Artist Interview: Leanne Johnson

Leanne Johnson is an artist based in London. Her main interests being digital and physical illustration and acrylic painting, Leanne’s art is recognizable for its playfulness, bright colors, and, well — fried eggs.

We asked Leanne about her art, creative process, and inspirations.

Mexican fried egg art leanne johnson — *Mexican fried egg art by Leanne Johnson*

Can you tell us about your background as a digital artist? How did you get started in this field?

I have always been really into drawing and creating art since I was a child. I have an abundance of collected in my home as early as the age of 3, and I have honestly never stopped creating since. I have always seen illustrating as a hobby, but as I am sure many people found, the lockdown over 2020 really brought out my creative side. I spent the majority of quarantine drawing, painting, and digitally illustrating.

In 2020 I completed the drawing challenge called Inktober, where you illustrate a given word a day, and as a reward to myself for completing it to its full I purchased an iPad and a pen to pursue my digital art more. I downloaded Procreate and just experimented with all the different techniques available. I would digitalise illustrations I had drawn with pen and paper, adding colour and textures, and shortly after drew attraction to designing a few tattoos for people, as my digital illustrative style equated well with tattoo art.

Having people want my art tattooed on their body gave me a huge confidence boost and I started to trust my art was engaging and started to just create random digital pieces. I created a digital piece on a fried egg dressed as a cowboy on a random afternoon in September 2021, which was a massive hit, and then turned into a series of fried eggs.

Cowboy egg art by leanne johnson — *Cowboy egg art by Leanne Johnson*

What inspires your art? Are there any particular themes or subjects that you enjoy exploring through your artwork?

The spaces I am in and the people I am around are constant inspirations for me, as cringe as that sounds! I appreciate the beauty in all my friends and landscapes I traverse, and that tends to get the ball rolling with my ideas, whether someone mentions something that sparks ideas, or I see a part of my environment that I can play with.

This does not mean my art is realistic, I do enjoy sketching spaces and people, but digitally, I use my immediate connections to spark ideas, for example the egg series came from a random early morning debate around fried eggs with my old flat mate, and the memory of that turned into art will always add a layer or meaningfulness to things for me.

*Inktober rats digital illustration by Leanne Johnson*

Can you tell us about some of your favorite pieces or a past or upcoming project? What makes them special to you?

I loved illustrating the egg series, and playing around with different styles to create an overall theme to each, like a cowboy, a mermaid, a tequila theme, etc.

I also love the rat illustration I drew with fine liners that I then digitalised. It is not my finest work, but it means a lot as it was the first attempt at digital art and was exciting to create.

After I started to get the hang of drawing on my iPad in Procreate, the koi eye piece was fun to create. I loved how pretty it came out, and it got a lot of attention for that which was really encouraging.

Koi eyes illustration by leanne johnson — *Koi eyes illustration by Leanne Johnson*

What does your creative process look like? How do you approach brainstorming and conceptualizing ideas?

Some of my other favourite pieces rather than being completed digitally use digital illustration as a stage within my creative process. For example, a recent piece was painting a mandola (stringed instrument), and I used Procreate to draw out and design the painting I was to do.

Mandola, Digital drawing

Mandola, finished

Another similar project was a mural I painted in a bar in East London called Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes. I drew the mural out on my iPad before transferring it by hand to the wall.

Mural, digital drawing

Mural, finished

For the specifically digital pieces, I really do just start messing around with ideas. Pinterest plays a huge part in helping visualise some of my ideas. I do enjoy just throwing things together on my iPad as separate layers, then just moving them around accordingly till I create something I’m happy with, for example the sun piece.

“Generally speaking, I am very critical of my work so exploring my ideas with others throughout the creative process helps to create something special that I am proud of at the end. It adds another depth to my work knowing I have engaged with others throughout the process.”

— Leanne Johnson

How do you think technology is impacting creativity?

I think it is exciting to see how technology can enhance people’s work. It has opened up so many more styles and types of art that never existed before. It would have been ignorant to ignore the digitalisation of the world, and a process of adaptation rather than mitigation is a far more sophisticated response. I have two degrees in urban geography, and throughout my studies I was able to incorporate the digitalisation of art and creativity into most of my work. The creative city doesn’t exist just as a physical space but a digital one now. The creative sector of society is growing incessantly thus we must keep on track of the digital developments around us and progress simultaneously in order to continue to see an extensive spectrum of art, from the classic sketch to AI, for example.

It is incredible to see the way people have learnt to produce such art through a digital means. I do believe in a digital artist sense my art does remain at more of simple level, and albeit this is more choice of style, I learn more and more each day about how to take my digital art to the next level, and the availability of help for this is really great.

french egg art by leanne johnson — *French egg art by Leanne Johnson*

How do you stay inspired and motivated as a digital artist? Are there any specific techniques or practices you use to overcome creative blocks?

Creative blocks are extremely frustrating, especially when you are desperate to put something on paper. I have had a fair share of these, but I tend to engage with other artists’ work to overcome some struggles. I also turn to friends for help, asking them if there’s anything they would want to see come to life through my art, and that always helps!

Similarly, the support I receive from people that follow my art is also a huge factor for motivation, as I feel a responsibility to keep creating things for people to enjoy.