An Interview with Leah Shea
4/13/21
By Clio Thayer
Sipping Satyr Label (digital illustration) by Leah Shea
Can you tell me a little about your senior project?
I started off my senior project just making posters for bands that I really liked. That evolved into a bigger project, where I took my Ryan Adams band poster and made a record based off of the imagery. I did a front, a back, and an inside spread, and then also delved into making beer labels.
How many pieces are you doing total?
I actually finished classes in December, so I’m done. I did three band posters, the record, and three beer labels.
And are you still showing at the end of the spring?
Yeah, and I'm very excited to!
When making your art, what are themes you like to express and explore?
I would say that my art has a whimsical style. I definitely was attracted to making the band posters because I’ve always been inspired by music. I wanted to delve into Ryan Adams because his music is very moody, and kind of sad and depress-y, and I thought it would be fun to recreate that in my more fun kind of style.
Is that something you want to do beyond school, work with bands?
I’d definitely love to do that given the opportunity. Another thing is the beer labels— I love looking at craft beer cans. I think it’s such a cool way to be able to display art and have art be on something that people hold in their hands and drink from.
Ryan Adams Album Cover (digital illustration) by Leah Shea
Ryan Adams Album Back (digital illustration) by Leah Shea
Tell me more about your style.
I mainly work digitally now. I would say that my linework is a big part of how I work. My linework doesn’t necessarily have a ton of depth. Any depth that I add, like shadows and stuff, is more of a stylistic choice rather than representational. I would say that I like to represent things how I see them in my own style, not necessarily realistically.
And you prefer working digitally?
I do, yeah!
I didn’t start working digitally until my junior year. It was a groundbreaking point for me. It helped me neaten up my work and I liked that I could constantly go back and change things and that it wasn’t permanent.
What did you originally work in?
I had done a lot of graphite drawings in high school, and I worked in acrylic a lot. I also did a lot of mixed media, like combining graphite and acrylic. I did that for my first few years of college too, just trying to figure out my style. And then when I started working digitally it all came together.
What artists have inspired your work?
Leslie Herman would be the biggest. He had a huge influence on my style. He also has that kind of whimsical, flatter style. Also Edward Consala and Greg Ruth. I really like their ideas and how clever their work is. They kind of work how I did earlier on, when I was working more with mixed media, and I do feel like my work is still definitely influenced by them. I’d also say like Paul Bass because I am a graphic design minor, so definitely him for the graphic side of things.
What does your workspace look like right now? Did you work in the school studios or did you work at home?
I did work at the school studios. Obviously, I’m done now so it’s just kind of my desk right now, nothing too fancy. I'm hoping to eventually have more of a studio space set up.
Ryan Adams’ Poster (digital illustration) by Leah Shea
And how would you describe your progression since the beginning of college?
I’d say that I’ve made a huge improvement. I came into school representing things more realistically, which is funny because now my things really aren’t realistic at all. But it’s definitely an improvement, just the understanding of color, space, composition, and everything. There’s definitely a big difference.
Do you feel like your peers and teachers have impacted your work?
That was one of my favorite parts of my experience here. The teachers were all super helpful, and they were showing us their real work and how they were doing it. I felt pushed by certain people like Rich Pellegrino. I felt like he really always pushed me. Sometimes it was uncomfortable, but it was always like a good kind of push. I was really influenced by Ryan O’Rourke as well, and Dom Civiello. I feel like my friend group is made up of a bunch of very talented people and a lot of them helped me to feel challenged to want to be as good as they were.
What made you choose to do illustration as a major and graphic design as a minor?
I love to draw. It’s what I enjoy most. Graphic design is fun, though it has a different feel to it. I can be a lot looser with my illustration, I can do more of what I want to do, and I think it’s what comes more naturally to me. Graphic design is something I had to work at a little more.
Melodramatic Manticore Label (digital illustration) by Leah Shea
What are you doing now that you don’t have classes?
I'm still working on my logo for the beer labels that I put together. I wanted to work on making some mockups of maybe hats and t-shirts with the logo. I've also been doing a lot of portrait commissions lately, so that’s been keeping me busy and keeping me doing art. I’d love to get an internship eventually but I'm just getting to graduation first.
What type of portraiture do you do?
I draw people in my style, so I like to represent the likeness of people without it being completely realistic. Like, without realistic anatomy, but you can still tell that it’s that person. I’ve gotten a really good response to it so that’s been great!
What advice do you have for underclassmen?
Be open to giving yourself time finding your niche or your style. At the the beginning of my college career, I didn’t feel like I really had a style and then I felt a lot of pressure to develop it. But it did happen. It just takes time, so I would say experiment and try things early on while you can.
