Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Todd.
Amanda, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve been drawing pretty much my entire life, probably even before I could talk, so art has always been present in some fashion. I started out where most people began: drawing and copying things from magazines – Nintendo magazine was my go-to for characters – and learning my own way from “How to Draw…” books until art classes were a consistent part of the school year where I learned more about the fundamentals outside of copying and tracing. For a while I thought about being a fashion designer, drawing elaborate dresses and costumes pulled from my imagination… but then I realized I needed to learn how to sew, so that plan fell through before I hit high school.
However, it was during this time I really started to escape from drawing anime and existing media content and find my own way as an artist. Music played a large role in figuring myself out, not only when looking at interesting album artwork from bands I enjoyed at the time like Rammstein, Tool, Evanescence, (ah, nostalgia!) but the music itself spurred my imagination. My art got dark as I connected with a lot of different experiences and emotions happening simultaneously in my life at the time, and it wasn’t always met with as much enthusiasm and I would have liked.
My family didn’t really like what I was drawing, so I hid things from them. It felt wrong, but at the time still living at home I didn’t have much of a choice if I wanted to keep a happy relationship between myself and my more conservative family. I left my hometown of Columbus, GA, and went off to college to attend SCAD Atlanta, and that’s where everything changed. I was introduced to a whole new group of creatives and open-minded teachers who helped push me to explore things I enjoyed rather than stifled me into a constant stream of still lifes and portrait drawings. It was invigorating.
By the time I graduated in 2013 I’d developed a style of my own and a direction I wanted to take with my own personal artwork. Selling art doesn’t pay the bills when you’re just starting out, however. I was hired full time as an Illustrator on the animated show “Archer” after graduation, and I’ve been working there since. I’ve kept up my personal work on the side, attending local conventions and shows. DragonCon, ABV Drink and Doodle events, and local pop-up art shows have really helped put my artwork out there in front of people who enjoy my content.
Atlanta really is a wonderful place to be if you’re an artist, and I’ve met many people along the way who I must give my appreciation to for providing avenues for local artists to showcase their work and make names for themselves. So thanks, Atlanta!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s been rocky at times. As I mentioned previously, some of my more conservative family members don’t necessarily enjoy my personal artwork which can be difficult to cope with, especially when posting to keep up a constant social media presence; you want your family to be proud of what you accomplish, but sometimes I’m met with resistance on some of my artwork depicting witchcraft, the occult, anything outside of a traditional norm.
Even today there are things I’m proud of that I haven’t posted publicly for fear of creating drama. But I just remember that it’s MY artwork, not theirs, and I draw what I enjoy and what makes me happy. They aren’t obligated to like it. And if they don’t, that’s fine. I have plenty of friends and creatives who are overwhelmingly supportive and wonderful, and I’m thankful for them every day.
Amanda Todd Illustration – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My personal artwork is sometimes difficult to categorize, but I’d put it somewhere between “surrealism” and “conceptual” art. I don’t draw a lot of figurative work, not in a traditional sense anyway. I draw people, but I break them apart, make them vulnerable, intense, powerful, tools of destruction. I enjoy drawing strong women and female-representative art as well as more androgynous portraits pulled from different reference images and messy selfies in a bathroom mirror.
I did a series of “International Witches” several years ago where I researched Witchcraft in different countries and made them into a type of triptych of storytelling. Holda, a Germanic witch who leads the souls of dead children across the sky. Mawu, a West African Vodun creator goddess who made the world from clay with the help of the serpent Aido Hwedo. Tlahuelpuchi is a vampiric witch from Mexico who can turn into smoke and slip through keyholes at night to steal away her victims. They’re powerful and independent and inspirational in their own way. I wanted to make witches frightening again, to connect with strong female figures who were persecuted and burned just for being women. A quote that’s stuck with me is “We are the granddaughters of the witches they could not burn.”
I also enjoy combining the unsettling with saturated colors and the beauty of nature. I’ll put eyeballs in peony flowers, or surround melting skulls with flower petals and creeping fingers. I paint most often traditionally, either with ink on wood or watercolor. I make digital artwork for my day job, so when I come home I like working with water and the fluidity of ink and brushes.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
It’s hard to set in stone because “success” can vary wildly for different people. For myself, I think it’s just a happiness in where you are in life and being able to openly create content that you enjoy and are proud of. Sometimes that comes with money, sometimes it doesn’t.
If you’re putting yourself out there – because artwork is personal, and can be an incredibly vulnerable thing to put in front of strangers – and you’re happy with what you’re making, then I think that sums up success pretty well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://amandatoddillustration.com/
- Phone: 7068886219
- Email: amanda.todd.illustration@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amanda.todd.illustration/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmandaToddArt
- Other: https://www.redbubble.com/people/Ladyghoul/shop?asc=u
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
