The Art and Letters of Julia Henze
I was taken by the spontaneity and energy of the work by Julia Henze. When I saw her piece with the ship in a bottle Lettering Guy had to contact her for a quick Q&A. Enjoy!
1. Your name and title/business name?
My name is Julia Henze. I’m a freelance illustrator / hand lettering artist working in my own studio called “Blue Ink Studio” (www.blueinkstudio.nl).
2. Do you have a specialty or special style that makes you relatively unique? If so, what?
I specialize in creating t-shirt prints, posters with quotes and custom lettering. I love to draw letters, so I try to make different designs with words. Some of them are clean and simple, but most of them are decorated with different floral elements, colorful and textured. I enjoy to create many elements around the letters. It makes the lettering a whole illustration and that makes it complete for me.
3. What's your educational background, i.e., college, professional school, high school, apprenticeship, etc.?
I graduated from my bachelor Interior Design in St.-Petersburg in Russia. Later when I moved to the Netherlands, I studied Interior Design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. It was a very good experience, but I found out interior design wasn’t my thing. So I became an illustrator. There was something in my drawing that I missed - words. I started to learn how to use fonts and later how to draw the letters by myself. Since I took a couple of classes and participated in some challenges on Skillshare, I improved my skills quite well. Now I continue to attend Skillshare classes, different workshops and challenges to polish these skills.
4. Preferred tool(s) and medium?
It depends on the kind of lettering I make. I use a pencil to make sketches. I have a lot of brush pens for brush lettering. One of my favorite brands is Tombow. Sometime I use watercolor. Van Gogh watercolor is my favorite.
Digitally I use Cintiq 27” Touch . It’s quite an expensive device, but it’s worth every penny.
5. Where or how do you "recharge your creative battery," i.e., books, blogs, music, art, exercise, meditation, prayer, hobbies, interests, etc.?
Every day I take some time to scrolling Pinterest, Instagram or Behance. I get a lot of inspiration from vintage lettering, old calligraphy, modern design trends, chalkboard lettering etc. I also love to turn over the pages of Flow-magazine. It gives me another sort of inspiration and rest.
6. Tell us something about you that might surprise or delight us.
After I found out that interior design was not my thing, but before I decided to become an illlustrator, I thought it was a very good idea to become a lawyer.:) I even graduated from my master in law and I worked a couple of months as a lawyer, but I stoped because I needed my freedom to do what I want and I missed the chance to expend my creativity. And now I have the best work I could ever dream of!