Amy van Luijk (3/5)

For the (Dutch) Flow Illustratiespecial Amy van Luijk drew some really nice illustrations. This month she will tell us all about her work, inspiration and her life as an illustrator on our blog. 

As well as my illustration and design work, I find it important to keep making things that don’t have an immediate commercial application. I have always enjoyed drawing and designing and I find it important to keep it as one of my hobbies as well as my job.

I make time to create abstract collages, only thinking about forms and colours and how they interact. I cut out shapes, move them around on the page and add more or take away parts until it is finished. I can tell when a collage is finished when the composition resonates and it feels balanced and right. When I hit upon a perfect composition or colour combination it can be quite exciting and give a nice sense of accomplishment.

The process is very relaxing and meditative, it’s a great way to refresh creative thinking and to exercise your design brain.

amyvanluijkabstract2

Often shapes or colours from the collages will inspire new illustrations or patterns. I have also made them into screen prints as well as surface decoration on my ceramics.

You can see more of my collages on Tumblr.