Local Artist Interviews: Emma Trithart

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Emma Trithart - Illustrator

The 4 of Wands

Emma Trithart

Name: Emma Trithart

City/State: St Paul, Minnesota

Email: etrithart@gmail.com

Website: emmatrithart.com

Blog: emmatrithart.blogspot.com

Twitter: @etrithart

Hello! I am a freelance illustrator and designer working out of darling St. Paul, Minnesota. I grew up in equally darling Ann Arbor, Michigan, a place lined with trees and friendly faces and old houses - which probably informed my love of drawing charming things. I moved to Minnesota to pursue a BFA in Illustration from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and graduated in 2008. Since then I've been working various art and non-art job, showing work occasionally at the Light Grey Art Lab (http://lightgreyartlab.blogspot.com/), and working with my art partner Bill Ferenc (http://billferenc.com/) on posters and other fun stuff under the name The Perfect Pair (http://wearetheperfectpair.com/).

Popsicle

Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?

My work ranges in subject matter, but above all I try to keep a charming and hand drawn quality to everything I draw. Currently I've got a few projects, both personal and client-based. In my personal work I've been exploring my interest in/fear of ghosts and spooky things - a subject matter that is pretty far from my regular cutesy stuff. These new interests have lead to a collaboration with an amazing poet named Lisa Cicarello (http://punchinglittlebirdsintheface.blogspot.com/) on a zine called It Will Be Known to Us (http://itwillbeknown.tumblr.com/).

How did you decide to become an artist?

I've loved drawing since I was young! An elementary school friend and I would construct these really elaborate "Egg Wars" drawings where lizards were throwing eggs at each other with catapults and dropping them out of airplane and all sorts of crazy kid stuff. Later on in high school I got interested in comics and anime, which made me realize that I could make a living as an artist. I've since dropped the anime style, but I'll always be thankful for the path it paved.

Dola

What was the best advice given to you as an artist?

I've loved the support that graduating from MCAD has allowed me. My alumni friends have been fantastic and I get the best advice from them, since we're going through the same thing! A lot of it has to do with not being intimidated by the success of other artists our age. Everyone goes at their own pace, and perseverance is key!

Many artists struggle to find ways to sell their art. How do you sell your work? How do you market yourself?

My full-time freelance career is a month old TODAY (eek!) so I can't say too much about marketing myself yet - I do plan to get some postcards printed up and getting a mailing list going to send out my portfolio/website (www.emmatrithart.com). Luckily I have a big job that requires most of my attention, so after that I'll have time to work on marketing. My easy shop is nonexistent at the moment, however I do sell stock art and some handset fonts over at youworkforthem (http://www.youworkforthem.com/designer/57/emma-trithart-for-youworkforthem/) and their sister site nanamee (http://www.nanamee.com/designer/emma-trithart-youworkforthem). These sites are great not only for the sales BUT I've received online attention and clients from them as well.

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?

ILLUSTRATORS REPRESENT!!! I love these guys:

Kelly Abeln http://kellyabeln.com/

Bill Ferenc http://billferenc.com/

Erik Krenz http://erikbkrenz.com/home.html

Allysa Nassner http://alyssanassner.com/

Teagan White http://www.teaganwhite.com/

Katie Wilson - currently living in LA but an MCAD grad http://k-wilson.com/

Other artists:

David Bradberry http://www.davidbradberry.com/work/

Scott Grover (another MCAD to LA transplant) http://scottenergrover.com/

Allison Vallant http://allisonvallant.com/

Ben Innes http://www.beninnes.com/

Carla Rodruiguez http://www.carla-rodriguez.com/

Ben Thompson http://benthompsonfilms.com/

a doodle

If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?

Since we'd start off in St. Paul at my apartment our first stop would be the Elva Pottery (http://evlastudio.com/), right around the corner! I love their ever-changing selection of pieces and paintings - I'm known to stop by the window and sigh a big "why can't I buy it all" sigh when walking past. Big Table Studios (http://bigtablestudio.com/) would be next, an amazing print shop/studio space located in downtown St. Paul. We would look at some super cool posters, maybe watch one of the studio folks do some printing, and inquire about their upcoming shows.

Then we'd go to Minneapolis and make a stop at Hang It (http://www.hangitinc.com/) to see what they've got on deck and maybe drop off a poster for framing… two birds, one stone! Then we'd check out the main gallery at MCAD (http://mcad.edu/events-fellowships/gallery-exhibitions) for student, faculty or alumni artwork. Finally we'd walk on down the street to see what was going on with Lindsay Nohl (http://lindsaynohl.blogspot.com/) and the folks at Light Grey Art Lab (http://blog.lightgreyartlab.com/) were up to before ending our trip with a latte and some more great art at the Nicollet Ave Spyhouse (http://spyhousecoffee.com/). Phew!

The First List

In addition to www.Local-Artist-Interviews.com, where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise?

Of course I like to browse dribbble (http://dribbble.com/),

behance (http://www.behance.net/) and

ffffound (http://ffffound.com/), but I've also been getting into using pinterest (http://pinterest.com/) in order to save artists I want to check out later.

Remember to make sure all your pins have proper credit, folks!

I also loooove Ten Paces and Draw (http://www.tenpacesanddraw.com/) and

Illustrated Ladies (http://illustratedladies.tumblr.com/)