fbpx

info@ctca.co.za

Mon – Fri: 9:00 – 16:00
+27 (0)21 201 1150

Silo 5, 2nd Floor, Silo District,
V&A Waterfront, Cape Town

Tyla Mason: The power of positive pictures

by 6 Feb 2020Alumni

Her vibrant and uplifting illustrations have earned her fans all over the world. Alumna Tyla Mason reveals what inspires her work and shares advice for young designers.

It’s not possible to look at an illustration by Tyla Mason and not feel your spirit (or at least the corners of your mouth) lift. Her work is colourful and whimsical, a reflection of a better, brighter world. It’s these very qualities that have earned her commissions from around the globe.

Since graduating from the Creative Academy with a BA in Communication Design, Tyla has carved out a burgeoning career as a freelance illustrator. She sat down to reflect on inspiration, doing work that matters and exploring creative outlets.

You’re earning quite a name for yourself. Was a career in design and illustration always on the cards?

I’ve always wanted to draw and make things. But up until college, I didn’t quite understand the landscape of design and illustration as opposed to fine art. The “higher” art forms seemed really intimidating and I felt like art school would break my heart. The course at the Creative Academy appealed to me because it offered a variety of creative avenues that I was interested in. That’s when I realised that there are so many different art forms between a Rembrandt and, say, a flip-book about dogs. Recognising that those two things can be equally important, and the way that design was maybe more people-orientated than what I perceived fine art to be, is what sold me.

As a Communication Design student at the Creative Academy, Tyla created a diverse range of work, from posters and ceramics to editorial layouts.
Since graduating in 2016, she has worked as freelance illustrator for clients around the world. This illustration is for the UK-based magazine, Weapons of Reason, a publishing project of the Hüman After All agency.
Do you have a personal style?

Personally, I would like to not get too hung up on the idea of having one style, because I imagine that I would probably get bored of that. But I definitely gravitate to simple shapes, bright colours and character-orientated illustration. With the work that I’m doing, that style has been the most intuitive, and most effective in communicating the message clearly.

A lot of your work focuses on young women and has a feeling of warmth and positivity. What do you want to achieve with your illustrations?

I don’t know that I have a specific goal in mind, but I gravitate towards projects that nurture young people’s voices and/or creates spaces for young people to feel less alone. Adolescence can feel very isolating, and a lack of knowledge, resources and confidence can prevent teenagers from reaching their dreams. I definitely don’t think my illustrations have an innate ability to make that experience less isolating. But having warm and uplifting visuals makes the content more accessible and fun.

What is on your desk?

What was your first big breakthrough?

After graduating, I was approached by Girl Effect to work on a new mobile platform they were launching, called Springster. The platform is based around digitally (dataless-ly) connecting marginalised girls by providing them with an inclusive space to share experiences and help navigate adolescence. They hired a handful of female illustrators from their flagship countries to basically build up a library of images for upcoming content. So I had to do close to 100 article illustrations in a very short time for that first brief. I did not feel ready for it, but it taught me so much about time management and being less of a perfectionist and how jobs work. It was a really positive first experience. The people at Springster were great (and not as scary as I imagined real-life bosses to be). Having them as a client kind of nudged me in a direction of similarly-focused organisations.

Illustrator Tyla Mason is all about bringing colour to life.

What have been your career highlights?

Last year, my friend Emma and I worked on the first print publication of Malala Fund’s digital newsletter, Assembly. It was a yearbook-like collection of their favourite articles since their launch. The idea was to distribute it to schools and communities that don’t have regular internet access. The two of us were trusted with all the layout and illustrations for the issue, and we saw it distributed to over 22 different countries. It was incredibly special to be a part of and so much fun to work on!

Another highlight was doing my first book last year, for The School of Life, which is called What Can I Do When I Grow Up. The book offers guidance to young people about the world of work. It is by someone I would probably pick for one of those dead-or-alive-dinner-party questions, Alain de Botton. I got to do the cover and illustrations throughout the book, mostly profiling different jobs. Some of these I had never heard of – like a cloud chief architect or a rail logistics engineer. So it was very informative. Being able to work with an exceptionally talented team and an exciting company was a huge highlight! I’m still reeling from that.

For this book by The School of Life, Tyla created the cover as well as the illustrations throughout.
Some of the jobs she had to illustrate for the book were quite intriguing, but luckily for design fans, she is not considering a change in career.
What was your time at the Creative Academy like? How did it prepare you for the working world?

The lecturers that taught me at the Creative Academy made my time there really meaningful. Their guidance and support helped me build confidence and gave me the ability to critique my own work. Even now, when I’m stuck in a project, I will sometimes imagine what they might advise about a particular problem. We were also encouraged to explore and try different approaches with the briefs we were given, which I’ve continued to try and practise outside of school.

What advice do you have for prospective design students?

Where do you find inspiration?

I find inspiration from films and books and podcasts and places I’ve visited. Also from stuff that has happened in the past, and stuff that happens in dreams. With commercial work, there isn’t as much space for personal themes to come through, but it does feed into the work in a positive way – even if it just keeps me excited.

Since a lot of the illustrations I make are accompaniments to stories, this helps me select visual cues from the piece of writing. With clients like Springster or Malala Fund, I am sometimes asked to depict real-life people. For example, young women or girls who are doing incredible things in the face of adversity. In those instances, it’s impossible not to feel inspired by the content!

What do you think distinguishes South African designers from the rest of the world?

It’s hard to say, because creatives from South Africa come from such different backgrounds. As a result, it would be tricky to identify what sets individual creatives apart. But I think that South Africa, as a whole, is special in that it offers such a wide range of diversity and influences.

Is there anything you wish you’d known before becoming an illustrator?

More from our Blog

FM AdFocus Awards

FM AdFocus Awards

Angelina Faria, a third-year student from the Cape Town Creative Academy, was named the FM AdFocus Awards Student of the Year at the recent FM AdFocus Awards that took place in Johannesburg.Written...

THE PERFECT BACKDROP TO CREATIVITY

THE PERFECT BACKDROP TO CREATIVITY

The Cape Town Creative Academy provides a perfectly safe environment for creative growth with their new campus on the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.  The new campus of the Cape Town Creative...

SHINJI AKHIRAH BURSARY FOR BAA

SHINJI AKHIRAH BURSARY FOR BAA

Shinji Akhirah is a multi-dimensional artist, with an edgy, conceptual approach that works in both traditional and digital media, ranging from beatmaking, NFTs and wordsmithery. Spurred on by his...

We use third-party cookies in order to improve your browsing experience.
Learn more