An Interview with Jenifer Prince
On Art & Inspiration
This is the Sunday Edition of Paging Dr. Lesbian. If you like this type of thing, subscribe, and share it with your friends!
This week I’m excited to share another interview with you all. I had the opportunity to speak with Jenifer Prince, who is a visual artist and illustrator from Brazil. As she describes it, Jenifer creates “lesbian & sapphic storytelling in a vintage aesthetic.” Jenifer’s work is very popular with lesbians and sapphics online, especially on Instagram, where she has over 220,000 followers. Her work often circulates on sites like Twitter and Tumblr as well, and countless fans of her art have her pieces as their phone wallpapers. (Jenifer even has a story highlight on Instagram expressly for this purpose.) You can find links to all of Jenifer’s work here.
I spoke with Jenifer about where she gets her inspiration from, and what this community of sapphics that has coalesced around her work means to her. As someone without any skill in visual arts whatsoever, it was great to talk with Jenifer and hear more about her process, some of which is actually similar to my own. Enjoy!
When and how did you start illustrating professionally?
I've always loved drawing and that was a passion that I've had for as long as I can remember. As an introvert, I used it as a tool for expressing and understanding myself. I decided to explore that in college on a more professional level and there I realized how much we can do with illustration, which made me fall in love with it even more. I started to work with illustration professionally in 2016. I consider my first work to be a poster for the Dyke March of San Francisco.
What are some of your favorite pieces you’ve done or projects you’ve worked on?
I really enjoyed working on the print for the upcoming book "She Gets the Girl", by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick. It was for a pre-sale campaign and Rachael was so sweet and open during the process! It was amazing to work with her and I'm proud of how the illustration turned out. Other personal favorites are "dream dancing with you", "let her go" and "all I cared about". I was very proud of the outcome when I did those.
What drew you to the vintage style that you usually work in?
I’m a very nostalgic person and I believe that aesthetics conveys this feeling pretty well. I also have always loved vintage comics and how dramatic they can get. Although the visual narrative is pretty much positive most of the time, there's also a sentiment of yearning that comes with the nostalgia, especially when it comes to queer stories from the past being told and I really like that.
Your work is very popular among sapphics on sites like Instagram and Twitter – what has this support from so many people meant to you?
Everything! I'm so happy I can reach so many people with my illustrations and it makes me ecstatic to know they somehow relate or are touched by something that I created – it makes it worth it to keep creating. It's my way of connecting with this community that means the world to me and I couldn't be more grateful for their support.
How do you decide on the subject of a new illustration? What type of content (movies, shows, etc.) tends to spark your interest?
It depends on many factors. Sometimes I consume a piece of media (it can be a song, a book, a movie, or a show) and I get obsessed with it and that leads me to a new illustration and other times the idea comes from a conversation or a moment I shared with my girlfriend. There are times when I just sit and go through this notebook I have where I write all my concept ideas and I go with the one that makes me most excited.
When you're working on a piece to sell online in your shop, who do you imagine you're drawing for? Are you drawing for yourself initially, or do you have other audiences in mind?
That's a very good question. Unless it's a commissioned piece, I don't have this distinction in mind when I'm working on a personal project, though I'm always open to suggestions and feedback and I try to incorporate them in my illustrations. I believe my work is a reflection of that combined with my personal feelings, my inspirations, and my references, and because of that, I'm drawing for everyone, but especially for sapphics and lesbians, and that includes myself.
Do you have any advice for young creatives looking to get their start making and selling art?
Don't compare yourself to others unless that's something that drives you to a positive path. There's no right or wrong way to make it work, so it's important to "study" how others accomplished their goals, but it's even more important to focus on your own way of making things work for YOU. Don't forget why you started or wanted to start creating. :) If I can leave a recommendation, the podcast "3 Point Perspective" is excellent for illustrators - lots of good advice!
What artists have inspired you in your life?
Every artist that I ever liked has something inspiring about them. Madonna is an inspiration in many aspects because she's always challenged the status quo and is so bold and brave with her art. Donna Gottschalk, Joan E. Biren, and Catherine Opie are three of my favorite photographers, their work is brilliant and has certainly inspired me in my life on a personal and a professional level.
Follow Jennifer on Instagram and check out her online shop.
Kira Deschler: Jenifer R. Prince is a wonderful artist in every way, and the romance moves my heart. Beautiful art.
Does anyone else think that Jenifer R. Prince is a gift to us in the way that Roy Lichtenstein was.
I make a real connection between Roy Lichtenstein and Jenifer R. Prince.
I have long, long loved the work of Roy Lichtenstein.
Within the past year, I have learned of the work of Jenifer R. Prince. It is like a drug to me. I am a Prince-o-holic for her cartoon art, in the same sense that I am hooked on Lichtenstein.
I wish, I wish she would publish an ebook with hundreds of pages of her art, as I often advert on my ebook-reader to the art of Lichtenstein.
Thank you so much for sharing of this wonderful artist! A real favorite of mine!