All illustrations by Stephanie Abdallah
Freelance illustrator Stephanie Abdallah a.k.a Birdie is a student at Beckmans College of Design and wishes to become a full-time illustrator and work in different fields. For her, drawing has been a passion and a medium of expressing her feelings. Birdie explores themes based on human existence, dreams and commentary on society and culture. The Swedish-based illustrator prefers to work in black and white instead of distracting the audience with colours. Stephanie Abdallah has contributed to our Spring/ Summer 2015 issue which will be released this Friday, 20th February.
Surreal scenes seems the prominent theme within your work. Where does this come from?
I like to create my own worlds were my characters fit in and I’ve always been interested in dreams, other dimensions, space and such themes. I like surrealism a lot because it can challenge the viewer to let go of what you’re used to, your normal environment, to explore an illogical and unreal place. It comes from my own love to create dreamscapes where your eyes just keep looking for details and find new things everytime you look at it, and something for the viewer to look at for a long time.
Which artists do you seek your inspiration from?
Normally I don’t look at what other artists do; I usually say my favourite artist is Mother Earth, because I draw most inspiration from nature and the things around me. I like mythology, cosmology and philosophy a lot. I like older Flemish artists from the renaissance otherwise, not so many new artists.
What medium do you create your drawings with generally?
A simple pen and paper, and a sharpie to fill in all the dark parts. It is amazing what you can do with such simple mediums. I love to paint and will do it more after graduation.
You mainly draw women. Is there a particular reason for that?
I haven’t thought about it so much, but it could be natural since I’m a female myself and it’s what i recognise best. Before turning to drawing mostly females, I actually drew almost exclusively males for years and then wanted to make a change.
You mentioned on tumblr that you are currently making a comic and a book. How is that going? What is it based on?
It’s a secret project I’m not going to say much more about.
DASH Magazine
