Meet Malia Skidmore | Illustrator and Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Malia Skidmore and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Malia, is there a quote or affirmation that’s meaningful to you?
“An artist is an explorer.” Henri Matisse

I’m drawn to this quote because it reminds me to keep exploring and pushing myself as an artist. You can’t create new content without exploring the physical world and your own mind. The art is what results from the combination of the two–the artists interpretation of things in their physical and mental world.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My personal art is organic with a psychedelic twist. I focus mainly on plants, animals, and spiritual concepts. My goal is to merge them in a fun, unique, and engaging way. In regards to my business clients, I enjoy doing pet portraits of dogs and cats, book cover designs, posters, custom concept illustrations, and logos. I work for Dorrance Publishing Company, based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I’ve been designing covers and interior illustrations for them for over a year now.

I am also working with a tech startup called Children Story Time which is in the field of e-learning. This job involves 2D illustrations and designs in a more cartoony style that is appealing to children, and I have a lot of fun creating these visual assets. The CEO Nicholas Styles and I have a great working relationship. He saw my potential from the beginning when he first hired me. He pushed me to try new things in the field such as layouts and UI/UX designs. I was nervous about jumping into UI design because I had virtually no experience with it, besides my own interaction with interfaces. This was challenging, but I did research and taught myself a lot about user interfaces and design elements, and in the process I have grown more adept with thinking in a different way to create cool designs for our website and other promotional materials. I think being a millennial was advantageous in this process because I grew up interacting with phones, computers, and games. I was able to combine those experiences with my artistic and graphic inclinations to develop a clean, intuitive UI style.

Children Story Time has been a great way to work remotely with a team of talented individuals. We are working towards launching the first phase of our website in the next couple months, so keep an eye out on childrenstorytime.co!

From my two years in the field so far, I have learned so much, and I am eager to learn more and continue my education through research and practice. I’ve learned that time management is the key to staying ahead of work. Equally important elements are perseverance, determination, and consistency. I’m excited about Children Story Time being fully funded so we can show the public everything we can offer. I’m also working on starting up my own graphic tee-shirt business in the next few months, which will have a bunch of new and exciting designs!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Tim and I moved to Colorado last June. We live in a cute little town called Berthoud, which is right next-door to Loveland and Fort Collins. If my best friend came to visit I would want to show her around the city of Fort Collins. I would take her bar hopping to try the local craft brews. There’s also a rock gym called Whetstone where we love to go climbing. I would also take her on one of the many hikes in the area. We are located in a spot where within a few miles, there are tons of places to go hiking, climbing, and exploring. We would also go to the sculpture garden in Loveland, one of my favorite spots. Loveland has beautiful parks where there are free concerts in the summer and festivities all year round. There is an obvious appreciation of art in the Loveland and Fort Collins area, which is very refreshing. Even the electrical boxes are painted with colorful murals. It really is a wonderful place and I think we will be here for the rest of our lives.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shoutout goes to my fiancé Tim Heron. He is also an artist running his own business and I’m so proud of him. He always encourages me to push myself to my full potential. He reminds me to keep going when I want to quit, because he knows I have what it takes. We’re getting married in November of this year on our 5 year anniversary. We support each other and although we each run our own businesses, we are a strong team. We are passionate about art and are determined to make our livings doing what we love. Running our businesses and controlling our schedules allows us to take time to go climbing or hiking in the Rockies with our blue-heeler mix Coal. Being outdoors relaxes us but also fuels our creativity. Tim deserves a ton of credit for being there for me and seeing my potential.

Website: malianicoleart.com

Instagram: @malianicoledesign

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/malia-nicole

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaliaNicoleDesign

Other: Inprnt: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/malianicoleart/ Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/MaliaNicole69/shop?asc=u Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MaliaNicolePrints?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Image Credits
I created all of these images.