Artist Spotlight: Lucy Hardcastle

Adobe Stock continues to bring you exclusive insights from It’s Nice That’s monthly event Nicer Tuesdays, an evening dedicated to a host of creative talks.

During the last event, we chatted with one of their talented speakers – Visual artist, Lucy Hardcastle – who gave us the lowdown on her recent project with Chanel and i-D, her sensory play on visuals and how she uses Adobe as part of her workflow.

Read below to find out more… Let us know what you think in our comments!

Adobe: Hi Lucy! Tell us a little bit about what you do.

Lucy: I am a Digital Artist and the Creative Director of my own studio. I make work that might appear digital, however, it can come in many forms, whether that be a sculpture or something interactive. I’m naturally a very visually-driven person so this is reflected in my work.

A: How did you get into Digital Design? Did you always want to work in the creative industry?

L: I’ve always been a creative person and my parents were both freelancers in the creative field which definitely made me feel this career path could be possible. I got into Digital work after specialising in Digital Print during my Textile Design BA course, I started self-teaching myself over the summers and during any breaks we had. I wanted to have an edge over what everyone else was doing so I started teaching myself through YouTube tutorials and it kind of went from there.

A: Can you tell us about the Chanel and i-D project that you received great acclaim for? How did that come about?

L: I was three months into my MA when the opportunity with Chanel and i-D came up, I was so excited! Chanel wanted me to give them an artistic response to a fragrance, it had to be globally accessible which is how we came up with the name of the project ‘Intangible Matter’. The content was created to be viewable on both mobile and desktop and we used sound design to make it more immersive. It was amazing.

A: What have you been up to recently. Are you working on anything exciting?

L: Yes, I just finished an animated film with a sports brand which is being released this month. I’m also collaborating on more work with photographer Ryan Hopkinson. We recently did some images together that everyone seems to love. Alongside this I’m continuing to grow my studio whilst finding time to do more research-led projects.

Lucy Hardcastle

A: Do you use Adobe products to edit your work? If so, how?

L: No matter what rendering software I use, I always upload and run the content through Photoshop because I’m a control freak and need to oversee how my images look. So, I always do some retouching on Photoshop. Illustrator is also great and I use InDesign for my website all the time. I also have the app that someone told me about recently – Adobe Capture – which allows me to capture a photo and then turn it into a colour palette. It’s great for storyboarding.

A: Have you ever used Stock photography?

L: Yes, I use it for reference in my treatments. If I can’t find something I need to show my client, I’ll look there and fill the gaps in my work.

Lucy Hardcastle

A: What’s the one word you think of when you think of Adobe and/or its Creative Cloud? And why?

L: I would have to say flexible, a lot of the file formats for different programs are easy and compatible to one another, it’s easy to move from Photoshop, to Illustrator to InDesign.

A: What would be your advice for any up and coming creatives?

L: Work as hard as you can and do what you’re passionate about. When you have a creative brain, you feel like you’re dying when you’re not making, so ensure that it’s always at the forefront of everything you do.

Stay up to date with Lucy’s work by following her on Twitter and Instagram. Got something to say? Let us know what you think at @AdobeUK!