Elena Naylor talks about Studio Ghibli, her bullet journal, and balancing personal artworks with commercial work…

READERSVOICE.COM: Do you refer back to your journals for ideas or inspiration sometimes, or do you just have a new idea and want to go with that more often

ELENA NAYLOR: Mostly I get an idea and don’t have a break until I finish it. With my bullet journal I have a different approach: I don’t try to make art with purpose I just do something every week and see how it evolves. I generally don’t refer back to my journal or older designs, as I like when I am challenged to learn something new, but if I see that one of my artworks didn’t reach its potential, I can return back.

RV: Some of your pictures are like comics, like the Library Cats picture. Do you read comics and have you thought of creating them?

EN: Unfortunately, I wasn’t into comics when I was a child and a teenager, so I hardly read any. On the other hand, I love beautiful illustrations and I am fascinated with Japanese culture, so I find the idea of creating a comic book in the future highly appealing.

RV: I see you liked Studio Ghibli. And some of your pictures are like animation, like the mouse in the spacesuit. I was wondering if you were a big fan of animation and which ones you liked.

EN: I am a big fan of Studio Ghibli animation, they are visually stunning. Their characters and backgrounds are mesmerising. My favourite animated film is Spirited Away. This film isn’t only beautiful, the story is really deep there. I also like the character Totoro. He is an adorable round creature. If I choose anime created by another film studio, it would be Your Name directed by Makoto Shinkai. It is another masterpiece featuring dazzling visuals and a deeply emotional story.

RV: How often would you create a new picture just for fun, versus one for work, or do the two cross over?

EN: I try to balance by creating at least one picture per week for fun, currently in my bullet journal, and another picture for work. However, I am lucky not to have a strict division between the two. Unless I create an artwork for a customer’s specification I tend to have a choice with what and how Icreate. I mostly create artworks for stocks and print on demand websites, so I have full control over subjects, themes, colours and styles. I am really passionate about creating art.

-See Elena Naylor’s pictures and designs on Shutterstock and Spoonflower.