Featured artists: Olga Gogole, graphic designer and illustrator

Russian Artists Team on Etsy has so many talented artists. We love to introduce them to our readers and share their stories. So today, please welcome Olga Gogole, graphic designer and illustrator from OlgaGogole shop. Visit her shop, you will love her art as much as we do.

Here is her story:

 I am Olga Gogole from Latvia. I am 36 years old, and I have been drawing all my life. Putting together the years in art school, art classes and art academy, I spent at least 16 years perfecting the skills. I adored drawing even back in kindergarten, using every piece of paper I could find. I remember my teacher told my mom that it might be worth considering showing me to a psychologist J

I certainly had my moments of creative stagnation when I wanted to abandon it all and start something totally new. Sometimes it was unclear where to head and what I want to do next. I aspired to get higher education in arts, but it seemed like an impossible dream at times. Eventually, with a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, I made the dream come true, and finished Latvian Art academy, majoring in graphic design. Higher education in Latvia is of very good quality, but it is full-time attendance only, so there was no chance to have a regular-hours job during the studies. As they say, there are only 24 hours in a day, but there is also the night J During my first year at the academy, I founded the graphic design company. I studied during the day and drew posters, logos, leaflets, designed corporate style for the clients at nights. My company will celebrate 10 years anniversary next year.

I certainly did a lot more graphic design in the early years of my professional development, as well as worked as full-time packaging designer for a large cosmetics producer “Dzintars”. Later on in my career, I increasingly turned to illustration. Sometimes I draw for my own pleasure, and I love when the works end up light and positive, in one go. I like when people buy my ready-made works, not the pre-ordered ones – this means that they like them as they were intended, the way I see them and that buyers relate to my perception and the mood I was in when creating the piece.

After the birth of my son, life certainly changed. Thanks to my child, I started focusing on illustrations for children and collect children books illustrated by famous artists, frequently when visiting bookstores on my trips abroad. 

Olga Gogole,

Graphic designer and illustrator.