Candice Broersma

On the Downtown Gallery Walk October 13 from 5pm-8pm.

Explore the fantastical art of Iowa City illustrator Candice Broersma in the “Cover Story” exhibit. The display will feature over thirty pieces of originals and prints from her personal projects and professional book cover commissions. Included in the collection is Broersma’s “Uncanny Forest” series of curious tree folk in mixed media as well as miniature scratchboards from her “Monster Buddy Project”. Enjoy the collection from August 22 to October 22 at Artifactory gallery.

Broersma’s online portfolio.

Free admission

Bio:
Candice Broersma received her Master of Arts in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design and has been illustrating professionally for 10 years. She creates imaginative artwork for book covers as well as posters, cd covers, and private commissions. Broersma’s passion is illustrating for books and works with publishers and independent writers to bring their novels to life. Her primary genre is young adult and middle grade novels, especially science fiction and fantasy genres. Broersma’s work has multiple  features in Infected by Art, a yearly compendium of the illustration industry’s top works produced in the imaginative realism genre.

Candice Broersma’s primary medium is digital, using traditional methods of drawing and painting with a Wacom graphics tablet and Adobe Photoshop. All of her work begins as a sketch, which is refined with the gradual building of light and shadow. No generative AI is incorporated in her work and she takes a firm stance on ethical creative practices. Broersma is an advocate for protecting the content of artists, writers, actors, and other creative professionals against misuse by companies specializing in generative AI. She hopes to spread awareness of the exploitative practices of AI models trained on copyrighted content that have recently come to light.

In addition to the book cover art prints on display, small works in traditional media include the following series:

The Uncanny Forest

The Uncanny Forest had its origins in “Inktober”-- a drawing challenge with wide participation in the online art community. The challenge calls for new ink-based sketches created daily for the month of October and has since inspired thematic drawing and painting series for several months of the year such as “Mermay”. For Inktober, Broersma took a focused approach on one subject matter: trees. Each tree for this series was created using a free-form application of ink on a toned paper background to create unique tree silhouettes, which were then filled in with detailed branches and quirky humanoid faces. These entish beings took on a personality of their own and have been bestowed with pun-filled titles and the visages of some famous “celebritrees”.

The Monster Buddy Project

The Monster Buddy Project invited schools and aspiring artists in San Bernardino, California to submit drawings of imaginary friends. Over 100 entries were collected and among those, 15 of the most creative were selected to be the inspiration for a series of scratchboard drawings. The project explores the surprising inventiveness of young minds and encourages the pursuit of originality and whimsy in the visual arts. The collection of scratchboards and student artwork was originally displayed in Candice Broersma’s hometown at Queen Bean Caffè in Yucaipa.