Instagram Pick of the Week | Mot Collins

By Sinead Phelan Last updated Sep 24, 2017

We love Instagram. Why? Because it brings tonnes of visual art right to your finger tips. Follow @thisheadstuff to stay up to date with our finds on our favourite app. You can find our other choices for Instagram Pick of the Week here.

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What is Instagram for you?

Instagram’s been a great tool for compiling an unofficial portfolio online, prior to cobbling together my actual portfolio online. I find it a super fun way of sharing my works-in-progress and finished designs with pals and other artists to see what’s a hit and what’s a miss with them. It’s also been instrumental in some of my recent collaborative projects — I’ve found heaps of zines via Instagram which I’ve been super proud to be featured in, like The Betty’s Tough Mary Journal.

Why/when did you decide to start sharing your work there?

After I finished my first ever zine, Hatchette, I was posting a lot of sketches and doodles on my personal Insta which was grand but it always felt a little bit messy. Doing that zine was a really significant turning point in my creative output (mostly because I was actually putting out something creative after years of not doing that thing) and after I retired it, I knew I wanted to go in a bigger, brighter direction with my art and give it a room of it’s own, so to speak. So I started an ‘artstagram’ and seeing all of my work together in one concentrated place was really effective. I had somewhere I could go every day and post a little something, be it a half baked illustration or a full tilt GIF, and know I was getting it to an audience who actually wanted to see it and would enjoy it. Instagram’s been excellent as far as my motivation to create things goes.

How would you describe your style?

Big, punchy and juicy. Massive colours and characters chomping your heart in their teeth is my thing. I don’t like to do things by half portions, I like to serve up illustrative imagery that packs a wallop and burns itself into your retina, for better or for worse.

What materials do you mainly work with?

I’m very much a traditional-comes-first type of gal, so everything is sketched out in my sketchbook with a pencil first off – I’ve no preference as to what kind, I’m currently working my way through some regular HBs that David Shrigley designed for Tiger and they’re great. Then, I’ll line it over with a Graphik Line Maker by Derwent or whatever inky black pen I have handy and scan it into an app I use for everything called Autodesk Sketchbook. Everything gets redone there — the lines get refined, the colour gets applied and it takes a while but it’s always worth it.

Who has been or currently is an influence on you?

John Waters, Warhol and drag queens forever. But recently, since I’ve been getting into business selling my own flair and art, women like Penelope Gazin, Tuesday Bassen and Sara M. Lyons are my guideposts for everything. They’re creative powerhouses with good heads on them who don’t take no sh*t from nobody and I want to be just like them when I grow up.

What are your must-follow accounts on Instagram?

Girls and all supporting everyone — @dublincomicarts, @shopwitchsy, @commongirlcollective, @shakebristol,@pinkthingsmag, @thebettyz, @friend_mart

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