Artist

My name is Margot, pronounced Mar-goh with a silent t, hence my portfolio's name. I've been practicing graphic and web design for about six years as of 2007, although only within the past couple years have I begun to apply my skills towards more serious endeavours. I'm currenly studying graphic design at the Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto, Canada.

Although I'm mainly a digital artist, I use a lot of traditional elements in my work and like to combine the two. If I want an element of watercolour in a digital piece I find it's best to paint what I want with real watercolour paint and scan it into the computer rather than try to create a digital version from scratch, because that way I come up with much more authentic looking pieces. I find that if something is purely digital it becomes rather fake-looking and has no texture to give it personality.

Although I say I've been working with graphic and web design specifically for a number of years, I've been into art for my entire life. Although I was raised in a big city, I didn't let the grey of the concrete limit my imagination, and my art is generally full of colour and fantastical images. I'm not influenced so much by what I see, but what I don't see, or imagine I'm missing out on. I'm mainly an abstract artist, letting the viewers' imagination decide what they see and interpret it the way they want, although there is usually a specific message embedded in there somewhere - if a particular person is meant to understand something, they will. However, some pieces were just made to look pretty. I tend to use myself as the model for images, not because of vanity, but because I want to keep the meaning of the piece personal - the image isn't about some model, it's about me or to do with things I've felt and/or thought. It only seems appropriate that I be the focus of something that is essentially about me and something that I'm feeling/expressing. Although I'm influenced by a lot of different things, I let my mind twist these things around into my own personal version, so my art doesn't always resemble what I originally had in my mind at the beginning, which is really what I intended to happen. It gives me a unique voice and that's what is most important to me: staying unique.

I don't believe in following trends and doing what's cool, I do what feels and looks right, regardless. Why do what everybody else is doing? That just draws less attention away from me specifically and more towards the general mass of artists out there. The same is to be said for the people I do work for: if the work I do for a client looks just the same as so many other products or posters or advertisements out there, how will it stand out on a shelf or amidst dozens of posters? Individuality is key. That brings me back to the name of this site: Silent T. "Margot" is a rather unique name (especially within english-speaking Canada), and it's the silent letter in particular that sets it apart. My name is the most obviously unique thing about me, and this quiet little letter represents exactly what I'm pursuing in my art.

Artist

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