaky secret projects!
The layout of a folio is just as important as the work itself, and foriio is just so perfect for me and my work. I really appreciate how sleek and clean the interface is since it does exactly what it should in completely allowing the focus of the viewer to be drawn to the work itself.
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Hope you enjoyed our illuminating interview with MagicalMeily!
Remember to follow MagicalMeily on their socials here:
foriio — https://www.foriio.com/MagicalMeily
Twitter — https://twitter.com/MagicalMeily
And remember, you can create your own foriio account for free in minutes. foriio is a tool for those who want to share their works in an easy and intuitive manner. Sign-up is a mere seconds and adding work is as easy as dragging and dropping. We’ve also added new import features for those who want to easily transfer their work from their other places. So check us out here and make your own! Hope to see you everyone on foriio!
