Young And Arty: A Conversation with Safah and Hawwa

Art has a lot of power. It can move and inspire people, and it can help people get their points across. Whatever an individual’s reason for getting into art, and there are many, for me it’s a really incredible thing to be a part of.

For a while, I’ve been following two ‘young artists’ online, Safah and Hawwa. They both have blogs, and both share what they do online. To give two examples, Safah tweeted that 100 people had downloaded a copy of her zine, ‘ink stained lungs.’ Hawwa, in her Twitter bio, said that she was an Instagram featured user, though I think to really get a sense of their individual styles, you need to either visit their blogs, or ask them. So I was so happy that they were both happy to speak to me as part of this new blog post I’m putting together.

So how would they describe their individual styles?

Hawwa decided to “generalise ‘style’ to include [her] fashion, art and blogging style, because…it’s easier,” but in ten words, she narrowed it down to, “colourful, minimalistic, serendipitous, sketchy, expressive, mellow, monochrome, organised, funny (*cough* obviously), sarcastic.”

And although Safah noted that “art styles are fluid — so [hers] is bound to keep changing,” in slightly less than ten words she defined her style as, “ink, soft hues, poetic captions, a controlled kind of messy.”

When I asked them both when they first got into art, there was a common theme of not really being able to pin down a time when they were both interested in art.

Hawwa: “I can’t think of a certain moment when I though art was definitely something I wanted to spend my time on, I’ve always just been inexplicably drawn to art and creativity. As a young child (*sobs*, I’m a geriatric 18 year old woman now) I used to go downstairs every morning when everyone was asleep and just draw — I was very prolific, I’d fill around seven pages a morning and then my parents would stick them up on the kitchen cabinets — it was my own art gallery in a sense!”

Safah: “I’ve always enjoyed creating, but I think the point where my interest transformed into a real passion would be towards the end of my art GCSE, when I discovered an artist named Ian Sklarsky — I absolutely fell in love with his blind contour drawings (where you draw a subject without looking at the page) and from there I began to develop my own art style.”

Safah mentioned in her answer to my previous question that Ian Sklarsky was one of her inspirations. Where does Hawwa find inspiration for her art?

“Everywhere — other artists (on instagram, on tumblr, on pinterest), places I go, photographs I take. Literally anything can be inspiration in a sense — it may not directly appear in a piece of art but it could fuel your idea to create something.”

There are so many places that artists share their work online today. Safah names a few, like Instagram (where 95 million+ photos and videos are shared a day according to Instagram’s press page) and Tumblr (with 312.9 million blogs at time of writing). So why do Safah and Hawwa choose to share their art online?

Safah: “Quite simply, because I love it. I love sharing my creative process with people who either create art themselves (in whatever form, whether visual or in words) or simply love it too. Everything is more beautiful when shared.”

Hawwa: “I never actually used to — I’m a perfectionist and I hate when I pour everything into a piece of art and then people look at it and just don’t appreciate it. But I decided I needed to get used to that (although I still very rarely post my writing online, or share it with anyone really). It’s all very personal, even if it’s not about a particularly personal topic — but it’s quite gratifying to gain positive feedback and appreciation on something you’ve created, it pushes you to create more.”

“ Everything is more beautiful when shared.” — Safah

Of course, feedback of all kinds is something that is widely considered part and parcel of the internet. What are their thoughts on the feedback they receive?

Hawwa:”Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever received any negative comments on my art, which is very nice, because I’m 100% sure not everyone who sees my art likes it, which is absolutely fine, but the fact that they choose to keep it to themselves is very much appreciated!”

Safah: “I always receive really lovely comments on my blog posts when I do share art, and it’s so motivating at times when I fall into a creative rut. I’m really grateful for all the support I get.”

As I mentioned earlier on in the post, Safah recently published a zine called ‘ink stained lungs,’ which I did read, very much enjoyed and definitely recommend. How was that experience for her?

“Very, very challenging, but in equal parts a lot of fun.”

“It involved more emails and hours at a laptop than I’d first imagined, but getting to work with photographers, artists and poets I adore was such a rewarding experience — and the final product has gotten such a great reaction which I was really pleased with.”

Hawwa’s blogging background can be found in books. She used to contribute to The Guardian Children’s Books Site, but now describes her blog as “a creative lifestyle blog; a curation of art, literature, photography and travel to name a few topics.”

“I used to focus solely on books but as time went by I felt the need to express all my different opinions and share all my different interests, so rather than make another blog for arty topics I decided to change my blog name to a more expansive and encompassing name and blog about anything I wanted.”

There’s an opinion I hear floating around every now and again when someone expresses an interest in art, and whether it’s direct or not, the general consensus is that art isn’t a viable career option. As I was speaking to two people who create art, I was keen to see what they thought of this opinion.

Safah: “I think it definitely is a career, but not as encouraged as it should be, no. However, my opinion is based on my experiences of always going to very ‘academically’ driven schools, so it might be different for other young people. I think art is the way forward though, there’s so many career options such as graphic or web designers, film makers and illustrators that all fall under art in my opinion!”

