Young artist inundated with commissions from across the world after TikTok success
A young artist from north Wales has been inundated with commissions from across the globe after sharing her work on TikTok.
Elysia Gilman started her own business after moving back home during lockdown.
"I've always enjoyed painting ever since I was small. I've been at the kitchen table either painting or drawing or modelling", she said.
"I was at university studying art and then in lockdown like a lot of students, I had to move back home.
"I wasn't particularly enjoying the course at the time, so I thought why not start up my own business and following my passion and becoming an artist. And that's what I did"
The 22-year-old started sharing her her work on social media and used her platform to grow her business.
"It was a lot of hard work. I have a Tik Tok page and one of the videos got almost 4 million views on there" says Elysia.
"I got loads and loads of emails from that and quite a lot of commissions that I've had to work through.
"I create oil paintings of figurative scenes and portraits and sporting scenes and street scenes as well."
Following her success on platform, Elysia said she now has " a lot of customers" in America, the UK and Canada.
She added: "It's really quite strange to think that my work is in other countries.
"I start out quite messy and scribbling all the paint on but it's almost like I'm imagining them looking out of an out-of-focussed camera lens and kind of bringing it all into one and just building up the detail as I go.
"I suppose looking at other artist work and seeing what technique they use, it's kind of a bit of my own work and looking at their style as well and just kind of meshing it together.
"It's quite exciting though, sending my work across the globe."
She's also been sharing tips and inspiring others to get involved.
"It's also really helpful for people to learn from me as well", she added.
"I show the whole process of my painting. I'll start off maybe with a sketch just in oil paint and then build it up throughout the video and give people tips and tricks and things and just sharing what I'm doing."
Catch the latest episode of ITV Wales' new arts and entertainment show 'Backstage', along with previous episodes, at www.itv.com/walesprogrammes