My name is Nea Likar and I’m an illustrator, graphic designer and make-up artist. I’m currently wrapping up my master’s degree in illustration at ALUO in Ljubljana. I’m active in all of the fields I’ve mentioned, but illustration is the one that’s leading me through all three of them and the one I love the most. It’s my strongest and favourite tool of expressing myself. At the moment I’m designing my own bags brand under the name Sketch, which will soon be released. I’m also working on a lot of different design projects, illustration and graphics and I’m incredibly happy that I’m able to express myself on other’s faces as a make-up artist as well.  

How did you get into illustration?
Ever since I can remember I’ve been drawing. I’ve always been very receptive to colour and even as a little girl I was able to notice small details that I wanted to draw. Even back then books and other types of print excited me greatly and in high school I discovered a great love for the illustrations I saw in these books, so the decision to study illustration was somehow a logical path for me. It was through my studies and through being part of an exchange in Portugal that I came to discover what kind of illustration I feel close to and what kind of style and segment of it I’d like to follow. I keep educating myself, visiting different courses, reading more on the topic and learning the technique I want to be proficient in. I love supporting the people I look up to and buying their products. I find it’s important that you keep developing your own style depending on the needs of the project you’re working on and that you don’t push your own thoughts and ideas to the side but rather challenge them constantly.

What separates you from other illustrators?
I’m mostly creating with a technique where I combine hand-made (analog) and digital illustration. My preferred technique is pencil, which I then combine with digital elements. What I get as a final product is a collage and that helps me to incorporate different messages into my illustrations. I prefer illustrations through which I can communicate as much as possible. I feel like it’s that technique combined with a seemingly adorable illustration with a lot of surrealism and messages that makes my style recognisable.

What do you want to become in future, your biggest dream?
In the future I see myself surfing the creative waves in my career as well as life, which is greatly tied with illustration and drawings. My biggest dream is to be able to do this every day and live from it, that my work is needed and appreciated. I’d love to work more on prints on textiles, illustrating books, especially ‘silent books’ (books without text), which I’ve become obsessed with, and working with creative people. To wrap this year up I’d love to successfully finish the 365 project (posting illustrations every day on my Facebook page: Nea Likar and my Instagram profile: nealikar) and complete my master’s degree which is one of my most creative and refined ones (two silent books).

Do you have a motto?
Nobody is you and that is your power. // I can. I will.

 

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Interviewed by Anja Korošec ; Photo: Katja Žagar; Illustrations: Nea Likar