5 Questions With Creatives

Dollie Jewell of Dollie’s Monsters

by Nicole Willis

Dollie Jewell creates creepily cute illustrations riddled with bright colors and fun 90’s nostalgia under the artist name Dollie’s Monsters. Jewell’s affinity for vintage cartoons and her appreciation for American traditional tattoos—which are characterized by bold black outlines, vivid colors and minimal shading—serve as primary inspirations for her fun, colorful creations. She fuses the cuteness of familiar cartoon characters with the edginess of American traditional-style tattoos to create each of her pieces. Describing her work and artistic style as “the Lowbrow end of illustrative pop culture,” Jewell’s work is both eye-catching and creatively bold.

Though Jewell is somewhat new to the Pensacola area, she has already found her niche in the local arts scene. She brings her work to a variety of local events and arts markets throughout town, including the upcoming February Gallery Night in downtown Pensacola. Jewell also takes commissions via email at dolliesmonster@gmail.com. To check out more of Jewell’s work, visit @dolliesmonsters on Instagram or visit her website at dolliesmonsters.com.

Let’s start with you telling me a little bit about yourself and your professional background.

I’m 24, and I’ve been a professional artist for about three years now. I always thought of myself as an artist; creativity was always a natural instinct to me. I didn’t ever really grow out of my imagination. I’m not from Florida, although I do love it here. I was actually born just south of Atlanta. My parents used to vacation in Panama City and thought it’d be a great place to settle down. I actually just moved to Pensacola from Panama City a few months ago and am getting acquainted with the art scene here. I love how massive the art community is here; it makes me really excited to see such a large tight-knit community as I’m coming from a small town art community that’s very diverse and close as well. I currently run an oddities and art market called The After Dark Market in St. Andrews out of Floriopolis, an art nonprofit that I’ve had a very close relationship with for years. I’ve been doing commission pieces for years before I was a professional artist, but vending has been a somewhat new adventure for me. I’ve vended at over 20 shows, pop-ups, and my own curated markets in 2022, and it was such a fantastic way to showcase my work while meeting fellow creators and art lovers.

How long have you been interested in illustration, and how did you first get into it?

I have been interested in illustration since I was a small kid. I think the cartoons I watched as a kid had a huge impact on me. From watching Care Bears and Dragon Tales, to discovering what anime was and staying up late to catch Toonnami airing the latest episodes of Bleach and Naruto, I loved it all. I used to trace everything out of my coloring books instead of actually coloring in the pages, as well as tracing a lot of tattoo flash as a young kid out of a Miami Ink book my parents had. I think my family is just full of creative folks, so I was inspired as a kid by lots of music, art and pop culture.

Can you take me through your creative process and describe what goes into creating one of your pieces?

I’m one of those people that likes to meticulously plan out their paintings, although I may not follow my plans 100 percent. At the end of my process, I end up drawing each piece three to fourtimes. I go through preliminary sketches and thumbnailing, then create a finalized sketch from that. I use transfer paper to make sure all my linework will turn out perfect while painting. I’ve always been passionate about the technical side of the tools I use to create my art as well, so I use the same paints and paintbrushes for everything which makes finding new brushes so frustrating, haha. I usually paint with acrylic, inks and watercolor (mostly a mix of the three) on various woods. I enjoy playing around with color theory and optical illusions along with special effects in my original paintings. I like to add pops of secret blacklight paints or 24k gold on metal accents.

Why did you decide to combine horror and grunge elements with what are conventionally seen as cute and wholesome characters?

I think it’s just part of that childhood whimsy that everyone lets go of, or forgets to hold onto, rather. I think that’s where a lot of my juxtaposition subject matter comes from, like the memento mori of our childhoods, the characters that we cherished weren’t left behind but instead grew up with us and became experienced adults with trauma and baggage, blood-stained and full of tears. It’s often a mirror or reflection of how I’m feeling, whether that be sadness, rejection, euphoria, etc. I like the thought of evoking those uncomfortable feelings with characters people are often very comfortable with. I’ve also been a big horror fan my entire life.

From Sanrio characters and Care Bears to Kewpie dolls and Furbies, you illustrate a slew of different characters. Can you tell me about the different types of pieces you create? What is your favorite subject or character to capture?

Lots of my inspiration comes from things I grew up with as a kid and being a 90s baby–Sanrio, Care Bears, Furbies–all the 90s nostalgia. Kewpie dolls have been an obsession of mine for a really long time. I started drawing them when I was a teenager, but they progressed as I got more into the tattooing world, and they’ve quickly become my favorite thing to create. One of my arm sleeves is dedicated almost entirely to Kewpie doll tattoos. A lot of my work is very influenced by American traditional tattoo styles, and it’s become one of my favorite styles to draw now. I try to combine cute frilly femme subjects with the bold edginess of American trad.