Christy Martin

As a child growing up in country South Australia, drawing came pretty naturally to Christy. The first things she chose to depict were from her home environment (still life drawings of pet rabbits, botanicals and landscapes) and cartoons portraying everything from her Nana to various 80’s animated icons of the time. The ability to draw and paint proved a bit of a ticket to relative popularity in Primary and High School, which helped no end in encouraging the development of this skill. Buoyed by very positive reinforcement from her parents and the support of friends, teachers and interested local community groups such as Naracoorte TAFE (where they kindly let her take a watercolour class at age 11), a lifelong love for art and (eventually), also design, was fostered. This love lead to a Bachelor Degree in Visual Communication (University of South Australia), majoring in Illustration, followed by Honours (graduating as First Class with the DIA Professional Encouragement Award).

Currently completing her Master of Communication Design through RMIT (Melbourne), Christy has been a professional Graphic Designer and Illustrator for the past 15 years, with the last 6 specialising in Brand and Advertising. She has illustrated for children’s books, advertising, brand, on commission and participated in several art exhibitions and can turn her hand to both traditional and digital mediums.

Now tackling work, university study and toddler-taming (her son, Griffin, was born to her and partner, Mike, in 2011), her fondest wish is for a full night’s sleep (anything over 7 unbroken hours, please!). She is always keen to draw, paint, take photographs, is way too interested in social media and will read just about anything. She loves to get out for a good run around the neighbourhood with some cool tunes blaring in her ears, chill out at the beach, or hike in the mountains and spend precious time with her family and friends. Christy is always inspired by seeing awesome art, design, architecture, amazing landscapes or beautiful creatures.