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Dani Marsh

Dani Marsh

Profession
Freelance illustrator and animator
College
London College of Fashion
Person Type
Alumni
Dani Marsh

Biography

BA Fashion Illustration (now BA Fashion Imaging and Illustration) alumna Dani Marsh now works as a freelance illustrator and animator. She is passionate about colour and challenging traditional beauty ideals.

Interview

Could you introduce yourself and what you do?

I’m Dani Marsh and I’m an illustrator and animator, specialising in fashion, portraits and creating art with a narrative. I love exploring ideas of femininity in my work, using a bright and colourful aesthetic mixed with a feeling of uneasiness and melancholy. My aim is to explore the relationships between ideas of feminine ugliness and beauty, asking the viewer to confront new ideas of what is beautiful.

Life drawing is also a huge part of my practice and I have been lucky enough to draw live at many events such as at the Tate, the Wallace Collection and the Apple Store in Regent’s street, where I hosted my own ‘Today At Apple’ event.

You studied Fashion Illustration (now Fashion Imaging and Illustration). How did you find the course?

"I would’ve never had the bravery to delve into animation without the Moving Image project in the first year, and now that is what I’m considering as a career!"

I loved studying on my course, it was so varied and really pushed me to extend and explore my practice. I would’ve never had the bravery to delve into animation without the Moving Image project in the first year, and now that is what I’m considering as a career! I made sure to involve myself as much as I could with opportunities on the course as well as in the wider university such as: drawing live at fashion week, creating product designs for designers Vin + Omi, and illustrating the windows of CASS Art in Soho. The course gave me freedom to develop my own style and supported and pushed the students to get out of our comfort zones and launch our careers.

"The course gave me freedom to develop my own style and supported and pushed the students to get out of our comfort zones and launch our careers."

Why did you choose to study at LCF?

The Fashion Illustration course, now Fashion Imaging and Illustration, was and I think still is, the only course of its kind in the UK, and one of the only fashion illustration courses in the world! As soon as I found the course online when I was about 15 it was my dream to study on it. I knew LCF as a renowned fashion university, and I wanted to study at the best! Also, there’s nowhere better to be for a career in fashion/art than London too.

"I knew LCF as a renowned fashion university, and I wanted to study at the best! Also, there’s nowhere better to be for a career in fashion/art than London too."

What does a typical work day look like for you?

It really depends on what kind of project I’m working on! With the freelance animation work I have been doing recently I was working in a studio with the director doing various tasks such as research, stop motion animation, digital animation and lots and lots of drawing. So far I have been the assistant animator for a music video for Django Django, and an assistant animator for a lyric video for Little Mix – and have loved every minute.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

"I love to ‘collect’ faces I see and create my own, as well as draw portraits of people who inspire me. I love to explore different types of femininity as well as creating characters and stories with my work."

For my illustration work I am very inspired by quirky, unique looking models and faces. I love to ‘collect’ faces I see and create my own, as well as draw portraits of people who inspire me. I love to explore different types of femininity as well as creating characters and stories with my work. My animation work has a strong emotional inspiration, for my final major project on my BA my animation focused on feelings of nostalgia and was a very personal work for me.

What are your top tips for current students?

"University is the time to make mistakes and grow, that’s how you can develop your style."

Get involved and don’t resist new things! When I stopped defining myself as a particular type of artist, so many doors opened up for me, give everything a go who cares if it’s not for you. University is the time to make mistakes and grow, that’s how you can develop your style. Also (if I was talking to past me) stop worrying so much – you have time!

"Also (if I was talking to past me) stop worrying so much – you have time!"

What exciting projects have you got coming up? / What are you working on?

I’m currently freelancing, creating lots of personal work and teaching myself more about animation, I’m hoping to create another hand drawn original film, this time inspired by the horror genre.

Links

London College of Fashion

Contact

Telephone

+44 (0)20 7514 7400

Address

105 Carpenter's Road
London

E20 2AR