Steff Lee is our Illustrator of the Week!

Steff Lee has mastered an elegant, joyful style that we can’t get enough of. From her colorful portraits to her graphic black and white digital line drawings, her art is all kinds of happy-making! And, because she was trained in animation, the UK-based artist’s work is as awesome in motion as it is when it’s stagnant. Steff has even created educational animation videos for TED-Ed! Basically, her work is as adorable as it is beautiful; which is why we’re super excited to feature her as our Illustrator of the Week.

Find out more about Steff and her art below, and buy some of her exclusive-to-HelloGiggles phone cases by clicking right here.

No pressure, but describe your art: Colorful, girly, fun, pretty, cute, and Asian-inspired.

What inspires you to make things: Life and beautiful things inspire me! I love to photograph everything and I often use these images as reference for creating work based on the events and feelings I had at the time. Looking online at other artists’ work and watching my favorite animations always makes me want to create new art, too.

Your favorite thing(s) to draw: Pretty faces and cute little characters. I also love drawing art to give as presents for my family and friends, especially little cartoons.

Medium of choice: Since Inktober, I’ve really been enjoying drawing and inking my sketches and then coloring them digitally.

The first time you knew you wanted to be an artist: There wasn’t a single point in my life when I knew I wanted to be an artist. I was always drawing as a kid and just naturally felt like one. The first time I decided I wanted a creative career was about aged 12, when I watched the Making of Pixar’s A Bugs Life on the Disney channel. I thought, “That looks awesome! I want to do animation for a job!”.

Proudest achievement so far: Out of my projects, producing and directing my first animated short, BB’s World. Overall, it has involved throwing myself into full-time self-employment last year. It’s been scary crazy, but I’m loving it!

Music you listen to while you work: I tend to work with podcasts or old TV shows playing in the background, rather than listening to music. I love science, so I’m currently working my way through RadioLab. My recent background TV show has been my teen favorite, Buffy.

Your most prized possession: My mechanical pencil. I’ve had it since I was 11 years old. My older cousin inspired me to draw and I begged my mum to buy me the same tools she was using. I’m surprised it’s still working, but it’s the best! I use it to start sketching out all my artwork and would be gutted if I lost it.

Your personal hero: It’s too hard to just name one. For me, my heroes are the people in my life who inspire me and help make me the best version of myself. So, my closest family, friends, and my boyfriend — those people who continue to encourage me to pursue my creative passion. Also, my fellow artist buddies, who are always creating amazing things. I love it when they share their art with me, as it always inspires me to create more.

The last thing to make you giggle: When, after a night out, my boyfriend and I came home and set up our own karaoke in our back room using his music equipment and YouTube. Soooo many giggles!

Current project(s): My freelance work this month has been some animation bits, logo and web design work, and some custom illustrated portraits. I also have my personal illustration project on the go, My 2015 Goal, where I’m illustrating all my goals for the year with the aim of sticking them up around the house to inspire me to achieve them.

Check out Steff’s amazing phone cases via Casetify — they’re an exclusive partnership with HelloGiggles!

For more of her work, check out her website, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Vimeo, and Society6.