Illustrator and artist Aisha Young explores the idea of quiet moments and unspoken thoughts

Discovered through a visit to Nucleus Arts in Medway, we have been big fans of Aisha Young’s (@aishayoungillustration) work for some time.

Creating artwork that explores the “everyday chaos that resides in the mind, unspoken emotions and unseen stories”, Aisha’s mingling of realistic, hand-drawn figures with surreal elements is highlighted in bursts of colour and pattern.

You cannot help but wonder ‘What the portrayed subject was really thinking at that time?’.

We chatted to Aisha to find out more…

HOW DID YOU GET INTO ILLUSTRATION IN THE FIRST PLACE?

I’ve been drawing forever… I started when I was a kid as it was my favourite thing to do, so I would practise for hours and, just like now, pencil and biro were my favourite things to use back then. But even though drawing has always been my favourite creative outlet, I never thought I’d end up being an illustration artist.

I studied tech arts interpretation and special effects at Wimbledon as I also loved sculpting and prop-making, so I worked in film and television for a while until I had my children and then I took a short break to enjoy my time with them.

I started drawing and painting seriously again a few years later, when I found my studio at Nucleus Arts… so I guess I kind of fell into it.

ARE YOU A FULL-TIME ARTIST NOW?

Yes… between the hours of the morning and afternoon school runs!

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE TO PEOPLE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN IT?

I would say it is realistic portrait and figure work combined with intensely, detailed pattern work.

YOU’VE TALKED ABOUT YOUR WORK BEING BASED ON PEOPLE’S “QUIET MOMENTS” AND “UNSPOKEN THOUGHTS” - WHAT IS IT ABOUT THESE MOMENTS THAT INSPIRES YOU?

I guess I’ve always been a ‘people watcher’ but not in an intentional way and it’s the quiet moments and looks that pass between them that I find most interesting. They’re like mini-stories in themselves and I feel those moments can be a person’s truth.

Sometimes just a certain look, posture or hand gesture in a seemingly ordinary moment can give a little glimpse into a person’s inner state without it being expressed in a loud or obvious way and there’s something very beautiful about that.

YOUR PIECES ALMOST HAVE MULTIPLE MEDIUMS AND TOOLS USED TO CREATE THEM. HOW ARE THEY CONSTRUCTED?

I usually have quite a specific idea about what I want the main subject to be for each piece, whether it’s a portrait or a figure or an animal – then, if I need to, I’ll look for reference materials from books, magazines or photographs. If I can’t find what I need I’ll often set up the camera and pose myself, or my husband kindly volunteers to pose for me until I get the shots I need.

As the initial drawing takes a while to do, I’ll then think about what other elements I want to add while I’m drawing the main parts out. I rarely plan in detail exactly how a piece of artwork will turn out fully because I like how it evolves naturally around the central figure or face depending on the mood of the work. I enjoy the freedom of having my slightly erratic thought process guide the way a piece of artwork is going.

I mainly use pencil and biro for the main subject and then spray-paint, acrylics or ink for backgrounds, pattern work and other parts. But if I’m really enjoying using a specific medium at the time, I’ll often work solely with that across the entire piece of artwork.

DO YOU HAVE ANY MAJOR INFLUENCES ON YOUR WORK?

When it comes to the subject matter, nature and just everyday life in general influence my work heavily.

My love of colour and pattern all stems from growing up around the rich colours and embroidery work you see in South Asian clothes and textiles, as well as the geometric patterns found in Islamic art and architecture, and I absolutely love Japanese kimono prints, too. So I guess there’s a real mix of eastern influences present in my work as well.

WHAT IS YOUR PROUDEST MOMENT SO FAR AS AN ARTIST?

Proudest moment so far was being commissioned by the Wellcome Trust to produce some illustrations to go with an article titled Losing Touch.

This was during lockdown - I was home-schooling full-time and it seemed like it would be an impossible task, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Thankfully there was a half-term break during that time, so I moved everything I needed from the studio into our dining room at home and I worked solidly that week and a bit on four very large drawings that accompanied the article.
Losing Touch explored the fundamental importance of touch for our physical and mental health during the pandemic, so as a concept it was a really important one to explore during that very odd and particular period in time.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE PIECE OF YOUR OWN WORK?

This is a tricky one… I don’t have one favourite piece, really. My work tends to be made in little collections and they’re all usually what I’m really into at that time. I feel like I can’t always work through one idea in just one picture - there’s always little offshoots from the same concept and they all need to have their own space.

But if I had to pick, Spirit Parade is always one that comes to mind when I think of work that I really loved making. It’s based on old Japanese folk tales, which were really interesting and fun to read up on. Also my Endo series perhaps, as it was the first round of work that I made after deciding to come back to drawing seriously and it was very personal to me. There’s always something in all my drawings and paintings that I’ve loved because I spend so much time on them, so it’s really hard to pick just one favourite.

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON CURRENTLY?

I am still working on the idea of quiet moments and unsaid thoughts as I feel I’m not done with that yet, but I’m enjoying being a little more experimental with my processes and how a piece comes together.

I’ve also been looking at storytelling in movies and television recently, more specifically how the small details of integral moments experienced by a character hugely impact the mood of a story and leave a mark on the viewer.

INFO: www.aishayoung.com