hannah stouffer ink & digitally rendered [grand*array]

San Francisco based illustrator Hannah Stouffer finds a great deal of comfort in imagery. She is infatuated with icons that embrace specific eras and genres—such as, luxury, decadence, classic americana, heavy metal, the animal kingdom, femininity and foliage.

The intricate curling lines of her work might not seem so remarkable were it not for the fact that all her illustrations are hand-drawn—no FreeHand, no Illustrator. In fact, she says this intricate style has only developed during the past year. "I was painting a lot in the past, but always trying to make my paintings more detailed, more illustrative. It never felt quite right." Eventually she decided to stop painting altogether, and, she explains, "I began some freehand illustration work, the really decorative, time-consuming pieces. It felt really great–really freeing, really comfortable."

Most of her work is ink on paper, occasionally incorporating gouache and watercolours for gallery shows: "I like gel pens, Uni-Ball Vision Exact rollers, pens I can really dig into the paper with. I get everything scanned and am then able to take them deeper in Photoshop. I can do some of the colouring a lot faster this way, and I’m able to combine illustrations, kind of like cut-and-paste."

Making the time to produce personal pieces is vital to her, even if she’s snowed under with commercial jobs. It’s both a source of inspiration and a chance to grow. "I usually get all the basis of my style from personal work, and then take it into commercial work," she explains. "The illustrations I do for myself or for gallery shows are much more consuming. I'm able to spend more time on them. I always feel better about them, more excited, more connected."

Her work will be featured in ART BUREAU 17.