Originally from the UK, Laura graduated from the University of Westminster three years ago where she first intended to study animation. “I've always, always loved art, so it was inevitable I'd end up doing something arty,” explains Laura. At the last minute however she started having doubts about animation and a teacher suggested she try illustration, a move that has proved very successful.
It was at university that Laura developed her style, but since then she has pushed her illusatration further and found her niche in fashion.
“I love fashion, so I took it down that path,” Laura explains. “My work is influenced by fashion, beauty, pretty things, magazines, burlesque, love notes, music, coffee, vintage, stamps, fairytales...I trawl through endless amounts of fashion magazines to inspire and excite me.”
All Laura's work is hand drawn, something which is important for her style. “I just love the raw energy and texture this has - I find this is sometimes lost in computer aided design.”
Laura's pieces are filled with contrasts of inks and watercolours with soft pencil hues and beautiful detail that wouldn't look out of place in a fashion editorial spread. “[My work] often has no meaning; it's purely for aesthetics,” Laura explains. “I just want to create work that people enjoy looking at.”
Recently Laura has made a spontaneous move from the UK to Australia after an overseas trip. “I felt like I was stuck in a rut at home, so on a whim I booked a trip to Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia,” she says. It was while she was overseas that Laura met some people who were going on to Australia and she thought, “why not?”
Since moving to Aussie Laura has joined with agent Inky Illustration, who will look after the business side of things and allow Laura to do what she does best.
By Kelly Henderson
Check out Laura's work both on her website http://www.laurawesson.co.uk/ and her blog laurawessonillustration.blogspot.com
