Today we’d like to introduce you to Tiffany Toland-Scott.
Tiffany, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I was born and raised in Washington state, in an evergreen forest called Wenatchee National Park. I lived there for about twenty years before I decided to try attending an art school in Phoenix. I had spent some time during my childhood in Arizona and Mexico, but the area had grown a lot and changed immensely so I ultimately decided not to stay. I left the area very disillusioned with art school and the video game industry, which was the field I had intended to work in. While I was still in school I made friends with a programmer that worked at a game studio just a few blocks from my apartment in Arizona, and I had a front row seat to the studio going bankrupt and laying everyone off.
I spent a lot of my free time in Jerome and Sedona, which broadened my horizons as far as a career in the arts went. I no longer thought that working for someone else would be more stable than working for myself, so I went back to Washington and started down that path instead.
I lived in Washington for one more year, moved to Montana for seven more, then moved to Georgia, where my husband is from. I still work for myself as a fantasy and gothic illustrator and sometimes gallery artist.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I paint in oils and watercolors now, but I started out as a digital artist. I used to retouch photos for models and photographers that needed fairy wings and mermaid tails added for advertising campaigns or personal work. Eventually it evolved into painting fairies and mermaids, and all sorts of other fantasy genre work like vampires and werewolves.
Since those days I’ve licensed my work for figurines, book illustrations and covers, magazines, purses, cross-stitch patterns, housewares, apparel and so on. I’ve also produced some work for tarot decks and published my own oracle deck several years ago. I have published some art books and coloring books, too.
I don’t know if I really have a message. I feel compelled to make art and publishing is kind of an addicting adrenaline rush for me. I hope people enjoy my work, or that it beautifies their life in some way.
Lately I’ve been making videos for YouTube as well, sort of like humorous (I hope) watercolor tutorial videos. I’ve picked up a lot of weird watercolor tricks over the years and I enjoy sharing them with other people who might not know about those techniques.
How can artists connect with other artists?
I think this is part of what makes social media so alluring for artists, but it’s also very toxic for productivity. I try to limit my social media time each day and I’ve started joining local arts guilds so at the very least I can hang out with real life people once a month. I’m a very introverted person. Since I grew up in a remote place I don’t require much social interaction and I kind of find it overwhelming at times. I work alone in a home studio, but I have five pets and they all follow me to work every morning. I don’t feel lonely very often.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I have a website, www.titoland.com, where I publish my pieces online. I’m trying to get back into exhibiting at local shows this year, and you might see me around at festivals or local sci-fi conventions like JordanCon and Dragon*Con.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.titoland.com
- Email: novembersmuse@gmail.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/titopaints
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tolandart
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tolandart
- Other: http://www.youtube.com/c/titopaints
Image Credit:
Tiffany Toland-Scott
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