How Brinlie Clark recreates her travel and nature photos into unique illustrations and art pieces
Brinlie Clark is a graphic designer that loves to capture the beautiful nuances of nature around the world on her camera. Her background in Fine Arts combined with the powerful vector tools in Sketch allows her to create dynamic and colorful art pieces from her shots. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her boyfriend and their cat and dog.
How did you get introduced to design?
I started drawing when I was young but didn’t really start pursuing it until high school. I’d be thinking all the time of new pieces and writing down ideas. I filled up 5 or 6 sketchbooks over the course of a few years. I wasn’t the best in my class, but I definitely had a passion for it. However, when I got to college, I didn’t have the courage to pursue anything related to visual arts. I ended up graduating in Sociology and then working as an online ESL Teacher. While this was a perfect way to travel the world, I still dreamed of creating beautiful things.
Fast forward to when my boyfriend Justin, a web developer, introduced me to Sketch it felt like something just clicked. I knew I had all this creativity and vision but hadn’t ever found the medium that felt like it was mine before. Procreate and Photoshop felt overly complicated and, at least for me, acted to some extent as a bar to entry. I loved drawing but the process was long and mistakes took forever to correct.
However, once I had my hands on Sketch, I was completely reenergized and felt very empowered to create. It was definitely the foundation for me being able to build up the courage to pursue a career in design.
Can you tell us a bit about your style of art and if there is a story behind it?
I would say my art is characterized by bright colors, organic shapes, and dynamic compositions. I create a lot of plant art because I’m really inspired by nature. I love the beauty of the human form and like to create work that promotes elements like growth, exploration and optimism. Art can be a powerful way to share your message, and I feel that when I do a piece on saving the bees for example, I’m being an activist for them.
Ultimately, I just believe in making the world a livable place in terms of climate, equality, and beauty.
What are your favorite tools you use for your craft and why?
Obviously Sketch has been an amazing tool for me to discover. However, it’s typically not the first tool I start with when I begin a project. With a background in Fine Arts I was always encouraged to go seek out inspiration in the real world. Whenever I see any art I like, whether it’s a street mural, a piece in a gallery or something on social media, I follow the artist on Pinterest or Instagram so I can look at their work again later.
In addition to creating inspiration boards on Pinterest, I also like to take photos of things I find interesting or beautiful. This way I can search my Google Photos later and I have a whole library of personal reference photos that I can work off of.
Other tools I use include basics such as magazines and scissors -I’ll actually start projects with a collage so I can rearrange the elements quickly and find a layout that I like. Other times I’ll take an old art piece that I’m not completely in love with and try to use my favorite parts of it to make something new.
Tell us more about your travel journey around the world and how your travel has inspired your journey as a graphic designer and illustrator?
What’s special about traveling around the world is really just how much it opens your mind to what’s possible.
When you’re in these beautiful megacities like Paris, London, or Seoul, it’s so inspiring to think that everything you see was once just an idea someone dreamed up.
At the same time as my mind was opening up, I felt so empowered that I was able to get to so many places on my own. I became more confident and that definitely changed me as a person and as an artist.
It was also really amazing to discover new styles of art by coming upon them in the real world. In Java, Indonesia, I found out about this beautiful art form called ‘batik’ where they have a process of painting a fabric with a layer of wax, dyeing it, and repeating that with progressively darker colors to create a full painting. I was fortunate enough to find someone who was willing to show me the process and let me try it over an afternoon which was a really rich cultural experience.
There were also a number of artists who I discovered through their street art, which I think because it’s a somewhat transient art form really captivates me. Alex Face has these distinctive murals all over Bangkok and in other major cities throughout Asia that are so fun to stumble across. Another fun set of murals I remember distinctly are Seth Globepainter’s mural in the Parc de Belleville in Paris of people floating into portals. I also think the outdoor exhibits of Wynwood Walls in Miami and Vivid and Sculptures by The Sea in Sydney are really fantastic in that they inspire you to create bigger and bolder art.
Do you have favorite artists, fellow creatives, books, or mediums that you might recommend?
I would highly recommend the video game Monument Valley. I’m not much of a gamer but the graphics are so stunning and the surreal architecture, inspired by MC Escher, is unlike any other game I’ve ever encountered. More recently I’ve been discovering more artists online, I was delving into isometric vector art and discovered the talent of Andrew Nye. His art is definitely in the vein of what I’d like to be doing in the future. I also recently read the book, Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. It’s a really quick read but it was very motivating and laid out some great tips for starting out as an artist. Of course, Skillshare has some really great artists showing how they work. I can honestly say that I didn’t really understand how to use Procreate efficiently until I watched Jarom Vogel’s tutorials there.
Are you doing any other type of design work, aside from the beautiful illustrations?
I have done business cards, Pinterest board covers, email campaigns, newsletters and designed a card game. Mostly I have done personal commissions such as portraits of friends, but in the future I hope to design a mural and get into editorial illustration.
What has made the biggest impact on your career growth as a designer?
For the longest time I was really paralyzed by fear that I would fail. When it comes to my art, I’ve always been very hard on myself and I’ve definitely had to learn to give myself space for growth.
I’m still in the beginning stages of my career as a designer but I can easily say I wouldn’t be to this point without the support of my partner Justin and my parents. It makes all the difference to have a support team that unfailingly believes in you.
What would you advise others that might be delaying or being too intimidated to publish their work?
Just go for it and keep going for it. Rome wasn’t built in a day and it’s silly to expect that you’ll be an amazing designer in a day. Play the long game. Believe your dreams are worth fighting for. It’s all about self talk. Give yourself grace when you fail and pick yourself back up.
It sounds cliche but believing in yourself is a unique kind of power.
Where can the design community find your work and get in touch?
My instagram handle is @Brin_theartist and I’m most active on there. If you prefer Facebook, it you can find me at Brintheartist.
Makes sure to check out the Bonus design files Brinlie shared below of her fantastic art and illustrations! The Sketch App Sources team thanks you, Brinlie, for being part of our Designer Series Chats! 🙏 💕 We’re honored!
BONUS 💖
Brinlie is using the powerful vector tools in Sketch to design beautiful art pieces that are inspired by photographs she has captured or seen in editorials, on the wide web and beyond. She has generously provided two Sketch design files from her art series to the Sketch App Sources community to explore her design work, structure and process. We strongly believe that sharing our work and exploring and admiring other’s work is a great form of learning and allowing us to grow our skillsets.
Sharing and building on each other’s work is the ultimate form of learning and retaining knowledge.
If you enjoyed this design spotlight interview and the design files, don’t forget to show some love to Brinlie on this story, and by sharing it and her work. It will make her day! 👏 🧡
To browse over 4,500 design files — go to www.sketchappsources.com
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