Illustrator Adriana Picker is no stranger to Jurlique. She first took her beautiful botanical illustrations and splashed them over our Activating Water Essence and Rose Body Oil Limited Editions for Lunar New Year 2020 and now she’s back, applying her signature style to this year’s Mother’s Day Gift Set, Jurlique Rose Luxe Edition Hand Cream and Rosewater Balancing Mist Intense Deluxe Edition
Using the Jurlique Rose and native Australian botanicals as inspiration, Adriana has used her hand-drawn, free-flowing style to create original, exclusive packaging that are artworks in themselves. We sat down her to find out more about her creative process, and what went into creating these illustrations.
Why did you choose the path of becoming an artist?
I don’t think in the end it was something I chose; it was something that I fell into organically - a direction I was pushed along and decided to follow. After High School I studied Design with the intention of starting a career in the film industry as a designer. Whilst completing my degree I sought work in film and found work as a Costume Illustrator on films like The Great Gatsby and Mad Max: Fury Road.
Doing this work that relied on my more natural talents as an Illustrator rather than my learned design skills made me realised where my true passions lay, that I could potentially make a living as an Illustrator and that it was something I wanted to pursue. I am very lucky to have a family that places great value on creativity.
Adriana Picker wearing red and white stiped dress in flower garden
How would you describe your illustrative style?
Lush, detailed, densely saturated, romantic.
What is your most important artistic tool and why?
Very unromantically it is my iPad! I draw everything on it now and it comes absolutely everywhere with me. On a plane, a park, the beach! It is utterly freeing.
What is it about botanicals that inspires you the most?
The unending and incredible variations created by the greatest muse: Nature.
How do you think art and creativity makes the world a better place?
What is more important than beauty to the human soul? It is a balm and a refuge. It is my great aim in life to make everything around me beautiful in one way or another - purposefully curated or spontaneously enjoyed, just like discoveries in Nature.
What process did you follow to get started on the Jurlique artwork?
The first thing I did after receiving the brief was go into my Mother's garden and take an enormous amount of reference photos. I happened to be in Australia at the time of starting the work so the ability to do this - interacting with the actual plants themselves - was crucial to the success of the artwork. The heart of the Jurlique brand focuses on the unusual, less seen view of botanicals, so I was able to seek my own unique perspective of the Rose to use as reference.
Adriana Picker wearing red and white stripe dress in flower garden
What do you love the most about the work you’ve created for Jurlique?
I love that it has such a strong connection to my family, that it literally is drawings of plants from my Mother’s garden. Little memories of her. I love the Rose mist artwork in particular as it focuses not on the blooms but more on the leaves and buds and hips. It highlights that the beauty of a Rose comes not only from its much-celebrated flowers but also the entirety of the plant, that grows and exists and supports the plant year-round, even in the absence of the bloom. I like the view this allows of seeking and finding beauty in overlooked places, the seemingly mundane. Having the ability to find beauty in the unremarkable, the everyday is a lovely way to live one’s life.
You’re a busy woman. How do you build self-care into your life?
As I get a bit more experienced and further along in my career, I have realised how important a self-care routine is for professional productivity. When I first began freelancing as an Illustrator, as many people at the beginnings of their careers, I worked constantly, regularly pulling all-nighters and not taking weekends off.
Now I have realised the importance of taking time to enjoy the life I have created for myself and trying to cultivate relationships and interests that fall outside of work. Self-care is about having a mindfulness routine of rest, exercise and activities that are not work related that bring me joy. Mental health needs work like anything else.
Take a piece of Adriana Picker’s work home and shop our Mother’s Day Gift Set, Jurlique Rose Luxe Edition Hand Cream and Rosewater Balancing Mist Intense Deluxe Edition.
Using the Jurlique Rose and native Australian botanicals as inspiration, Adriana has used her hand-drawn, free-flowing style to create original, exclusive packaging that are artworks in themselves. We sat down her to find out more about her creative process, and what went into creating these illustrations.
Why did you choose the path of becoming an artist?
I don’t think in the end it was something I chose; it was something that I fell into organically - a direction I was pushed along and decided to follow. After High School I studied Design with the intention of starting a career in the film industry as a designer. Whilst completing my degree I sought work in film and found work as a Costume Illustrator on films like The Great Gatsby and Mad Max: Fury Road.
Doing this work that relied on my more natural talents as an Illustrator rather than my learned design skills made me realised where my true passions lay, that I could potentially make a living as an Illustrator and that it was something I wanted to pursue. I am very lucky to have a family that places great value on creativity.
Adriana Picker wearing red and white stiped dress in flower garden
How would you describe your illustrative style?
Lush, detailed, densely saturated, romantic.
What is your most important artistic tool and why?
Very unromantically it is my iPad! I draw everything on it now and it comes absolutely everywhere with me. On a plane, a park, the beach! It is utterly freeing.
What is it about botanicals that inspires you the most?
The unending and incredible variations created by the greatest muse: Nature.
How do you think art and creativity makes the world a better place?
What is more important than beauty to the human soul? It is a balm and a refuge. It is my great aim in life to make everything around me beautiful in one way or another - purposefully curated or spontaneously enjoyed, just like discoveries in Nature.
What process did you follow to get started on the Jurlique artwork?
The first thing I did after receiving the brief was go into my Mother's garden and take an enormous amount of reference photos. I happened to be in Australia at the time of starting the work so the ability to do this - interacting with the actual plants themselves - was crucial to the success of the artwork. The heart of the Jurlique brand focuses on the unusual, less seen view of botanicals, so I was able to seek my own unique perspective of the Rose to use as reference.
Adriana Picker wearing red and white stripe dress in flower garden
What do you love the most about the work you’ve created for Jurlique?
I love that it has such a strong connection to my family, that it literally is drawings of plants from my Mother’s garden. Little memories of her. I love the Rose mist artwork in particular as it focuses not on the blooms but more on the leaves and buds and hips. It highlights that the beauty of a Rose comes not only from its much-celebrated flowers but also the entirety of the plant, that grows and exists and supports the plant year-round, even in the absence of the bloom. I like the view this allows of seeking and finding beauty in overlooked places, the seemingly mundane. Having the ability to find beauty in the unremarkable, the everyday is a lovely way to live one’s life.
You’re a busy woman. How do you build self-care into your life?
As I get a bit more experienced and further along in my career, I have realised how important a self-care routine is for professional productivity. When I first began freelancing as an Illustrator, as many people at the beginnings of their careers, I worked constantly, regularly pulling all-nighters and not taking weekends off.
Now I have realised the importance of taking time to enjoy the life I have created for myself and trying to cultivate relationships and interests that fall outside of work. Self-care is about having a mindfulness routine of rest, exercise and activities that are not work related that bring me joy. Mental health needs work like anything else.
Take a piece of Adriana Picker’s work home and shop our Mother’s Day Gift Set, Jurlique Rose Luxe Edition Hand Cream and Rosewater Balancing Mist Intense Deluxe Edition.
