Meet Tawny | 2D & 3D Artist, Owner of Tawny Illustrations

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tawny and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tawny, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
It was something I knew I wanted to do for a long time. Something I thought of even as a young teen. Wanting to run their own coffee shop, or some sort of clothing shop. I always thought that was such a cool idea. I have always been an artistic individual, and as I got older and explored the world more, I discovered Comic Cons and Anime Conventions. While attending I spent a lot of time in the dealers rooms and artist alleys. It was a few years into attending as a regular patron that I realized I would really love to try and sell my art in that sort of pop-up style that all these artists were doing. It was very fascinating to me. I had already attempted one business, trying to make screen print t-shirts. I was scared of trying to make things in art that I actually enjoyed drawing, I thought it wouldn’t be successful enough. I thought the only way I could be successful was to make a business out of something that was more broad, like making t-shirts. Of course, I realized soon after I did not enjoy making t-shirts this way at all, and at this point started slowly trying to sell things I actually wanted to make and sell. Of course, that was when success finally started happening. My main idea into starting my business was to always start small, and build things up over time. This ended up working tremendously for me in the long term.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I take inspirations from many different places. I am anishinaabe, which heavily influences my art with colour, story telling, and learning to re-connect with my culture and nature. I primarily work with digital art, however I also like to paint with Posca markers from time to time. As mentioned previously, I love Comic Cons and Anime conventions, with huge inspirations from Japan that heavily influence my style. Things like Sanrio, San-X, Nintendo, and just my love for animals all factor in a huge part of my identity as an individual that I reflect into my art. One of the things I am most proud of as an artist is that all of my designs, characters, and stories are original to myself. I am really happy for making wholesome and cute characters that all reflect me in one way or another. I am even more proud that people enjoy them too. I don’t think getting to where I am today was easy, but I think the hardest part was just not quitting, and slowly building up where I needed to be. I’d say my biggest lesson in all of this is patience. If there is anything I would like people to know about Tawny Illustrations as a brand, is I just like creating art and characters that make other people happy, and I hope I am able to accomplish that.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Ontario is a beautiful place, and northern Ontario is even more breathtaking. I would hope they would like doing outdoorsy type of things, as this is one of the best locations to do so. Hiking, biking, swimming, kyaking, and probably the best italian food you can find.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My boyfriend and his mother have always been extremely supportive of my endeavors and art. They have been the most encouraging in this growing journey so far, and without them giving me continuous words of encouragement when I am feeling a bit down on myself, I am not sure I would have made it this far to begin with. As a sole proprietor, it can be a bit tricky when large orders of 30 and more come in, but they have helped me many times packaging and making sure things get done. They have been a great helping hand and motivator for me to continue my business and support it every step of the way.

I also want to shout out my internet friends. It’s been great meeting like minded artists, and for the past 2 years online was one of the only ways to do so. Even then, I have found some amazing and equally encouraging friends who continue to support and motivate me to become a better artist and business owner.

Website: www.tawnyillustrations.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tawnyillustrations

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tawnysart

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tawnyillustrations

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@tawnyillustrations