From every ruffle, button, and seam, Peters’ attention to detail within her elaborate illustrations leaves no stitch or texture uncaptured.
Those familiar with Perth-based online fashion boutique, Maximillia.com, may be acquainted with the delicate sketches of 19-year-old Queensland illustrator, Joelle Peters, the creative genius behind the centrepiece for the boutique’s homepage.
If not exiting the boutique with a signature Betsey Johnson or Karen Walker dress, visitors instead leave the store inspired by Peters’ intricate drawings.
While she is currently completing a Bachelor of Digital Design at Griffith University’s College of Art, it comes as quite a shock to learn that Peters hasn’t formally studied illustration.
“I’ve been pursuing digital illustration for the past five years, but I’ve been drawing for a lot longer than that,” she says.
Peters was 15 when she drew her first digital illustration, leaving plenty of time to create her own style and personality within her sketches.
“I was really hungry to get ahead as quickly as possible and was constantly changing my style and technique,” she says.
The enthusiasm and commitment Peters endeavoured at such a young age no doubt nurtured her rise to success within the fashion industry, a field she is now intimate with via commissions to illustrate for various industry-related websites.
“Fashion is something I’d like to get more involved in, not necessarily as a career, but just because I’m fascinated by the industry,” Peters says.
“A lot of my inspiration comes from fashion designers and fashion photography.”
Peters unmistakeably infiltrates a touch of her own personal style into her illustrations.
She describes her style as being very feminine, floaty and composed, but with an odd grunge or man-style piece mixed in to add some edge.
“I love detailed, beautiful little things, and I mostly wear black, creams, denim, soft blues, and pinks,” she says.
“I guess it just comes naturally, because I love beautiful clothes.”
Self-confessed fashion addict and boutique namesake, Maximillia Cozjin, says she stumbled upon Joelle’s illustrations through the Vogue Australia Forums blog network and it was love at first sight.
“The girls Joelle draws are like perfect ‘cartoon’ versions of those I imagine would wear designs from Maximillia,” she says.
“I was always considering the use of fashion illustrations to differentiate Maximillia’s homepage – but seeing Joelle’s work tipped me over the edge and I now consider them to be an integral part of Maximillia’s aesthetic.”