Check out Olga Hashim’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Olga Hashim.

Olga, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’ve been a creative person for as long as I can remember. I attended multiple art classes as a child and finally ended up in an art school and further down the road in a university with a major in painting. I enjoyed classic mediums but something always felt off about it to me. I didn’t feel that it was what I was supposed to do all my life. On the other hand, graphic design fascinated me more than anything. This is when I started to learn how to use various graphic design software. I put together a small portfolio and landed my first graphic design job. I was working on small illustration projects now and then but I never thought of doing it full time. This carried on until I started sharing my illustrations online. People seemed to enjoy my work and I was excited to create and post more. A few months after that, I received my first commission as an illustrator, and then another one, and another. I’d never thought illustrating would become my full-time career. But it is now. And it feels right.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I create digital illustrations which means that I spend most of my day at the computer working primarily in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. My process usually starts with a quick sketch reflecting a concept of a future illustration. I use Procreate for this step because it allows me to work faster and more efficiently. Then I move on to illustrator to digitalize my sketch. Last step is texture. I add it in Photoshop. I love to experiment with color. I prefer not to settle for a traditional color palette – grass is green, sky is blue etc. Although sometimes traditional is the way to go.
I want to translate positive energy through my work bringing viewers to the world of color and imagination. Imagination creates worlds. And every illustration is a little story. It makes me happy to know that my work inspires others because it means that new worlds and stories will be created, more people will get inspired and then this process will repeat again.

What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
It may sound trivial but the best advice I can give to any artist is this: don’t think too much about what others think of you and your art. And never compare yourself to other creators. There will always be somebody who’s better than you and it’s ok. It only means that you are definitely better than somebody else. And there’s absolutely no point to spend your precious time trying to figure out what’s going on in other peoples’ heads. Go and create instead. I used to suffer from both things mentioned above when I was younger and it felt so good to finally stop overthinking.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
My illustrations can be found on my Instagram and my website. I’m always happy to see new people checking out my work.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://olgahashim.com
• Email: olgahashimdsgn@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olga_hashim/

Image Credit:
All illustrations by Olga Hashim

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