Women's Day is a celebration of achievements, the achievements women had made till date in various aspects of life, social, economic and political. Often, the achievements of women are overlooked. Their gains and struggles also need to be celebrated and acknowledged. This Women's Day we are honoring the past and present achievements of women, especially women illustrators who create stunning illustrations and inspire other illustrators around the world. Being an artist is not an easy task. It takes a lot of patience, hard work and dedication to create something so simple and yet so complex, which will move the audience and create a positive impact.
As a Women's Day tribute we are mentioning top 5 inspiring women illustrators who have proved their mettle and are determined on reaching new heights with their talent and perseverance. Illustration for them is not only art but also a mode of self-expression and the portrayal of their inner voices, their struggles, anxiety, hope, love and anything and everything they feel as women and about being a woman in the modern society.
1. Frances Cannon - A multidisciplinary artist and self-love advocate, who predominantly uses oppression of women as her subject. Her artworks have gained attention for the use of bigger bodies with an idea of empowerment behind them. The reason why Frances draws bigger bodies in beautiful light is that she hopes that it will help others to appreciate and see the beauty of their bodies. Most of her drawings are based on her and her experiences and she has influenced and inspired many, especially with people who share the love for their bodies. She makes use of her Instagram page to reach out to others and believes that representing her body in her artworks is powerful and helpful. Frances tries her best to make all the women in her community feel empowered. Her work mainly deals with what it means to be a woman in modern society and covers areas like relationships, anxiety, body-love, sexuality, gender and so on.
2. Robin Eisenberg- She is an artist, animator, and music video director based in Los Angeles. Eisenberg started drawing from a young age and deals with subjects like space, fashion, feminism, sex, makeup, Star Trek etc. Her artworks have been described as cheeky and alluring by critics and mainly uses vivid, neon palette for her art. She has a fascination for other worlds, planets, and dimensions. Her illustrations are heavily inspired by Star Trek and X-files and mostly depicts alien women performing tasks of everyday life. This is one of the reasons for the popularity of her illustrations.
3. Polly Nor- This London-based artist finds her subject in the 21st-century female. They are portrayed as fun-loving, sexual and doing everything they can according to their whims and fancies. Polly Norton, who goes by the name Polly Nor uses nude and pastel shades in her illustrations which attribute a vulnerable and at the same time a strong personality to her characters. One of her empowering exhibition named 'Sorry Grandma' predominantly features devils, which she believes represent the darker side of her characters. She draws a lot of inspiration from other people's selfies, break-up tweets, and memes. Polly Nor finds sex a good subject and majority of her illustrations are sensual. Her illustrations always depict the dark side of the female experience and the difficulties of they face as they live in modern society.
4. Sally Nixon- From Little Rock, Arkansas, this illustrator mainly depicts girls as her subject because she thinks that they are pretty and because she has been deeply inspired by moments in her own life. Her characters are not just pretty, they have depth and nuances as well. She draws day-to-day activities of a girl and even though the activities in her illustrations are mundane, she manages to create an impact by giving great attention to detail. Food and female relationships often become her subjects along with daily activities such as cooking dinner, reaching into a bag of chips, or curling up on a couch with a friend. Nixon's characters are seen alone and in the company of friends, but in both cases she depicts her characters as relaxed and comfortable.
5. Loryn Brantz: She is the author of the best-selling board book series, Feminist Baby, and a two-time Emmy Award-winning illustrator and design professional from New York City. She is also a Senior Writer at BuzzFeed who focus on writing and illustrating about body image and feminism. Brantz focuses on other less serious subjects as well. She is also the creator of two popular series; Jellybean Comics and The Good Advice Cupcake. The Feminist Baby is a 22-page picture book about a bold baby girl who lives her life the way she wants, who is unapologetic and doesn't let patriarchy keep her down. Brantz' amazing illustrations have brought her client like The Jim Henson Company, HarperCollins, Disney-Hyperion, and Facebook.
These are some of the amazing women illustrators who are passionate about what they do and keep striving to reach new heights. They are the women of the modern era, who expresses themselves through art and makes sure that their voices are heard. They are a source of inspiration to many and believes in the empowerment of women. Let their achievements be an inspiration to women out there and this Women's Day let us hope to have many more women artists who can bring about positive changes in the society and be powerful enough to etch their names in the history.
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