When these pictures popped up on my Facebook timeline, I was immediately attracted to them. I loved her style, & thought this was such a beautiful idea for Christmas gifts. You could sense the emotion behind the illustration & it just immediately made me smile.
I reached out to Nicci straight away & asked if we could have a little chat & I could show all of you her beautiful work.
Christmas is coming soon, & I always think that something personalised is the best kind of gift there is – it is unlike anything else that person will receive & it shows the thought & love that has gone into it.
Your name: Nicci Nathanson (Zunica Joao)
Business name: Nicci Illustration
Social media handles: Facebook & Instagram
Tell me a bit more about what you do: I am an illustrator specialising in children’s book illustration. I also love doing character illustrations, surface pattern design, educational illustration and I have just started giving illustration workshops.
Have you always enjoyed art: I grew up in a small mining town and always escaped into my imagination so I started drawing in Primary school and at the age of 12 I started taking art classes and the art grew from there.
How is your style unique to others: I draw everything by hand and then scan my images in and usually colour them in digitally, so I find the hand-drawn element creates it’s own unique feel just as a signature would. I then use my wacom to colour in my images in Illustrator and Photoshop. I think my style is a bit quirky, colourful and hopefully expressive so I try and capture what my content is thinking. I also love adding texture to my drawings.
Do you do custom orders: All my orders are custom but I also do small orders. It’s always fun to do character portraits which make great gifts from a pet portrait to a family portraits.
How can people place an order with you: They can email me (niccinathanson@gmail.com), it’s always lovely to hear people’s ideas and create something truly special.
I see you have also done a few books – where can people buy these from: I am currently busy with two books, the one is a book for Penguin which will be out later this year.
I have illustrated 7 books and have done many other educational books and covers. Some of them are out of print already but you can find these books here:
Mister Snail – here
Die Geheime bestaandeel in Petra Pienk se piesangbrood – here
My first atlas – here
Why are you so passionate about what you do: I think illustrating is a bit like magic because you are taking an idea in your mind and turning it into something you can see, it’s a conversation and like visual candy. It’s also like creating for your inner child.
Quote you live by: Creativity takes courage – Henri Matisse
Anything else you want to add: I believe that everyone has creativity in them, it just manifests in different ways and is a language that needs to be spoken.
Don’t you adore these illustrations? And don’t they leave you with the biggest smile ever?
Hmmm… Methinks it’s time for an updated pic of husband & myself to add to our collection!
