ART STORIES: CERV Art

My name is Christina (CERV Art) and I am an Artist and Illustrator from Greater Manchester. I've been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember. It's always been a part of my life in one way or another. For fun as a child, to learn as a student and now it's my career.

There were always art materials in the house growing up, along with lots of books about the great artists, because my mum painted as a hobby.

A few of these books in particular caught my interest, such as the ones about Holbein, Dali, Turner and Monet. They inspired me to keep practicing my skills.

Although I studied art in college and at school, I ultimately went on to study science at degree level. However I always carried on drawing and painting in my spare time. I really wanted to share that with other people.

BUILDING A CREATIVE CAREER IN MANCHESTER

After receiving positive feedback on Instagram, I decided to try and create a business from my hobby.

I entered art competitions, open exhibitions, went to every art event I could think of and introduced myself to as many other creatives as I could. I asked a lot of questions! A tedious amount in fact.

Thankfully I'd found myself in a really welcoming community. I started doing markets, taking part in Live Art events, being a finalist in Artbattle Manchester three times to crowds of hundreds of people and physically taking my work into shops to try and be stocked. I gradually became better known and gained a few central Manchester outlets for my work. Most notably was SWALK creative in Afflecks, where I stocked my work for five years.

FROM HANDMADE HUSTLE TO SUCCESS WITH STICKIPLY

Well you can't have an art business without really high quality merchandise to sell alongside your prints. I tried to make some myself. 

The hardest to produce were stickers. I couldn't turn a profit with any of the quotes from manufactures I'd found online, so for a year, I printed them myself and cut them out with tiny nail scissors. My poor hands!

Then, (cue shining light and choir music), I saw Stickiply on TikTok. I followed them and decided to dip my toe in and make an order for some magnetic bookmarks. When I saw the quality, price and how easy it was to order, I was in. 98 stickers please!

When they arrived, the quality was so far above anything I'd been producing myself. They were beautiful and my sticker sales rose dramatically as a direct result. They became my best selling item in Manchester and are now my best selling item at my new outlet, Bird's Yard in Sheffield.

EXPLORING CREATIVITY: FROM REALISM TO STORYTELLING & NATURE

As for the art itself. That's changed a lot over the years, because my tastes have changed and so has the market. I started off doing photorealistic pencil drawings, mainly of people. I then edged into a more urban inspired form of art with splashes of colour around realistic portraits. Now, I've settled into nature inspired themes with everything from my Lady of the Lake portrait in a cacophony of greens, to landscape paintings and drawings of frogs and birds. I don't constrain myself to any medium. Oil, acrylic, pencil, ink and digital are all on the artistic menu.

Along side my fine art practice, I like to write and illustrate children's stories, dabble in stop motion animation and try whatever crafty projects social media has influenced me into giving a go. I also create illustrations for other people’s projects too and am currently working with the RSPB on some exciting stuff!

MORE INFORMATION & LINKS

This Art Story blog was written by Christina from CERV Art.

You can find our more about Christinas Art journey by following her on Instagram @cervartist or by visiting her store on Etsy here.

CERV Art on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cervartist

CERV Art on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CERVART