Look up Tess Smith-Roberts on Instagram and you won't be able to stop a smile from spreading across your face thanks to her bold and colourful illustrations.
"Illustration is bright, happy, colourful and a different world to the one that we’re in," Tess says. "It's really great that my work can have a positive, uplifting impact."
Illustration lifts Tess' own mood too, with the drawing extraordinaire explaining: "I guess illustration is an escape. I can put my headphones on, listen to a nice podcast and just draw something for hours without having to think about real life or whatever is getting me down.
"I just love drawing things that I love; food, fruit, dogs, people! I like how I can create new scenes, characters, food dishes that are part of a totally new world.
"I really love drawing cheerful people. I guess drawing happy characters makes me happy. And then the idea of other people enjoying my work in a positive way, also makes me happy."
Talking about why she thinks illustrations can be such a pick-me-up, Tess says: "Anything happy and bold with bright colours is going to make you feel better, especially in dreary old England. I always hope that my drawing will uplift other people's moods," she adds.
With her optimism-inducing illustrations, Tess was the obvious choice when real-time video communication platform Azar launched an interactive art installation, adorning bathroom walls at the University Birmingham with drawings designed to bring students together, in order to combat loneliness.
"It’s nice to be able to make people happy with my work," says Tess. "I’m glad that with projects like the Azar one, I can make people happy by creating a fun and colourful environment. I’m really hoping that the project will help fight loneliness among young people in the UK.
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"I just love drawing things that I love… food, fruit, dogs, people! Etc! I like how I can create new scenes, characters, food dishes etc that are part of a totally new world. I really love drawing cheerful people, like the ones in my campaign with Azar. I guess drawing happy characters makes me happy! And then the idea of other people enjoying my work in a positive way, also makes me happy."
With her Azar collaboration Tess hopes to connect lonely students, with her work helping her make positive connections herself.
"Illustration, specifically the art markets that you can do with it, helped me meet some of my close friends. We met at one of them in London, realised we were all living close by or in studios close by, and now I see them all the time.
"My work also helps me connect with people around the world, through Instagram. I’m very lucky to have a lot of followers, so my work connects me with a crazy amount of people all over the world."
