Chicago·July 11, 2014Theresa LammonThe inspiration for my work generally involves things that amuse me. Theresa Lammon is in her final year at The American Academy of Art, graduating in the spring with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Illustration. At school, Theresa is a member of The Society Of Illustrators Student Chapter, also fondly known as Illustration Club, which featured two of her artwork pieces in their first gallery show. Aspiring to be a freelance illustrator for an advertising firm, Theresa is going to be working for Chicago-based companyeeShirts.com, and will be responsible for designing advertisements and t-shirts that appeal to electrical engineers. There is nothing else I enjoy more than taking simple materials and creating beautiful things from them. The details are very tedious and stressful, but the end results get me excited every time. On Theresa's first pair of Fluevogs: I've never owned a pair of Fluevogs, but I'm very excited to find a pair that I love now that I have the opportunity to browse the entire collection to find my first pair! On entering the FluevogCreative contest: When my instructor announced we would be submitting designs for FluevogCreative, and that the name of the shoe was The Swordfish, I instantly knew what I wanted to do. Influenced by an artist named Alphonse Mucha, I took the idea of making a circular design in the background to center the viewer's focus on the shoe, which was very lovely and a huge joy to paint. I kept the composition very round to draw the eye in, like the bulls-eye on a target. On how long Theresa's creative took: Once I had the idea down in my sketchbook for what I wanted to do exactly, I set to work. I started drawing in the morning and finished the final painting later that evening. I believe that it took a total of 8 solid hours of work. I barely stepped away from my painting during that time. At school, I scanned it and made some very minor touches to clean bits of it up in Adobe Photoshop. My favorite part during the process was painting the shoes; I wanted to make them as perfect and as close to the reference as possible. It was very important to me that the shoes looked really good. I was so pleased when they turned out the way I wanted, that I started singing about how awesome they were compared to the photograph I had. On the inspiration behind her winning ad Nouveau Swordfish: The inspiration for my work generally involves things that amuse me. Everything that I see has the potential to become fodder for my creative mind-machine. In the case of my Fluevog entry, one of my classmates was working on creating her own font using fish. I filed away the idea to utilize fish in my painting for later use. Theresa also runs a crocheting business with a friend, selling their goods on etsy (yarnbombin.etsy.com) and at craft shows. They used the money they earned to visit a friend in Germany for a month, creating Yarnbombs in the places they visited. Yarnbombing is a type of street art in which the yarnbomber strategically puts yarn on things in public places like statues or poles. Theresa and her friend had a total blast exploring Germany, seeing the sites, and climbing around ruined fortresses in the countryside. On what the dreams and future hold for Theresa Lammon: My dream is to continue doing my art and other things that are close and dear to my heart. I want to thank everyone who supported me in this contest - all of my friends and family who rallied for me to help me win. Without their support, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere and I wouldn't have been encouraged to try and pursue a career in the arts. My family helped me to get through art school and for that I will be forever grateful. I am very lucky to have such a solid support system in my life, and to be encouraged to do the things that make me happy. Check out the rest of Theresa's work online at www.TheresaLammon.com. Keep an eye out in Vice, Applied Arts, and Bust magazines for Theresa's winning design in print. www.TheresaLammon.com
