GUEST ARTIST: “Making Watercolor Magic” by Tugce Audoire

Hi all! My name is Tugce Audoire and I am an animator and illustrator born in Ordu, Turkey in 1988. It’s not fair to say that I am from Turkey, because I spent the last 10 years (the biggest part of my adult life) out of Turkey. I’ve been traveling around the world and experiencing different countries such as France, Czech Republic, Malaysia, the United States, and now I am living in Rio de Janeiro.

Tasting and slightly immersing myself in different cultures really had a huge impact on my art and style. I see myself as a custom-made projection machine, meaning what I see around me influences what I reflect through my art. Even though I always dream of having an “art studio” space, I can’t have a settled studio space for more than 2-3 years within the lifestyle I live.

But luckily, it feeds my inspiration a lot which matters the most to me at the end of the day. The funny thing is, I started working on the first book of Watercolor Magic on my first day in Brazil. So, I was still staying in a hotel and drawing almost the entire book on a coffee table while sitting on the floor.

Let me tell you a bit about myself. I’ve been into art since I was a kid and I was lucky enough to be recognized by one of my elementary school teachers who lead me to study art. So, I went to a high school of art (Eskisehir-Turkey) where I studied for 4 years and had a chance to practice with a lot of different media in various branches of art like sculpting, photography, printing, painting etc. I continued my studies at the faculty of fine art, animation department. That’s where I learned to make my illustration become alive.

It was a huge challenge for me to adapt my art into technology at first, but I ended up falling in love with this mind-blowing and developing branch of art. Besides animation classes such as traditional animation, storyboarding, storytelling, character design, and 3D animation, the school was offering a huge scale of various classes such as cinematography, art history, editing, compositing, ceramic, anatomy and so on.

I was lucky enough to taste a bit of all of those classes and find out what I liked the most. I studied my last year in the Czech Republic, which was more about being young and having fun. But with the different education system I faced there, I learned to push my limits individually and make decisions without following a syllabus. I made my graduation short movie while I was there and that movie made me an award-winning animator.

After graduating from university, I immediately started to work in an animation studio as a 3D animator, which I loved doing a lot. After a couple of months and a basket full of the experience earned there, I decided to become a freelance artist-animator and I quit my job and moved to France.

I started to paint more, and paint for fun, not for homework or for the eyes of others but only for myself and that was the key to finding joy and my unique style of art. I opened my 4th individual exhibition while I was in France. That was my first “fully watercolor” exhibition.

At first my impatient character was the thing that lead me to watercolor. It gets dry way faster than most other media I used to use, but the surprising and uncontrollable characteristic of watercolor charms me a lot. Even though I like trying new media and mixing them, my “go to” media is always watercolor.

I worked as a freelance artist and animator for almost 10 years now, and had a chance to be a part of some great projects which taught me a lot and fed my soul at the same time. I did lots of digital art and 2D animation for work, but I always missed working with paper, brush and watercolor on my desk. Luckily, I had a big gap between jobs and I was losing my mind doing nothing. Then, I decided to start a YouTube channel to share my life, which is not quite me, but I like to challenge myself and make myself uncomfortable from time to time.

I worked behind the camera for years and it was odd to be in front of it. I started with vlogs which was hard for me to initiate and find the joy in doing. Eventually, my sleepy brain took control of the situation and decided to do more art-centric videos. Now, I have over 110k followers who love art and chit chat. I am so happy that I decided to go down this road, because that was what got me the chance to work on some amazing books.

I did a video where I drew Harry Potter items, because obviously I’m a Potterhead. And those doodles got me noticed by some headhunters who came to me with an offer to illustrate a Harry Potter watercolor book. To be honest, I couldn’t believe my eyes at first! Working on such a big project, illustrating one of my favorite subjects, and doing it with watercolor… I was up in the sky! It was truly a great experience to work with amazing people on such an amazing and inspiring project.

In every step, I was thinking that other people with similar passions as I have will touch this book, follow my instructions and spend some happy time being inspiring by my illustrations. Those thoughts helped me get through all of the challenges I had. I doubted myself. I got scared of giving misleading instructions on such a slippery floor such as “watercolor,” while coloring some complex images. It wasn’t always easy as I illustrate with my instincts, but we managed to bring two amazing books to life! (The first Harry Potter Watercolor Magic book is available now, and the second Harry Potter Watercolor Magic book, Flora and Fauna, is coming out soon!)

While I was working on those books, I was going to an online school to improve my 3D animation skills again, because that’s what I want to work on next. And recently, I graduated from Animation Mentor. Now I am doing part-time tutoring there while working on my personal projects, creating some content for my YouTube channel, learning ceramics and doing lots of watercolor.

Thanks for having me here and letting me tell my story. Cheers!

Tugce Audoire is a World Watercolor Month 2022 Artist Ambassador!

Tugce Audoire
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