My Design Journey: Amanda Joy

She licenses her adorable creatures around the world and has even launched her own homewares brand. Amanda Joy enjoys a creative life from which she's built a fabulous commercial business. 

My design journey started 8 years ago when I left my corporate job and went back to art school to study visual arts and a diploma in surface design. 

I was feeling like I was wasn't truly "meant" to be in the corporate world.

I have always been creative and my childhood was filled with days of drawing and creating, so it was going back to my roots. 

I love to paint and draw nature using mixed media, but particularly watercolor animals. I love the intricacies of their little faces and giving each of my animals a unique personality. 

I have licensed my work globally across the textile, stationery and homewares industries.

My work has a strong Australian influence and I love to inspire others to bring the essence of nature indoors through my designs.

I mostly use watercolor, starting with the lightest wash layers first. I usually do three to four layers, working up to finer details. I then tweak with ink and pencil. I also use gouache for details such as whiskers and eye highlights, and then scan the paintings into Adobe Photoshop to prepare them for print onto product. 

I have recently launched my own homewares brand

which focuses on luxury Australian made linen textiles, and this has been a perfect merger of my corporate and commercially focussed experience and my creative skills. 

The single most valuable thing I have learned since joining The Print School

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