Today we’d like to introduce you to Bella Pilar.
Hi Bella, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
As a kid growing up in New York City with a love for art, I appreciated all that was available to me right outside my front door. I would fill weekends taking art classes in the neighborhood and frequenting the art supply store that was walking distance from our home on the upper west side. Visiting this store was as exciting for me as a kid in a candy shop and it inspired me. As a teenager, I found my creative community while studying visual art at LaGuardia High School of the Arts. In college, I continued to study art and fashion design at FIT in New York and MassArt in Boston.
Immediately after art school, I fell into the world of Visual Merchandising and spent the next few years dressing mannequins and designing window displays for NYCs Macys Herald Square. When I wasn’t pulling together clothing and product for displays, or dreaming up ideas and designs for the next window installation, one of my favorite small tasks was recreating fresh makeup looks with grease paints on some of the old mannequins before they made their way from the 7th-floor prop room into a window display down on Broadway. It set off a lightbulb, and after my years in visual merchandising, I went on to build a new successful career as a Makeup Artist. I was still painting faces, though this time, of models, musicians and celebrities for everything from magazines and advertising to music videos, fashion shows and more.
For me, this work was the perfect blend of all things I loved- fashion, beauty and art. I got to play with colors and brushes and create new fresh makeup looks every day. Faces were my canvas and I enjoyed every minute of the creativity it allowed me but I had another artist’s passion as well. While I was working as a makeup artist, I spent all of my free hours focused on my other love- fashion illustration. Whenever I wasn’t on a job, I was at home painting at my kitchen table or camped out at the coffee shop sketching the hours away. One day when I was doing makeup on a photo shoot for a fashion magazine, I met an art director who learned I was a painter from seeing a fashion illustration of mine I had printed on my business card. Soon after, she gave me my first editorial illustration job for a national magazine. This was 20 years ago and it kick-started my career as a working illustrator, and it has not stopped since.
I eventually wandered out of NY and headed west to LA where my art studio is now and I work full-time as an illustrator. When I am not painting in my studio or browsing art supply stores, you can still find me at a coffee shop sipping my ice latte while sketching out ideas for my next painting. I paint illustrations using gouache paints on watercolor paper I create artwork that is used for anything from brand advertising, marketing and promotion to illustrating magazine articles, book covers and creating art that is licensed for a wide assortment of product types. And sometimes I paint- just to paint!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road changes depending on what part of it I am traveling. It’s got twists and turns and ups and downs. Sometimes it’s smooth, all feels right, I’m flooded with ideas and creativity flows with great ease. And sometimes… it’s a little rough, and I hit the dreaded artist’s block. And because I am human and I am an artist, at times I will struggle with staying focused and not feeling creatively productive. But I’m on a constant journey, and I always find a creative way to pull through, searching and finding inspiration to guide me. And I continue on down the road.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am an illustrator. I create hand-painted artwork using gouache paints on paper. I create artwork for a wide variety of industries, including publishing, editorial, packaging, advertising and product for small brands, big brands, as well as individual clients. A large part of my illustration business is art licensing. I partner with various clients to create artwork that is then placed on their products. My artwork has appeared on jigsaw puzzles, lunch boxes, tee shirts, journals, mugs, phone cases, tote bags, gift bags, greeting cards, wall art and much more. I would say I am most known for my greeting cards. My largest body of artwork on products can be found on Papyrus stationery goods. For over 16 years, we have partnered together to create hundreds of greeting card designs, along with note cards, gift bags and gift wrap. My Papyrus cards are recognized for often being beautifully embellished with shimmering glitter, foil, ribbon, gems and more. I love creating greeting card artwork and this is a partnership I am very proud of.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
A favorite early childhood art memory is one of the ways I used to teach myself how to draw when I was very little. I would find magazines my mom had laying around the house and grab some markers. After searching the magazine for my favorite fashion photos, I would carefully and as meticulously as I could, draw line work over the photos of the faces and bodies and the details of the clothing, following all of the outlines and patterns. I remember looking at my childlike drawings – supermodels in fabulous dresses outlined in my colorful markers – with such satisfaction and thinking… one day when I grow up, I want to be a fashion designer. The love of drawing girls and fashion started very early for me, and stuck hard.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bellapilar.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/bellapilarstudio
