“I don’t really like the starving artist mindset,” says Melbourne-based artist and illustrator, Rachel Kim. “Like just doing one thing - I love being versatile with my art.” Kim joins me over a video call from her home in the city’s outer suburbs. It’s a dreary winter’s morning there and she has dressed accordingly in a thick knitted jumper. Its bell-sleeved details are reminiscent of the smocks worn by young budding artists.
While Kim’s art is a far cry from the cotton wool clouds and smiling suns of childhood, her work embodies the spirit of youth. Each page of her sketchbook reveals a new curiosity. Handmade envelopes are filled with cutout flowers. A page folds out to a sweeping view of a Japanese garden. A window opens to a butterfly roaming in a meadow.
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| Rachel Kim in the studio. Image: Supplied |
Kim began sharing her art on Instagram in 2022, a decision partially spurred by a request from a friend to paint a house portrait. “I had some materials left and I thought, well, why not just draw a few more.” 3 years and 300 posts later, Kim has amassed an online following of over 140,000 and views surpassing 1 million on some reels. Her feed is filled with sketchbook reveals, tutorials and behind-the-scenes content, inviting a growing community of art and craft lovers into her world of joyful experimentation.
A recent collaboration with Arteway led to Kim’s first online course, “Everyday Illustrations”, capturing her unique creative process. “One thing that's really transformed my practice is outdoor sketching,” she says. “I wanted to share the beauty and the joy of that with other people.” Kim’s love of teaching, originating from her years teaching violin, is clear, as she tells me about the in-person workshops she is leading through to September. Run in collaboration with Zetta Florence (a craft sanctuary located in Melbourne’s cultural hub, Fitzroy), the small-format workshops focus on botanical watercolour painting.
Flowers, after all, are Kim’s strong suit. Her mastery of the subject can be seen in the illustrations she contributed to the 2024 Thames & