Illustrator Spotlight: Sarah Dolan

© Sarah Dolan

 Oct. 1, 2024

It's the first of the month, so we have a new illustrator spotlight on Sarah Dolan and her website banner design for Kidlit411. 

 

Tell us about yourself and how you came to illustrate for children.

Hi, I’m Sarah! I’m a 23 year old author/illustrator from New Jersey! I’ve always loved art but didn’t begin my illustration journey until 2019 while earning a BFA in Animation & Illustration. One of my first assignments was to digitally illustrate a book cover. At the time, I had no experience in digital illustration and was more interested in working in animation. Little did I know, the concept and character that stemmed from that assignment would become my passion project that I would spend the next four years developing. I knew I wanted to tell their stories, but didn’t know exactly which medium I wanted to tell them in. 

© Sarah Dolan

Fast forward to the following year, I took an introductory class to digital painting, which sparked my interest in illustration. While I was still interested in animation, I found that illustration was my true passion. I focused my remaining two years of school around illustration, and got to expand my passion project even more as my senior thesis project. After I graduated, I wrote and illustrated my first children’s book, bringing that first assignment’s character and story to life. I’m now a self-published author!

© Sarah Dolan

Congrats on your website banner design! Tell us how you approached this project.

Thank you so much! Going into this project, my main goal was to have fun with it. I had been in a creative slump for a long time and this contest became a creative outlet that rekindled my love for illustrating. Kidlit411 helped me begin my journey in children’s literature by creating a space where authors and illustrators come together and help each other with their publishing and creative processes. Books have the ability to transport you into worlds that can become your happy place and encourage your imagination to be limitless. I wanted to encapsulate how Kidlit411 enabled not just me, but other authors and illustrators to introduce this indescribable experience to kids at a young age while playing off of the birds on a wire theme. 

 

After some sketching, my final concept was of a little girl getting lost in a book surrounded by the things that create her happy place. Kidlit411 reminded me of my own experiences with reading, so I wanted to pay homage to that little girl who could spend hours thinking of different adventures for characters she would make up in her head while reading and playing outside. 

© Sarah Dolan

 

I brought my thumbnail into Photoshop and began to finalize the lineart. Once that was complete, I color blocked all of the different elements in grayscale. After adding all of my shadows and highlights, I started a new layer to overpaint the illustration to add dimension and to make it my preferred style rather than flat color. When I was happy with how the illustration looked in grayscale, I brought in color through solid color layers and adjusted their blending modes. Using another layer, I overpainted any last touch up details until all that was left to do was add a blue layer for the nighttime and lighting to the fireflies, stars, moon, and where the moonlight hit the other elements.

What is your preferred medium and style?

 

I tend to sketch traditionally on paper first and then illustrate them digitally in Photoshop. Since I need to use my computer for the bulk of the illustrations, I try to do my sketches and thumbnails with ink, colored pencil, or graphite in one of my sketchbooks. That way, if I happen to get a sudden inspiration while I’m traveling, or I’m outside when I need a change in scenery from my desk, I won’t forget the idea. While I have done flat color illustrations, I prefer to make my illustrations more in the realistic, 3D and painterly style. My character, prop and environmental designs are still very much cartoon like and simplified versions of their references. 

© Sarah Dolan

Who or what inspires you?

When it comes to the subject of my art, nature has always been my biggest inspiration. Whenever I look at other artists’ work, whether it be photographers, painters, illustrators, or sculptors, I find myself gravitating toward those who also love plants, animals, and landscapes. I’m a huge fantasy fan as well, so if there are any supernatural creatures or elements mixed in, that’s always an added bonus! Growing up, my siblings, neighbors, and I would constantly be outside playing in our yards and in the woods. All of my fondest memories revolve around nature, whether it be at the beach, playing in the mud at home, looking under rocks for salamanders or collecting as many caterpillars as I could. Even now, I’m most creative when I’m sketching outside on my front porch, under a tree or on a beach somewhere. No matter how big or small, plants and animals have always been fascinating to me and they end up being the subject of my work. Style-wise, oil and gouache paintings have been a huge inspiration to me and those that were used for the backgrounds of 2D animated films. I love the styles from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinnochio, and Three Little Pigs.

What are you working on now?

I’m currently working on my second book in my series, Just Ducky! In the first book, Just Ducky: No Place Like Home, you follow the story of a little duckling who's searching for acceptance after his big feet make him an outcast in a retelling of The Ugly Duckling. The second book continues with this main character and him settling into his new life. The series as a whole will be a collection of this little duckling’s adventures with all of these new characters he meets along the way!

What is one thing most people don't know about you?

I’ve found a lot of hobbies over the years such as gardening, playing The Sims 3, watching baseball, collecting too many houseplants that are in need of a home, and reading, to name a few. My newest hobby is crocheting, and I am determined to make a king size, single stitch blanket with thread meant for a 1.5 mm hook. It will most likely take me the next 50 years to make, but I’m enjoying every second of it!

Where can people find you online?

You can find me through my website or on social media: 

Website: www.sarahdolan.art Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube: @sarahdolanart 

 

Sarah Dolan is a New Jersey author/illustrator who wishes to inspire children and adults alike to take the time to explore and appreciate nature. Her passion for the outdoors and all of its plants and creatures have heavily influenced her work. After graduating from Montclair State University with a B.F.A in Animation & Illustration, she self-published her debut picture book, Just Ducky: No Place Like Home, as the first book in her ongoing series, Just Ducky. When she isn’t drawing or writing, she spends her time with her family, getting lost in books, or simply enjoying the little things in life.