Laura Callaghan is known for her highly detailed illustrations. Hand-painted using watercolor, gouache, and pen, her illustrations mostly feature women in maximalist environments. Currently based in London, the Irish illustrator has worked for clients like Urban Decay, The Guardian, and NYLON Magazine, producing anything from editorials and prints to full-blown murals.
But when it comes to the creative process itself, Callaghan admits she’s relatively tame. “For an illustrator, I have an incredibly boring sketchbook because I always start with words, not pictures,” she shared with Varoom. “I find if I start researching visually straight off the bat I latch on to certain imagery too much and it muddies the waters a bit. So a lot of my initial inspiration just comes from….living I suppose? What’s around me and rattling around my brain.”
Once she has a clear idea of what it is she wants to convey, she does the rest of the research online. “I put a lot of time into initial research but it’s the basis of everything I do and I hope the amount of thought and detail that goes into the end result makes for a richer narrative,” she says. “It’s the thing that makes my work mine, other people can mimic your drawing style but nobody else has your brain (lucky them)!”
Each of her pieces takes a lot of time and thought, but Callaghan admits that being a perfectionist can sometimes be a hindrance. “Recently I’ve tried being a bit less tightly wound and focus on form rather than getting bogged down in all the details, but honestly drawing the tiny details is where the real enjoyment comes from,” she admits.
“There is something very satisfying about drawing a perfect little rip off of a Lilt can or a Colin the caterpillar cake. It’s a cliche, but I feel if I’m going to do something I might as well do it right, even if the level of finish is something that can only really be appreciated when you are looking at the painting in real life.”
Take a look at some of her intricate worlds.
