Dami Olaleye’s art is what fairytale and mystical lands are made of. Her art is the definition of Alice in Wonderland without the villainy Queen of Hearts. She draws beautiful, ethereal female characters that’ll make your soul melt. Dami’s Instagram page is a never-ending adventure of Female characters.
Here, we have a short and beautiful chat with her. 
For Creative Girls: Super-awed by your art, Dami. When and how did you start making art?
I have always been doing it for fun for as long as I can remember but I officially started it as a career around May 2016.
Your characters are ethereal – like a hybrid between real life and fairytale. What influences and inspires the characters that you create?
I enjoy a lot of mystical movies like The Hobbit and Avatar which has generally mixed with my imaginations and thoughts. These imaginations are what I put down as Art.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfodrkegnMs/?taken-by=call.me.dami
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bds4vURAkci/?taken-by=call.me.dami
Did you go through any formal training process when you decided to start drawing fairytale characters?
No, I didn’t. YouTube was and still is my Art Teacher 😊.
Your tutorials are really cool and seem quite easy to understand. Do you intend to teach in the long run?
Yes. I really want to go full time into making tutorials on my YouTube channel that people will understand easily. I also plan to hold physical workshops for those that would be interested in that in the future.
What other forms of art or techniques do you practice?
I enjoy doing traditional works, especially with Watercolor because they are very relaxing. Other mediums I use include Charcoal, Acrylic, Ball Point Pens and regular Pencils.
Also, see 10 Contemporary African Artists you should be following.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhxAn4wAeAP/?taken-by=call.me.dami
https://www.instagram.com/p/BddTZj3AC3J/?taken-by=call.me.dami
What does your daily routine look like.
My Daily routine depends on what I’m doing at that period of my life. Because I’m still a student my routine in school is quite different from when I’m at home. I’m currently doing my Internship so the routine is also quite different.
Since It’s my internship I’m currently doing, I will give my daily routine for that. I work a bit far from my house (Ikorodu to Yaba) so I have to wake up by 5 am with my Dad – because we go together. I usually get to work around 8:30 am and I work to 5 pm. During this time I don’t really draw since that’s not the work I applied for (I applied as a Computer Science Student). I usually get home by 8 or 9 depending on the traffic. Basically, I don’t get much time to draw during the week so I end up drawing mostly during the weekends.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgjm500DwCu/?taken-by=call.me.dami
Tell us about 3 women you admire.
Most of the women I admire come from the Art field.
Lois Van Baarle: She is a Dutch Artist who I really admire. When I started my art career she is one of the three women who I looked up to and studied. My art is heavily influenced by her art style and up till today I still fall in love with her works over and over again.
Maryam Muparki: She’s an artist that goes by the name Girly_m. I discovered digital art through her so she is always in my history. My art is also heavily influenced by hers since she was also one the artists I studied a lot when I first started.
Hiba: She is an upcoming artist that I really admire. Her style is what draws me to her because whenever I look at her art I see the level I want to attain. I have seen tremendous growth in her art which really motivates me to keep going in my art as well.
Follow Dami Olaleye’s awesomeness on Instagram and YouTube.
