Brittni Thomas is the creative young woman behind ‘HellaBel’ – a brand and online shop that sells prints and original and custom alternative style water colour art. Brittni’s work features experimental, surreal watercolour work, portraits, still life and abstract pieces. Her art is vibrant and striking, and has been receiving quite a lot of attention since the opening of her online store.
Working with watercolours since she finished high school, Brittni paints for the relaxation and meditation it affords her, her admiration of and dedication to the style, and because she feels inspire by everything around her. Brittni’s family has fostered her interest in creative pursuits from a young age; Brittni is also a skilled guitarist and drummer, and teaches these skills in her spare time.
We asked Brittni how she heard about Visible Ink and why she wanted to use our space.
“I heard about Visible Ink through my friend Dan Mahler who also uses the Visible Ink space to help out his own business. He suggested it would be useful for me as I can use the services to help promote my art business. I want to use the printing services available so I can print out posters and flyers of my art brand to stick up anywhere and everywhere with contact information so anyone interested in my type of art can get a hold of me. I feel that the people at Visible Ink can help me make connections in the right field and help me out with advice or tips with ways to promote myself as it’s all pretty new to me!”
If you are thinking about getting involved in art, or your own business, Brittni suggests that you know what is that you want and to just go for it. The first step is always the hardest but once you take that step you’ll realize how much support exists out there and how many people will actually be enthused by your idea.
Brittni offered some advice for young people wanting to get started in creative online businesses.
“To anyone wanting to get involved in the art industry and to be able to sell themselves, my advice is to buy really good equipment and materials to get started. Create something out of your art which represents you and portrays what is uniquely you, that way the brand and shop you create will be distinct from everything else which is out there. Promotion is really important so that people notice you; look into every avenue of ways for people to notice your work. Be prepared to make mistakes as part of the progress, don’t ever let those mistakes bring you down. There is always something which can be learned and you’ll be better off in the end because of it.”