The Master and Her Piece: Tippy Go of The Googly Gooeys, Cymplified!

Welcome to my new blog feature called The Master and her Piece!

It’s an interview I do with women who inspire me and others to live and create better. I ask questions about their masterpieces or their works, their inspiration and ideas, their motivation, their challenges and their advice; to hopefully encourage my readers, too.

The first lady I want to put under the spotlight in Cymplified is 1/2 of The Googly Gooeys, Tippy Go. She’s the artist behind this gem of a blog, this refreshing read on humor and art. Her words, her comics, her crafts, the photos, the way she combines colors are all so captivating. She also conducts watercolor and brush lettering workshop, one of which I attended. I was happy I finally met her!

I’m also glad that Tippy agreed to be featured on my blog despite being busy. Thank you, Tippy!

1. Please tell me something about this masterpiece. A brief background.

I can’t really say that this is a masterpiece per se but this is one of my go-to artworks when people ask about my digitizing work. It’s a couple of invite commissions. I’m just happy to have been able to put a twist to my doodles by adding my watercolor textures to it.

2. What inspires you to create your masterpiece? Where do you get your amazing ideas?

I try not to search for similar pegs when I’m working on a project because I’m always afraid that I’ll just end up copying my pegs closely or feeling really frustrated that the outcome of my work is not as good as my idol’s. Hehe.

I usually get my inspiration online & offline. It doesn’t have to be highly related to what I’m doing. For example, the colors can be from the runway or a dress pattern. When I’m working with acrylic, I often love looking for accidental color combinations on my fingers and paint brush.  The subject of my work can come from a recent travel experience or stuff from my childhood.

3. What motivates you to keep creating? Even if the little details seem so mundane, what pushes you to go on?

I always say that I don’t really know what I’m doing most of the time but it’s the only thing that makes me happy. When I start feeling that I’m doing something for someone else and that it feels as if I’m selling my soul instead of feeding it, I start looking for a new art form or medium just to keep everything fresh.

4. What was the biggest challenge you have encountered while creating your masterpiece? How did you overcome it?

The reason personal style is such a touchy topic for me is that I find the process of coming up with one torturous but a necessary evil.

It’s always so easy to stay inside your comfort zone: stick to what you already know, use, reuse your favorite palette and draw the same characters over and over. However, once in a while, you just feel the need to evolve.

Early this year until recently, I was working on some new pieces and exploring a new medium. It was not a very easy process to say the least. I didn’t know when to start & when to stop. I would discard 4 out of 5 works I produced during every painting session. I would spend hours and hours battling with my thoughts and convincing myself that my ultimate aim should be not to please my audience but to make my soul feel contented. I doubted my work because it doesn’t look like anybody else’s.

Then, as my friends pointed out to me.  That’s the beauty of it: your work has to look uniquely yours. 🙂 From then on, I felt that I just found my new personal style.

5. What advice would you give to anyone who is toying with ideas, or in the process of putting her passion into action?

I know it’s really cliché but do what makes you happy. We’re constantly bombarded by images all over the web and social media as to how we’re supposed to write, color & draw and it’s so easy to think that if we don’t follow the norm, we’ll get left behind or we’re not doing the RIGHT thing. But you just have to listen to that voice inside you. My recent favorite quote is “Fortune favors the brave”.  So, just go with your idea & don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You’ll never really know where your journey might take you. You just have to take the first step. 🙂

Get even more inspired by visiting  The Googly Gooeys! Please click the link, leave some comment love or follow them. 🙂

What are you in the process of creating now? Was this interview helpful?