Meet The Artist
Charlotte Ager
Describe what you do: I’m a Freelance illustrator based in London. I love that drawing has the ability to communicate the difficult and challenging whilst having enormous capacity for joy and silliness. I enjoy working on a multitude of projects and illustrations that aim to connect to viewers emotionally.
Where do you live? Where do you work? I live in south London where I now have a home studio that I’ve worked in for the last year. I love working from home because it means my desk is never too far away and I can work at any hour.
Describe a typical day for you: I’ll usually get up quite early and my brain is ready to go, at the moment I’ve got into the habit of spending the first hour or so answering emails/ doing some warm up drawings/ writing notes with a record on in our front room which is a nice change of scene. Then the rest of the day changes depending on what I’ve got on, if I’m working on a commission, it might be reading through copy or starting on some roughs. At some point I’ll go for a big walk or a run around our local park which I love beyond words! I sometimes take a sketchbook but increasingly I use it just as an hour to look around, no music in my ears just letting my brain process things. Sometimes I think I’m too busy to go out but it’s always a good idea, I always come back feeling better and more relaxed. The afternoons I find it easier to concentrate on making work because I’ve dealt with the distractions like emails in the morning. And the evenings are just cooking, catching up with my boyfriend in the flat we share, maybe playing chess or watching TV. If he’s not around I love spending evenings reading or painting.
Name a book that you read recently and loved: Ah I’ve read some really good things recently! Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner aka the musician Japanese breakfast I really loved. It’s a memoir about her relationship with her mother and processing the grief that came with her death. Their connection is bound up by food and Michelle’s descriptions of the food specificity leave you feeling so warm. Her frankness makes it so human and I loved coming across lines I’d heard in her lyrics expanded into stories in the book. It was amazing to get a whole new layer of understanding for a musician you love.
Favorite snack: I’m super into popcorn at the moment I like that you can eat loads of it and not feel too bad.
Favorite color combination: At the moment crimson and a cornflower blue.
What is your most treasured possession? My sketchbooks. They hold so many precious ideas and moments in time which when you have a terrible memory, feel very special. Even terrible drawings have links to places and feelings.
