My Design Journey: Amanda Joy

my design journey

She licenses her adorable creatures around the world and has even launched her own homewares brand. Amanda Joy enjoys a creative life from which she's built a fabulous commercial business.

My design journey started 8 years ago when I left my corporate job and went back to art school to study visual arts and a diploma in surface design.

I was feeling like I was wasn't truly "meant" to be in the corporate world.

I have always been creative and my childhood was filled with days of drawing and creating, so it was going back to my roots.

I love to paint and draw nature using mixed media, but particularly watercolor animals. I love the intricacies of their little faces and giving each of my animals a unique personality.

I have licensed my work globally across the textile, stationery and homewares industries.

My work has a strong Australian influence and I love to inspire others to bring the essence of nature indoors through my designs.

I mostly use watercolor, starting with the lightest wash layers first. I usually do three to four layers, working up to finer details. I then tweak with ink and pencil. I also use gouache for details such as whiskers and eye highlights, and then scan the paintings into Adobe Photoshop to prepare them for print onto product.

I have recently launched my own homewares brand

which focuses on luxury Australian made linen textiles, and this has been a perfect merger of my corporate and commercially focussed experience and my creative skills.

My initial dream was to be a fabric designer and I sold my work to an Australian quilting company. They tend to license in that industry, so I mostly fell into it.

I then expanded out to stationery and homewares products. I have a range of 2022 Christmas greeting cards coming out this year with John Sands.

The single most valuable thing I have learned since joining The Print School

is how to create beautiful cohesive collections by interpreting trends in my own unique way, in order to showcase my signature style and ability as a designer.

To see more of Amanda's beautiful work, head over here.

Whether you're just starting out or you have runs on the board and it's time to step up, learn the skills you need to carve out the career you've been dreaming of. We're a world-leading working studio and we can give you the skills you need to turn your hobby into dollars in the bank.

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