Camille Flavell - Label of Love
Whitstable illustrator Camille Flavell is bringing her ‘nerdy’ characters to a Kent beer can near you!
How would you describe your style to people?
Personally, colourful and bold, but recently a few people have also described my drawings as ‘edgy’. When I was doing my art foundation at UCA Farnham, I was really into printmaking – screen printing, risograph printing and relief reduction printing. I think my digital art is still reminiscent of that since I often use a restricted colour palette.
Do you have any major influences on your work?
I have a bunch of favourite artists: Yukai Du, Evan M. Cohen, Rune Fisker and Tom Haugomat, to name a few. A lot of my ideas are influenced by fantasy games I played as a kid (and still play now, to be honest), plants, bugs and space stuff. I’m a big Studio Ghibli fan, so maybe there’s some similar motifs there, too.
Ah, so that’s where the other worldly creatures featured in your illustrations come from...
Yeah, I’ve always been a total nerd. In the last couple of years I’ve sort of embraced it more openly by posting art of my D&D characters. No hiding it now! I relate to hobbits a little too closely for comfort. Who doesn’t love a second breakfast?
What is your favourite-ever piece?
My favourite piece I’ve done so far is probably my screen print Lyra (pictured), which I made as the cover for a sci-fi comic during my second year at uni. It was good fun experimenting with colours for it and I’d really like to revisit that project someday. My favourite label is a difficult one, but I think it could be Every State (pictured).
How did your work with Boutilliers come about?
Drew Harris (Boutilliers’ brewer) was my manager many moons ago and luckily employed me after a very spontaneous on-the-spot-reference from my uni tutor, who happened to walk in to the craft beer shop we worked at. A couple of years later, Drew asked me if I wanted to be Boutilliers’ artist, I said ‘hell yes!’ and we’ve been a dream team ever since.
What is your proudest moment so far as an artist?
Maybe when Drew asked me to create my first label, which was actually Echo for Time & Tide Brewing in Deal. But now, every time a new Boutilliers beer comes out into the wild, it is still pretty mind-boggling at times that I get to do this!
IG: @camilleflavell