Photo credit: Inigo Blake (@inigoblake)
Alice Bloomfield (@bl00mfield) is an artist with a unique style currently working and living in London as an animator/illustrator.
Since her childhood years, she has always been a passionate artist, and she continued her studies after school at an art foundation in Falmouth. Alice also had an illustration BA in Brighton. She works across real-life and digital mediums, usually combining the two by drawing on paper and digitally or adding analog textures to computer animation. Nowadays, Alice earns her life with her art by working 7/24! She joined us for an interview to talk about her artistic career.
Hi, Alice. First of all, thank you for accepting our invitation to do this interview! I want to start by asking about what drives you to create. What are your inspirations?
I’m obsessed with the dichotomy between glamour and sleaze, which is why the 1970s inspired interiors heavily in my work. There’s something so alluring about their opulent interiors contrasted with the sinister 1970’s connotations of porn sets and cocaine parties.It’s the facade of success and beauty with a darker core that gets me, I think. Especially it relates to the Instagram culture we all live in right now, where people are hiding behind unachievable beauty standards and lavish lifestyles. I don’t believe a Kardashian level of wealth and fame will bring any real happiness but its what everyone seems to be trying to emulate.
Sinking 2020 -pen and digital
Do you follow other artists? If so, which ones?
Yes, I love the animations and art of Raman Djafari, Shingo Tamagawa, Braulio Amado, Paolina Russo, Victoria Vincent, Jack Stauber, and Nadia Lee < 3
How about your home? Do you have other artists’ paintings in your home?
Not many, but when I’m older and more prosperous, I would love the art of Heather Benjamin, Oda Iselin Sønderland, Dominic Myatt, Christian Van Minnen, and George Rouy hung on my walls.
Fun Fact: Alice’s favorite book is Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. But she doesn’t like the new animated version of it! She also loves Ronald Dahl’s adult stories, and she finds them underrated.
The Wait 2020 chalk pastels, pen and digital
I wonder what the first exhibition you visited was.
I honestly have no idea, haha. I’m from quite an arty family, so we were always off at exhibitions. Going to the National Gallery a lot, I always loved the vast George Stubbs painting they have in there.
Do you have any turning points in your life regarding your art?
After I left university, I got to make an animated music video for my friend Puma Blue. It opened some doors as he was a successful musician, so the video got his fan base’s attention. I entered it into loads of film festivals that year. I got rejected by a ton, my last entry was to the BFI competition, and I remember I had to fill out the most extended form and wasn’t feeling like there was much point, luckily I ended up filling it out and winning a prize which led to other jobs! So, now I look back and am very thankful I filled in that form!
You live in London. Do you get inspired by London?
I’m in London and would have loved to move to Europe at some point, but I guess Brexit has put an end to that plan. It’s hard to say if London inspires me as I’ve been very homebound since the beginning of lockdown. I’ve barely seen any of London, lol.
Usually, though, my favorite place is the Barbican conservatory which has maybe influenced my art one or two times.
Blu 2019, biro and marker
Could you please tell us more about your recent projects?
This year I’m working on a short film. We’ll see if it gets finished by the end of the year. Most of my animations are commission-based, so it’s fun to have all the creative control and not be restricted by any deadlines. It will also collaborate with the talented Reuben Kyriakides, who’ll be composing the soundtrack, so I’m excited to see how it comes together!
Finally, do you have any advice for emerging artists?
Keep experimenting and trying out new things. The more you can do, the more you can get paid for doing, haha. I’ve gotten many commissions through Instagram, so the more work you can get out there through social media or a website, the better.
Check out the Spotify list consisting Alice’s top 10 songs here.
Thank you!
Thanks.
