ABOUT ME
Who is she?
Hi, I’m Olivia Tate. I am a 20 year old independent illustrator and illustration student.
I have been an independent illustrator for just over a year now, starting my commissioned work in late December of 2019 and opening my online shop in May of 2020.
My love for art came was embedded from a young age. As a child I would always love drawing, I would design wedding dresses or portraits of girls and give them their own little story in my head.
I took this love into fine art at GCSE and achieved an A* .
I then found myself stumbling into the world of graphic design in my A-Levels, which was new territory for me so I took it upon myself to watch tutorials and practise for hours on end as I hated but also loved the fact I felt so behind, it gave me a passion to develop myself as a designer... an illustrator. After two years of A-levels, starting from absolute scratch I went on to achieve an A in Graphic Design/Communication at Barnsley Sixth Form.
After leaving college in 2019, I decided to take a gap year from uni as I felt that uni life just didn't fit into my routine as of then and I decided to take my mental health into consideration and take it more seriously as A-Levels and teenage life had taken its toll and had allow me to seriously neglect it. I had secured myself a place for Illustration at university for the following year, I wanted to carry on developing my skills and creating my own ‘style’ (a scary new prospect to me). This is when I started my page in early February 2019, taking my first commission in late 2019.
Then in September 2020, I started my course at Sheffield Hallam University, studying illustration alongside running my business full-time. If I'm not working on uni projects, I'm doing commissions or my own personal designs. AND I LOVE IT.
I want my page to be a positive place, a place that holds no judgement or negativity.
My work celebrates female empowerment and the strength of the feminine. I want my work to open up conversations and spread awareness to certain topics such as mental health, body positivity and many more things that either I have encountered in my life or topics that I find important to talk about. I have also spoken about men’s mental health as I feel it is something that still holds a lot of stigma. I suffer with such as anxiety myself and just being able to create posts that allow people to know that acknowledging and understanding your mental health is okay and that they are never alone although it may feel that way. I also explore themes relating to female empowerment such as diversity, body positivity and self love. I think it is so important in today’s society to spread love and positivity around topics that are often surrounded by a lot of negativity and expectations. Life is beautiful and should be celebrated no matter what social stereotype, colour or gender. But do I also delve into negative themes such as sexual harassment and the “asking for it” culture as I find that they need to be addressed and called out.
Since high school, i've never been the 'popular' girl and over the years I have learned to love that. I spent my entire 2 years at sixth form on my own, literally I would sit alone every break, every dinner, every day. So I want my page to also be a place where you, even if its for a brief moment, feel less alone.