Who wants to come to ‘Walkyland’ with me today? Yes, I’m so thrilled to be talking to Swedish born, London based artist and illustrator Monika Forsberg! You can listen right under those lovely ducks, or you can subscribe on iTunes.
First up, this link to “Mummy Needs Gin“, a hilarious animation she did for Channel 4 in England. So, so good! Also good… some of Monika’s pieces I wrote about a few years ago:
Yep, still love ’em!
Ok, we got right into it {well, after talking about dogs and stuff}. Here are just a few of the collaborations she’s done with some very big brands. No.1: Anthropology:
Oh, I love that swan pillow. Next collab… Monika’s patterns walking the runway for Australian brand, Gorman:
That would be surreal… to see your drawings walking down a runway?! Also surreal… getting a call from Valentino! Here are a few of the hearts she did for their Hong Kong store:
Not only was the turn-around time on that project insanely fast, she was also planning her youngest son’s birthday party over the same few days. And her oven was broken. Mummy needs gin, indeed.
These next whimsical pieces are just a handful of the gems she’s done for eeboo:
Ok, it’s official… I need one of those puzzles for the holidays this winter.
I love what Monika said about starting to make / share her patterns. If you want to get certain kinds of jobs that you aren’t getting, show that you can do it and hopefully the phone will start to ring! I’d call about these for sure:
Those horses. Come on! Next, the cover of the crayon book she illustrated … and wrote! The writing part came as a bit of surprise apparently ; )
Of course I had to include a few of the dinos we were talking about:
No quetzalcoatlus, but that’s cool. And finally, last but not least… DUCKS!
She was not kidding … she really does love drawing ducks. She said no one ever calls asking for ducks, but maybe they will now!
So, I always like to end a podcast post with a photo of the artist, but Monika is not a fan of selfies. I’m kinda glad because it forced me to dig until I found this:
Ah! Little Monika in Northern Sweden, moments after “knitting a worm”. LOVE! Thank you so so so much to Monika for putting her phone anxiety aside for an hour so we could hear her inspiring story; thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode; and of course thank you so much for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend.
Other links:
- Monika on Instagram
- Hollie Chastain episode
- Mummy Needs Gin animation – for Channel 4
- Kate Woodrow, Literary Agent
- Barbapapa!
that was absolutely brilliant, just gold. thank you Monika and Danielle!
I agree with Lisa’s comment above!!
enchanting pretty much sums it up for me. I’m not a dinosaur person at all, but I lurve these (and everything else she creates)!
I had been following Monika on Instagram for years, so was just wonderful to hear more about her. Thanks for a brilliant episode!
this was the sweetest. i loved listening in! 🙂
i have a passport… and i’d love to visit Cananda
hooray! ok… that’s two of us 😉
I think this was one of my favorite episodes! The work is so whimsical, but dark-humored at times, and absolutely lovely. I have been trying to show Mummy Needs Gin to everyone I know.
I really feel in love with Monika’s charm (I laughed so hard during this) and the way that she described being open to a job serving coffee because its fun and simple and it pays the bills while you’re working on your art hustle. As an artist in grad school, I really appreciate hearing that. My program is wonderful, but we don’t always hear about this side of it. I also really loved the way she talked about being a mum and being an artist.
Brilliant, thank you!
ditto ditto ditto! i also love the way she says “ducks!” with such enthusiasm ; )
Oh Danielle – I should write after every podcast, and I apologize for letting that slide! Please know how much I appreciate you (and I’m obviously not alone). This one I totally loved — you both sounded like you were having so much fun talking to eachother – and I love Monika’s work. Ironically I had just ordered my granddaughter a butterfly card matching game earlier in the day — and low and behold — the illustrations are Monika’s! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for hours and hours of companionship when alone in the studio! Katy p.s. Those ducks are fantastic!
p.p.s. and I ordered Monika’s book for the mother of that granddaughter!
haha! oh that’s so great! see… people do want ducks! 😉
[…] Para lembrar que não existe combinação de cor certa: as ilustrações da Monika Forsberg, embaladas por sua entrevista para o podcast Art for your […]