Kelly Thompson is a powerhouse creative. She is an illustrator, creative director, brand ambassador, public speaker, owner of Makers’ Mrkt, and home garden adventurer over at @weeds_to_seeds. That’s a lot of talent right there!
Her career began in in fashion photography, but inspired by the models she photographed, she quickly learned that illustration was her passion. This saw Kelley published by major publications leading to a loyal following of fans. Since then Kelly has worked with some incredible businesses, not only on illustrations, but also on creative projects such as brand direction and even jewellery design.
In 2018 Kelly also founded Maker’s Mrkt an online platform that encourages people to shop small and support independent Makers and designers.
I’ve been a fan of Kelly’s amazing art for a couple of years now, but I’ve also grown to love her incredible vintage fashion and interior style on her instagram account @kellythompsoncreative.
Read on below to learn more about Kelly Thompson and her creative journey.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what led you to becoming an artist.
I feel like me becoming an artist, or at least being in some kind of creative role was always inevitable. My whole life I’ve always been building things, crafting, drawing and painting and coming up with ideas so it really feels like it was a natural progression for me.
During high school I was a bit of an all-rounder and chose to do a Bachelor of Fine Arts after leaving school, after a year of that I decided the course was a bit unstructured for me so I transferred to a Bachelor of Design and chose to major in Photography instead. After graduating and balancing a fashion retail job I slowly made it into the photography scene in NZ, shooting fashion for the major publications and working with the NZ designers shooting campaigns and lookbooks etc.
It was during that time that I started to get interested in drawing again, I became really fascinated by the models I was photographing and started to draw the particular moment when they relaxed and stopped being so posey. This lead to my first exhibition of illustrations and five years later when my camera died on a shoot I decided to focus on drawing for a while and never really looked back!
How would you describe your work?
I would say my illustration it’s feminine, detailed, delicate to some extent sensual.
Can you give us some insight into your process? How do you create your art and illustrations?
I’m quite terrible at drafting ideas, they’re all up in my head and I always want to go straight into the final artwork. It’s similar to how my spine never quite bends in the middle at a pilates class it’s like my creative process has a bit of a block in the middle where I just want to go from start to finish without the complete roll through! It’s something I’m working on.
I always start by gathering reference material, I either shoot my own or source imagery or find it on the internet, but I always find that seeing things helps my ideas progress. I do a rather terrible digital sketch on my Wacom to share with the client, I do these quickly and digitally because otherwise I get really caught up in the details and spend too much time on them.
Once the direction is approved I take it back to paper and draw by hand which is my favourite part. I just use basic black coloured pencil and work on old recycled card because I love the texture. Once finished I then scan and colour digitally in Photoshop.
What does a day in the office look like for you?
To be honest it’s always different. I work as an illustrator but I’m also a creative consultant for brands which sees me working on full business rebrands and assisting with interiors etc. I also have my online store Maker’s Mrkt and do occasional social media collaborations for other brands.
I try and be at the desk around 9.30am at the latest if it’s a day in the office, I usually start the day replying to emails and getting admin out of the way (site updates, accounting, social media planning etc), then by about 11am I always aim to get into the actual work, either drawing, or shooting, getting away from the screen and mapping ideas, pitching projects, colouring. I usually break for lunch around 1.30pm for about half an hour and then work through until around 7ish, aiming to end the day with some pilates. I try to only check my emails once a day, maybe a second time at the end of the day, otherwise, I find I’m always emailing and never get any of the actual work done.
What inspires your artworks?
I can’t really pin my inspiration on anything in particular, a lot of the time these days it’s directed by a client brief so to some extent I do what I’m told and try to bring a bit of me to the artwork. With personal projects I feel like my inspiration comes from within, just a desire to make something, I don’t think I’m a person who seeks inspiration and then sees an artwork or an object and thinks “ooh I have an idea!”
What are some resources you use for inspiration?
Hmm, to be honest, I don’t have any go-tos for inspiration, I don’t really go searching for it because I find that never works for me. I usually feel inspired when I’m not trying to be, when I’m away from my phone, when I’m outside, on holiday or away from my desk doing something that doesn’t sound particularly inspiring.
I do love podcasts though, not so much for creative inspiration but to inspire personal growth and encourage me to think differently, my favs are Rich Roll, Extraordinary Routines, Your Creative Start, How I Built This and BOF.
Tell us about some of the people in the industry who inspire you and why?
I’m inspired a lot by women in particular who have a strong voice which translates to their brand, I’m also inspired by people who work hard and have have a high output.
I really love Cathryn Wills the founder of Sans Beast who left a job at Mimco to launch her own brand of vegan bags, I really admire her dedication to her beliefs.
I’m inspired by Georgia Perry and how she has grown from a graphic designer/illustrator to a brand, I also admire her for her ability to let things go that don’t work for her and learn from those “failings”.
Jasmine Dowling amazes me because of her unwavering visual voice and consistency, I also have no idea how she can have such high personal output while still maintaining client work!
Petra Borner is an artist I am in awe of and hold so much admiration for, her work is so stunning.
I’m inspired by Mark Conlan and his abundance of creative ideas (you should see his concepts), Six N Five for their ridiculous ability to render to photographic perfection and also Paul Bangay…although that’s purely a garden envy thing.
What would your dream project be?
This is actually a hard question for me! I keep thinking of answers but to some extent, I’ve had a lot of my dream projects and need to find some new ones. Last year I did a collaboration with Walker & Hall, a NZ based jewellery brand where I designed a jewellery collection and I’d love so much to do another brand collaboration like that, it’s nice to take my creative brain off a page and to product.. If I’m thinking BIG I’d love to collaborate with a brand like Gucci, Miu Miu or Prada on some illustrations that roll out through campaign, animations and product.
What are some of your favourite pastimes?
Getting out in my garden and growing my own food organically, it’s so satisfying and calming and rewarding. I also love pilates so much, it feels amazing and is so good for my mind.
It’s also no secret that you have the most amazing style, What are your top 5 wardrobe essentials?
I don’t really have wardrobe essentials, to be honest, my wardrobe is a prime example of shopping lead by heart not practicality. I always say ignore the trends, trends always die too fast and it’s wasteful to try and keep up, ignore the names and buy what you love when you love it, figure out the rest later. If I had to choose essentials I would say handknits, vintage wool coats, a pair of go-to platforms that are comfortable and pull every outfit together, fun socks and vintage bags, a good vintage bag makes every outfit fun.
What is the best style advice you have ever received?
This was more related to my art style, but someone said to me “You’ve got to stop looking at the work of others and find your own way, the magic is that only you can do work like that and that’s what makes it special” … I guess that could be applied to wardrobe to some extent too!
Where is your favourite place to shop in Melbourne?
To be honest, I don’t really shop much, but if I do I try my hardest to shop small or shop vintage. To be honest, my favourite shop in Melbourne at the moment is a food shop! Wild Things in Brunswick has the best organic produce and I can’t get there enough!
What’s next for Kelly Thompson Creative?
This year I’m really trying to step back a bit and focus on fewer things but do them better, as in the last few years I’ve had a lot of balls in the air and feel like I’ve been too thinly spread. I’m focusing on my health a lot and also hoping to release a few products of my own which I’m working on that right now. I’m also really hoping to do more collaborations this year.