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In the spotlight
Sarah Donde is an illustrator and artist whose work finds humour, warmth and beauty in the everyday. Moving between delicate watercolours, playful illustrations and thoughtful visual observations, she has developed a visual language that feels entirely her own. Her work is personal, witty and deeply relatable, finding the extraordinary in ordinary moments and reminding us that there is always value in seeing the world differently.
What’s your story?
I grew up in South Africa. My paternal grandmother is an artist and her late husband was a collector of art, this background established an early interest and appreciation in art. My family always encouraged me to create art and adults around me took it upon themselves to teach me and encourage me. Unfortunately I hadn't grown up around or known anyone who made art as a career or in any professional way - my grandmother never really sold her art. This meant that I didn't see it as a real career prospect.
For other personal reasons, I felt a need to prove my intellect and capability and sought out a career in medicine, but ended up studying law. I found that over the years when I focused on achieving in the academic field, I totally forgot about art. I find I need to be in quite a good place or have the room and space to be in a bad place (without deadlines and obligations) to be able to create. I didn't have this for years and years. There were moments (singular days) over the years where I would remember about art, normally the harder ones - like after I had eye surgery and became very panicked I would no longer be able to do the things I used to. I made a big watercolour painting that day to prove that I could.
In 2023 I quit my job in London and felt like I was at rock bottom without a plan, a passion, a dream. I started painting and drawing again and realised that it actually could be my passion and plan, I just needed to believe in it and put my energy into it.
Your work turns everyday moments into soft, humorous social commentary. What draws you to those themes?
Those moments are my reasons for creating art. it's how I unpack feelings and digest what's happening around me. It's like a language I need to speak in order to get to the other side of a feeling. I am a very honest and blunt person, I don't avoid the elephant in the room, neither does my art.
You move between doodles, watercolours, and detailed landscapes. Which format feels most natural to you, and why?
It depends on the day, what I am trying to process, my mind space. If I have a hectic schedule, the doodles enable me to keep processing life in a couple of minutes. if I am on holiday, I love to document the beauty in landscapes that i can keep forever. I feel like a photograph never does travel scenes justice, but by painting, I can capture the way it made me feel and the important vibrant colours that the camera wouldn't remember. When I have a lot of time and space I like to just spend a full day or weekend painting canvases.
Your style is instantly recognisable, with imperfect lines, handwritten text, and lots of personality. How did that style develop over time?
It developed when I realised perfect art wasn't the art I loved consuming the most (I love movies that feel real and not hollywood, I love songs with voice breaks and cracks, I don't enjoy hyperreal or symmetrical art) - and stopped applying those standards to myself. I realised it was more important to get it out and started being looser and not masking my own hand movements behind perfection.
Looking back, which piece of work in your journey feels most meaningful to you so far?
Probably all the drawings and paintings I made for family as a kid. They always kept them and framed them and proudly hung them up and aunts and uncles would tell their friends about my art with pride - it really instilled a sense of confidence in my skills that forms a foundation to combat any doubts I have. It made me feel like I have something special from the beginning, even if it wasn't true, that made me feel really good and I think back fondly.
Are there artists or creators who inspire you, or make you think, “I wish I’d made that”?
I am inspired constantly. I will always have a very soft spot for Monet and his colour palette. To be honest, I dont find myself wishing I created other's work because there is always a story behind an artist's work, a llifetime, that informs it, that no one could or should replicate. It's like your lifetime + your skills + your traumas and joys are the recipe for the art you made - that can't be replicated. There is no risk of AI or a copycat creator ever doing that - and that is what I specifically love about art that other fields don't have. You can replicate science and medicine and the impact of scientific progress like vaccines and thank god for that, but you cannot replicate art or its impact.
What would your dream collaboration look like, and who would it be with, dead or alive? Why them?
I would love to work with a sustainable brand to create a clothing line at some point - that's probably a bit left of field when you look at my art, but I would honestly love that. Before I really doubled down on art, I worked with a PJ brand and they really screwed me over. I designed a beautiful PJ pattern for them and they produced the products before I had even handed over the final design as I had wanted to discuss pricing etc (I didn't know better to do that at the beginning). I never got paid and they sold my PJs. It was really heartbreaking. I would love to experience a full circle moment of that. It would be epic if it was with a brand like Liberty London.
Thinking back, what advice would you give your younger self starting out in the creative world?
Don't work with someone until you've agreed on terms and received a deposit amount. There is no such thing as exposure as payment.
You’re a writer as much as an illustrator. How do words and images work together in your creative process?
They are intrinsically linked. Even in my canvas works that don't have words, there is a story I have in my mind about it, there is a journal entry or notes page about the work. One does not exist without the other - they describe, inform and enrich each other.
What project, or idea are you most excited to explore next? What’s next for Sarah?
I would like to make a body of work that I can get into a gallery, that would be my next goal. I am not in a rush, if it took a lifetime to get there, I would still be so grateful, but the sooner it can happen, the sooner I can do this art thing full time.