Madeleine
Sava
01.
What is your professional title, purpose or passion?
I am an illustrator, and I find joy in drawing about the common realities that women have to navigate on a daily basis, be it while dating or otherwise. I draw about what hurts, and I find healing through it. My purpose is to make people smile and feel a little less alone.
03.
What did you want to do when you were a child and what changed?
I wanted to set up a juice stand on a beach in Hawaii and live a simple life. Nothing has changed, I still want that.
05.
What's the best career advice you've ever been given?
‘Be bold and vulnerable’ AND ‘just see what you can get away with’ AND ‘it’s so incredibly easy once you figure out it isn’t hard’
07.
What is the best thing about your current working environment?
The best thing about my work environment (Instagram) is that I get to be honest + raw without judgement, just loving encouragement from my followers. I love the commonality of heartbreak and sadness and through my platform I get to connect with so many people and feel seen.
09.
Where do you see yourself in five years' time?
Having published a book of my illustrations + stories, selling large prints internationally, exhibiting on a regular basis + have a clothing line.
11.
Tell us more about a charitable organisation or project you think is great.
Cancer We’re Done! (www.cancerweredone.com). It is a charity that raises money for immunotherapy research for cancer patients, it is amazing!
13.
What drives you?
The thought that ‘if i don’t do this, who will’. I feel like I am best placed to draw what I draw and that it is needed, so that is a responsibility.
15.
Any final comments?
I hope you enjoy having a look at my site and prints, get in touch!
02.
What does a normal day look like for you?
My day has been turned on its head with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing us to stay home. My ‘day job’ as a freelance event producer has requested everyone work from home. This means I have a lot more time, that I otherwise would have spent commuting, to focus on my illustrations.
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I get up early + make a coffee (very important). I read the news, wash my face and check my Instagram. I sometimes promote an illustration that I did the day before. I then hop on to my remote working station at 8.30am to start my day of event planning + logistics. I meditate at lunch time and sometimes run after work.
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My evenings are where the fun starts and where I really get my thrills. My focus now turns to making my art, building my brand and raising awareness of my illustrations. I try and do an illustration a night, this doesn’t always happen but it is a goal. Some nights I research art exhibitions in my area, submit my work to magazines and contact shops + coffee shops to see if they want to sell or display my art!
Alongside my illustrations I have started writing short stories to go in the Instagram captions. The stories are raw, vulnerable accounts of what inspired the art. My art is sad and it is funny, the stories are sometimes heavy.
04.
What have you achieved that you feel most proud of?
I am proud every single illustration I post, I feel especially proud when I am surrounded by friends at an exhibition that my art is being displayed in. And I am proud that I am a good listener.
06.
Tell us about a a woman who inspires you
My muma! She is so loving and multitalented and I am so lucky to have her to talk to and learn from.
08.
What was your biggest failure?
Not going after my art passion with every bone in my body from the very beginning.
10.
What do you like most about yourself?
I like everything about myself, but mostly that I am a bit different.
12.
How can we make the world more inclusive and accepting?
By giving platforms to marginalized voices + by hearing diverse stories in our books, films and plays. I think the suffering and fight of COVID-19 will hopefully bring humanity together and make us a little softer and less divided.
14.
What skills have been key to your journey so far?
Honesty, vulnerability, humour, empathy, kindness