Lydia Nichols Has a Penchant for the Quirky

Lydia Nichols is an illustrator with a “penchant for the quirky” that wants to “anthropomorphize all the things.” In an interview with Brave the Woods, she explained that her favorite thing about anthropomorphizing and drawing cute critters is the way in which she gets to infuse shapes with personalities, bringing them to life.

“It’s like solving a happy puzzle of shape and line and the end result is a little illustrated friend!” she remarks playfully, adding that she wishes life was like a Mary Poppins film, where animated illustrations populate the world alongside humans.

Often described as charming and whimsical, Nichols’ illustrations have attracted huge clients that include Google, Penguin Random House, The New York Times, and even the Museum of Modern Art.

But like most creatives, it took Nichols some trial and error to hone her artistic voice. Having received her BFA in Illustration from Syracuse University and her MFA in Design from Tyler School of Art, she admits she would worry at times that drawing cute things might pigeonhole her if she wanted to branch out into editorial.

“In college I would look to extraordinary artists and draftsmen like Sterling Hundley or Gary Kelley and think, I want to do that,” she admits. “Eventually I realized that I just want to admire them! For one thing, I can’t be them and for another, they already exist! So I took time to figure out what, exactly, I found most interesting and fun about illustration without the pressure of creating ‘perfect’ finished illustrations.”

Inspired by folk art, printmaking, mid-century design, and vintage packaging, with time Nichols let go of her worries about how cool or trendy the finishing product was. “Once I stopped worrying, my work became better and more unique!”

Take a look for yourself:

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