This Artsy Life: Abigail Halpin

It's a mid-week installment of This Artsy Life!

This week's feature interview is with the lovely Abigail Halpin, a lifelong New Englander with a flair for portraying the sweet and innocent side of life.  

Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do:

My name's Abigail Halpin and I'm an illustrator and graphic designer. 

This Spring my illustrations appeared in the children's book, "Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Maybe Maybe," by Susan Patron. I also run Miss Avocado, my Etsy shop (named after my favorite color).

Aside from a brief stint in the Midwest, I'm a lifelong New Englander and live a few minutes from the ocean.

 

Walk us through your average day as an artist: 

I recently made the decision to begin freelancing, so my average day is something I'm still getting a feel for!

I'm best in the morning, so I try to get going by a decent hour. I'll start out with coffee and catch up on blogs, email and Etsy orders.  From there I try to tackle any illustration assignments I might have, or design work that needs attention. Some days are a bit slower, so I  might paint ACEO or work on a portfolio piece. Other days I've worked, well, let's just say pretty late to finish up a project. I really like the flexibility of this though and it's all good in my book.

What's your best business tip for those who are just starting out?

 Find your voice. It's great to be excited about business plans, advertising and all of those things, but if there isn't something you're really passionate about, that gets you up in the morning, then that's a bit of an issue. Figure out what you want to say through your art and say it. It's tough not to capitulate and draw something just because "That's what everyone wants," but if you're true to yourself and do what you love, it'll pay off somehow.

What inspires you and how do you maintain your creative flow? How do you handle NOT being inspired?

I read a lot; interlibrary loan is my best friend. Sitting in a coffeeshop sketching and people watching is a great source of  inspiration. And I listen to A LOT of music, everything from classical  to punk. In terms of not being inspired, muddling through malaise never seems to work. A trip to the bookstore, more coffee (yes, there's a theme here), a bike ride, looking through Flickr all seem to help jumpstart creativity for me.

If you would like to see more of Abigail's work please visit her website or Etsy shop.  Or you can catch her daily musings on Twitter or her blog.