“My grandmother. She was an avid aquarelle landscape painter and as a kid she taught me most of the basics of colour mixing and painting technique. Even though I have gravitated to a completely different media, I can still see her colour palette in my own work which feels pretty odd after so many years.”

– ÅSA GILLAND

“I think the most influential thing for me is how I feel when I am creating. It’s just blissy happiness and a break from the world. That’s the main reason for me to do it. It makes me happy. The fact that sharing my work then spreads the happy to more people is just amazing and makes it all so worth it.”

– LAURA BLYTHMAN

“Looking back now I think television and comics. I was always drawing super heroes, monsters and battle scenes from old films. The area I grew up Norfolk in England also had a positive influence on my work. I spent my childhood playing in woods, climbing trees, making dens and picking clay out of the earth to make funny looking handmade pots which I would dry in the sun. I just wanted to be outside doing something, making something. For a very long time I have been inspired by the work made by the people from hundreds and thousands of years ago by many ancient cultures from all over the world. Particular favourites of mine are Greek Cycladic art and Japanese dog figures, I like the craft and honesty of these objects.”

– MARCUS OAKLEY

“I was mostly influenced by my childhood stuff. In Indonesia, it was hard to afford toys back then, so I enjoyed playing with basic things, like a block of wood. With it, I could create my own imaginary world.”

– WALID RUSDIANTO

“I think I’m influenced the most when I go on vacation and travel to places of natural beauty. Most recently, one of my best friends and I explored Iceland and all the mountains, waterfalls, and glaciers that the country had to offer. It was all so wildly beautiful, and memorable adventures like those really inspire me to create when I come back home.”

– LAURA UY