By Uma Madan
The lovely Uma Madan is a pal who made my work days infinitely better. Not only did she bring much needed laughter and great herbal teas to our corporate office, she also always had something interesting to say on everything from feminism to Trump, after living in New York City for half of the last decade (and believe me, this was rare).
But then things changed! I left to start up Salisbury Grange and Uma left to study Graphic Design and next minute, I turn around and she is an in-demand artist! Talk about switching to the right life path. To say things are going well with By Uma Sunshine would be under-playing it. She’s only a few months into illustrating full time and has already had commissions come in from LA to New York.
I caught up with Uma to hear all about what on earth happened in the six months since we worked together and to talk more about her beautiful artwork, inspiration and plans for the future. Thanks for being such a legend!
Phoebe: I had no idea you were an artist!
Uma: Me neither! It was definitely something that came out of left field and surprised me as well!
P: How did this all begin?
U: Well I’ve been studying this year and between my last course and my next course, I wanted to work on some physical artistic mediums, so I could really do well. I had lined up a few to experiment with, and started with using different types of paint. After a while I thought, what if I could create this digitally? That’s when I thought to recreate this image of a close girlfriend and her daughter, waiting for a train in Brooklyn (pictured above). In all honesty I was shocked at the result, and when my husband, Josh, got home that night and saw it he said “that’s it.” It was all very surreal.
P: How do you choose what to draw?
U: I look for body movement and how clothes move to give something shape and detail. In the piece I did of Gi (above) you can tell they are waiting for a train by their body language, even though there is no train, station or signage. I also really like colour pops, and when the foreground is the focus.
P: Why don’t you draw faces? Do you think they’re ugly?!U: Haha of course not! I didn’t draw faces in the beginning because I actually couldn’t, and now, although I’m a bit better at them, the style I’m working on is just faceless.
P: What does your day look like?U: Most days focus on illustration, which is nice, and those days begin with an early morning gym session with Josh before he gets ready and goes to work. I then sit down to work around 7:30-8:30am. I honestly don’t do too much else and often the day just gets away from me and I look up and it’s 5:30pm and Josh is almost home!
I’ve been trying to get into audiobooks and podcasts more, but honestly there is something soothing about watching The Office play in the background on repeat, and hearing my mum laughing in the background. I’m almost too big a fan (of both The Office and my mum). Each illustration can take between 4-20 hours depending the detail, so I’m mostly focused on that.
P: Who is your inspo?U: Honestly, a few close friends who have just gone for their passions recently are the reason I went for mine. You’re part of this group! Look at what you’re doing. Another is my girlfriend Lydia, who has been putting herself and her music out there for a few years now and is just relentless in her drive and creative pursuit despite what’s going on in life for her.
The push to experiment with physical mediums when it came to art and getting ready for the course I’m going to do, came in large from following the work of Jessica Walsh. Her journey to being the OWNER of a creative agency &Walsh in New York this year is incredibly inspiring, as is her bold and socially-pushing work. She’s a year older than me and that just means there is no excuse not to dive into everything I want to try.
P: Did you inherit your artistic talent from someone?U: I must have. My mum, dad and sister are all incredibly creative. Mum is an artist, dad is a photographer, they are both architects, and my sister designs clothes and is currently a huge part of the business and design in Molten Store, a Brisbane fine jewellery store. She’s had a big part in the new vintage line, which I’ve loved hearing all about.
P: What’s next?
U: I’m not sure what’s next exactly. The course I’m doing next year in design is chronologically next, and because of how this has all taken off, Josh and I have decided that it might be best to make it part time, instead of the intense few months it is, so I can continue working on illustrating. After I complete the course I’d love to use creative strategy, graphic design and illustration in a really exciting and stimulating way.
Ultimately my dream would be to be an old lady in a brownstone in Brooklyn, New York, with a cat and, if my husband insists, a child, working out of my studio that is full of natural light and fiddle leaf fig trees, illustrating and working in creative design. The New York Times would be an amazing place to have my illustrations featured.
Who knows! I suppose this whole whirlwind hasn’t given me a moment to really think past February.