Fierce Fairies - An interview with Ashleigh Beevers

At Jubly-Umph we're all about strong women. There are few stronger female characters in literature and legend than Fairies. Fairies are sometimes benevolent and kind, other times mischievous and wicked, but always mysterious and alluring.

We've created a new lapel pin collection based on these 'fierce fairies'. They are our first collaborative lapel pin collection ever, and we couldn't be more pleased to be working with Ashleigh Beevers art (https://www.instagram.com/mustashleigh). We asked Ashleigh a few questions about the inspiration behind her artwork.

You are known for illustrating strong female characters. Why is representing strong women important to you?

There’s a few different answers to this question, firstly I just prefer/enjoy drawing women more, not sure why, just do haha. But as for strong female characters I really just want to increase the diverse representation of women that we see in the media. I’ve noticed more and more that younger girls are attending the comic conventions that I sell my artwork at which is incredible, so if I can help them feel strong and fearless in anyway then I want to.

How did you get into your career as an artist?

I studied a bachelor of animation for 3 years and now work at an animation studio. However the industry is very up and down, so I started working really hard on my social media and just drawing all the time to get myself noticed. I started taking commissions and it progressed from there.

Fairies are often seen as cute and sweet. Why did you make these ones edgier?

 Don’t get me wrong, I love sweet fairies, I grew up with Shirley Barber books, but I guess my style has always leant to the darker “witchier” side of things. I’ve been drawing a lot of witches lately so when designing the pins I wanted to make them a bit darker.

What was your role in this collaboration?

Tash is amazing at brainstorming phrases and words, so when she gave me her ideas I drew a bunch of designs and we picked our favourites. I’m really happy with how it all came out!

The Wicked, Magical, and Fierce fairies have now landed. See them all here!

Which one is your favourite?