The Fashionable Art of Flara Fable

I’ve fallen in love and it’s wonderful. My new passion? The beautiful fashion-inspired artwork of Flara Fable. In fact, I was so smitten with her work I didn’t want to share it with anyone, I wanted it all for myself.

I first stumbled on Flara’s work while I was trawling the internet for some original artwork to use for our Beauty Section and was delighted to discover that she is willing to collaborate with us for some future pieces! Watch this space! In the meantime I got to know her a bit better.

Katherine: How old are you?

Flara: 29.

Katherine: Do you draw full time?

Flara: I would love to but for the time being my major profession is journalism. However, I devote all my free time to drawing and blog-writing, which is approximately 5 to 8 hours per day.

Katherine: Where did you train as an artist?

Flara: I am self-educated. I started to draw when I was 4. In the first few years of primary school I was making fashion catalogs in the copybooks and was designing clothes for dolls which were then sewn by my mom. I still keep these catalogs in my drawer and they always make me smile when I look through them. Three years ago I graduated from the Artistic School of Fashion Design. There I discovered that fashion illustration is what I want to do professionally. The next crucial event was meeting an amazing teacher of computer graphics. Thanks to her I have shaped my current style and learnt how to use Photoshop, Ilustrator, InDesign and Flash.

Katherine: Obviously fashion inspires you. What else inspires you?

Flara: It is definitely music which makes me creative. I am inspired by various things: colors of the rainbow, comics, beautiful faces lost in thought,  typography, pop-art, mosaics, Buddhist mandalas made of sand and Lisbon aluzejos, which I discovered during my journey with friends in Portugal.

Katherine: Who inspires you?

Flara: The artists with a very recognizable style. I love comics by Roy Lichtenstein, colorful and funny figures by Jordi Labanda and the ethereal world of watercolors by Kaream Iliya. Recently I became fascinated with three-dimensional graphics by Kazuki Takamstsu, a Japanese artist. I admire his fresh and modern look at art.

Katherine: What mediums do you use?

Flara: Pencil, eraser, Stabilo ball-pens, the computer graphic programs mentioned above, sometimes colored pencils and wood carbon. I don’t like water-colors but when I happen to use them I paint with fingers rather than paintbrushes. I also have piles of fashion magazines at home, and I cut fragments of pictures from them, make collages and include them into drawings.

Katherine: What’s your process/how long does each piece take?

Flara: I make sketches in pencil on a piece of paper which takes me approximately an hour. Then I scan them and process them graphically. I don’t have one preferred technique but I like to mix them. It is a lot of fun for me to spend a few hours using Photoshop and Ilustrator to find the appropriate colors and composition. I get lost in time and an hour can go by like a minute.

Katherine: Apart from your blog has your work been used elsewhere?

Flara: My dream is to have my drawings appear regularly in magazines and to have “Flara” notebooks sold in bookstores. However, I realize that there is still much work ahead. Meanwhile, I’m selling my drawings at ArtScrum.com and preparing my website which will be activated late January or early February.

Katherine: Where do you want to be in five years time?

Flara: I would like to work in a known publishing house related to fashion and would like the “Flara” name to be recognizable.

Katherine: What makes you happy apart from drawing and blog-writing?

Flara: Spending time with family and friends. Traveling to other countries. Walking in big cities such as Barcelona or Lisbon, visiting museums, cathedrals, discovering new places. Going to the cinema to see inspiring films such as “Moneyball” with Brad Pitt, book shopping, discovering new fashion and drawing trends. However, I think more and more often that happiness is related to neither place or company. It is instead a question of distance to oneself and appreciation of small things. This is something I continue to learn.

Katherine: Where do you currently live?

Flara: Presently in Cracow, Poland.

Katherine: Final words?

Flara: It was a pleasure to be invited to chat with you. Thank you. My motto for the year 2012: “Instead of careful planning, be open to the world and be prepared for surprises.”

To check out Flara’s work and Blog click here. I’d like to wish Flara the best of luck and look forward to working with her in the future.