The Nice Hour: using pattern to showcase personality with Karabo Poppy

Welcome to The Nice Hour, a series of advice-led events from It’s Nice That on Adobe Live, offering you the chance to receive some creative guidance from the industry’s leading practitioners.

In our final session of The Nice Hour, a series of live events where creative practitioners give personal feedback on portfolios, we’ll be joined by Johannesburg-based artist and illustrative powerhouse Karabo Poppy. Hosted on Adobe Live, an online community of creative practitioners, The Nice Hour is just one of a stream of events aiding creatives on the platform. Holding sessions each weekday, hosts share ideas and topics across illustration, graphic design, motion design and photography. Conversational and advisory in its discussion too, each event offers far much more than just practical advice.

Joining us on 17 August at 12 pm (BST), Karabo will be looking through a range of submitted portfolios to share her wisdom on working with pattern and colour in a way that showcases personality in illustration. Describing herself both as an illustrator and street artist, in just a few short years Karabo’s characterful illustrative approach, representative of her heritage growing up in South Africa, has caught the eyes of many. From Google to Apple, Nike and several murals popping up, no matter the context, Karabo’s work is inherently her’s. In this session, she will share her advice on how to do the same, and some wider pointers on how she got to this point too.

If you’re an illustrator or graphic artist grappling with settling on a stylistic approach, or you’re just looking for some advice on tightening up your portfolio, Karabo advises taking the time to think about not just the work in your portfolio submitted, but how it’s presented. “Presentation and layout is just as important as the work you have created, it’s a subtle yet impactful feature,” she tells It's Nice That.

Ahead of the event itself, there’s not one particular style or approach Karabo is looking for, more “excited to see what new styles of illustrating will be coming out from all these young creatives,” she explains. “There has been a lot of new software and hardware that has come out recently, and I am excited to see how different people are making use of it all.”

Whether you’re planning to submit work or not, be sure to tune in to Karabo’s session on Monday 17 August (12 pm BST) to join a wider conversation on creative work. You can also already connect with other members of the creative community on Adobe Live each weekday at 12 pm, including further events with guest artists.

To submit your portfolio to be discussed please upload a PDF of your work and your contact details here. Please ensure your uploaded portfolio is a downloadable PDF up to 10 MB, or you can share a website link. We will not be able to open WeTransfer links, Hightail or Dropbox folders. If you are keen for a particular project in your portfolio to be discussed please make a note of this in your application. We look forward to seeing your work!