Hawwa: “I definitely think it is a career option, and one that many people around the world are succeeding at, but I think to be an economically stable artist is difficult as often, a great deal of ‘luck’ plays into becoming successful enough to make art your only job — you could work yourself to the bone creating but never ‘make it’ and still have to do side jobs etc, which means that I think art is definitely not encouraged enough — if you’re looking solely at financial stability in terms of art then there are definitely more stable jobs relating to art out there such as teaching art, writing about art etc. I do think art as a career should be encouraged, solely because I think people should be encouraged to pursue something they’re passionate about as they’re much more likely to enjoy themselves while becoming successful at what they’re doing then — however at the same time I think people should also make informed decisions about what they want to pursue, they shouldn’t go into, say, pursuing a career as an artist without knowing the cons (and pros!) of that career as I don’t think that would help at all — they need to know what they’re getting into, whatever the career they choose!”

“I think people should be encouraged to pursue something they’re passionate about as they’re much more likely to enjoy themselves while becoming successful at what they’re doing then.”

As anyone with a creative passion or indeed any kind of hobby will know, and may be familiar with, sometimes it’s difficult to balance your passion with your other necessary commitments. How do they find the balance?

Hawwa: “As an art student, right now art is my commitment, which means it’s a bit easier to balance. However other ‘types’ of art I enjoy tend to take the back seat, such as my writing, I haven’t worked on my WIP in a year (!!) as I almost always prioritise my (academic) commitments over my art. In terms of personal art creation, sometimes I just am completely not in the mood for the art I’m ‘meant’ to be doing so I create art I ‘want’ to do. I’m a very organised person, to-do lists are basically my wallpaper in my bedroom, which means that usually if I’m feeling a creative urge, I’ll make a to do list of all the things I NEED to do vs all the things I WANT to do and will just make sure everthing gets done that day! (Except, again, my writing tends to never get seen to — I’ve promised myself I’m going to at least write 1,000 words this half term though..I really need to get back into it).”

“To be perfectly honest, when things get really busy with exams and college work — I keep my supplies locked away in my art chest and won’t touch it for weeks. Sometimes it’s better to leave it alone rather than force yourself to be creative when you just can’t — but using art as a de-stressing tool instead of scrolling through YouTube always helps.”

So, do they hope to continue making art? What’s next for them both?

Hawwa: “I’m currently on a deferred year (a gap year, but I already have a place at university), and to make use of my time, I’m doing an art foundation course in order to expand my abilities (I did fine art at A Level but in art foundation I get to tackle fine art, textiles, graphics and photography.) Although I have a place at university to major in history (not sure yet if/what I want to minor in) I am definitely going to continue to create in my free art and I would be extremely happy if I could end up in a career that is creative, as well as making use of all the transferable skills I’ll (hopefully!) learn at university.”

Safah: “Absolutely, I hope I never stop! There is a very exciting project I’m working on at the moment with a good friend and fellow blogger, can’t say much at the moment but I’m so so psyched.”

So let’s say I wanted to get into art. Or let’s say you wanted to get into blogging. How would they advise that you do it?

Safah: “On blogging: Stay focused on why you started. If the reason is to be validated by positive comments or become popular, I can’t promise it’ll be an easy or rewarding ride, but if it’s to primarily share something you’re passionate about and have fun doing — then just keep having fun. It’s easy to get caught up in stats when it comes to blogging, so it’s important to stay grounded and remember you’re own fulfilment is what’s most important. Don’t create to please your audience, create what you love and (hopefully) you’re dream audience will come to you. (so cheesy, but true)

“On art: I’d probably give similar advice — don’t create what you think is popular just for the sake of creating something that follows a trend, try new things, experiment, do your best not to limit yourself, and allow yourself to grow. One of the biggest issues I dealt with when my blog was primarily focused on sharing my art was that I always imagined my art going online every time I sat down to create something. In the end it put so much pressure on me that I stopped trying new things and instead stuck with what I knew would get a good reaction. It all got pretty repetitive and boring after that, so I’ve decided to share art less online and write more (about artists or galleries I love, books, places etc) and only share art when I really want to — I’m hoping it’ll help me overcome some boundaries and loosen up a bit with my art style.”

Hawwa: “OOH, in terms of art, try not to be a perfectionist, ironic seeing as I am one, but if you’re too much of a perfectionist you’ll never finish anything, you’ll just have a bin full of rejects. Also don’t call them ‘rejects’, they’re just development work, it’s practice, and as my little sister says, ‘practice makes good, not perfect, because you’ll never be perfect’. Although if you ever get to day that what you create looks exactly how you envisioned it then I will be eternally jealous, still hasn’t happened to me yet, and it probably never will.”

“And if you’re starting blogging: network, make friends, don’t try and make your blog into something it’s not: write what you want and people will be attracted to it because it’s authentic and HAVE FUN. Don’t look at your follower count or how many pageviews you get, statistics doesn’t really matter, what matters is that the people that read your blog love what you do and what you write on your blog means something to you.”

I had a lot of fun speaking to Safah and Hawwa and then putting this blog post together! Online, Hawwa blogs at www.hawwaetc.com and Safah blogs at toobusylookingup.blogspot.co.uk. They tweet as @hawwaetc and @Safah_Ahmed respectively.

Plus, if you want to read both Hawwa’s interview and Safah’s interview separately, you can find them on my Medium page: medium.com/@ohhiimjosh