INTERVIEW - VERONIKA PAŽICKÁ

Hello everybody!

Today I will be sharing an interview with one of my favourite illustrators who also happens to be my very good friend and fellow UCA alumni, Veronika Pažická!

Veronika is an artist that always inspires me to push myself to create the best work possible and I definitely would not have made it through those three years at university without her guidance. I wanted to use this blog as a platform to talk about work that I love and work that I believe the world needs to see so what better place to start!

Veronika’s work can be found over on her website at www.veronikapazicka.com or over on Instagram @veronika.pazicka

Now please enjoy our interview!

How did you discover your interest in art?

I started reading when I was very little, discovering the world of illustrated children’s books. The tradition of illustrated children’s books has always been huge where I come from, so I spent my childhood years looking at the illustrated imagery of old Czechoslovak books. I specifically remember being really connected with the book “O psíčkovi a mačičke”, I just adored the simplicity of its illustrations made by the author, Josef Čapek. Seeing all these book illustrations made me want to draw like crazy, resulting in me starting art classes twice a week and that was the beginning for me.

How would you describe your work process of creating illustrations?

Honestly, I never just sit down and start planning. I constantly have a sketchbook on hand because I know I think of illustration concepts very unexpectedly and spontaneously, usually when out and about. None of my good ideas have ever come to me when I planned them. In fact, I really hate it when I have to think too much about an idea for a drawing, it loses a bit of the fun aspect for me and I think it’s reflected in the illustration. It kind of summarises the way I work too - I don’t have a time schedule at all, my imagination works all of the time, but I only sit down to work on the drawings when I feel an intense wave of creativity. As for the illustrations themselves, I often work with sketches actually! Recently I’ve been mainly using well-developed sketchbook line drawings and digitally colouring them in. I love that process, it’s very therapeutical for me.

What inspires your work and style?

I suppose it’s ever-changing! But visually I’m very drawn to graphic design of the late twentieth century, album covers and a lot of different clothes I see people wear. I think my biggest inspiration is people I encounter or document, as well as situations and experiences from real life or from the corners of my own brain.

Who are your favourite illustrators/artists at the moment?

I’m a huge fan of a young illustrator from Slovakia, Lívia Suchá, I’m constantly being blown away by her abilities and concepts. Chrudoš Valoušek is one of my all time favourites and he recently came out with an illustrated quartets card set and I’m obsessed, it’s absolutely genius. The way he uses colour is top-notch! I’ve also been loving Jean Cocteau’s drawings lately but I mean, he’s always had a special place in my heart.

What are your thoughts of the current state of illustration and the way it has changed over recent years?

I’m personally a fan of the variety of subgenres within illustration that has developed through years. I love that we’re able to implement techniques from other disciplines into our work for it to still be considered illustration.

As somebody that works with primarily traditional tools how has implementing digital techniques affected your process?

I think it made it a lot more professional, to be fair. I think I finally managed to find a balance between using traditional and digital techniques which is something that took a while and a lot of experiments. I feel more comfortable holding a normal pen than a tablet one, so I still create majority of my drawings the traditional way and mainly use digital softwares to colour them in, add texture and do some editing. I used to be so adamant about this a few years back, I was so stubborn about not using the computer as a part of my practice, I don’t even know why. But learning to include it in made my process much more enjoyable, I have to admit. It makes me wanna experiment more and it made making mistakes easier to accept.

How was your experience of moving to another country to study illustration at UCA?

It was for sure an emotional journey :D It had been my dream to study in the UK for ages, so it was a dream come true, really. I think the UK itself radiates more creative and artsy energy than Slovakia, so I felt a fresh wave of inspiration. I like how art education in the UK is considered to be of equal to other areas of study. 

What was the best thing you learnt about the way you work during your time at university?

I definitely became less stubborn haha. I struggled a lot with finding my style and about two years into university, I realised what I was searching for all that time wasn’t style, but rather my niche. And that’s what I ended up developing, thanks to the numerous possibilities at uni. 

What would be your dream project/collaboration?

I really want to get into album cover design and packaging design. I don’t have a specific company in mind, but I’d definitely love to create album artwork for some of my favourite musicians, such as Tyler, the Creator, Glass Animals or anyone really haha!

How have you managed to stay creative during lockdown?

I started making ceramics after the first wave of COVID, when the restrictions were loosened, but that’s not possible to do right now. I also tried to teach myself to sew, which kind of failed but I wanna start from scratch again soon. I kind of subconsciously reached out to creative outlets different than just drawing, I guess as a response to not being able to go out and get inspired by the surrounding world. So “tactile“ hobbies really helped me. 

What is your proudest achievement?

Honestly, graduating from uni was quite a great feeling. It ended under some very odd circumstances which was slightly anticlimactic, but nevertheless the feeling was great. 

What is the ultimate goal for your career?

I just want to be in a place where creating art is a full-time job. I think this is possible to reach, but I’m definitely not there yet. At the same time, I don’t want to be at that stage yet because I currently thrive from working more than one job at once and I’m happy the way it is. But yes, this is something I’d love to achieve at some point.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m currently working on a really cool, secret project that’s a bit of a dream-come-true. I don’t think I can reveal anything just yet, but it involves sustainability and animals! I’m super thrilled to be a part of this as I hold these topics dear to my heart. I’m also constantly creating new beer can designs for the brewery I work for, which is always fun. As for personal projects, I’ve become obsessed with painting large canvases, so that’s predominantly my focus right now. I’ll be putting some paintings up for sale, so stay tuned for that! 

Thank you so much to Veronika for taking the time to answer these questions and don’t forget to check out her website www.veronikapazicka.com and her Instagram profile @veronika.pazicka to see more of her glorious work and stay up to date with her latest projects!

Thank you for taking the time to view this blog and I hope to bring more interviews and content very soon!

RW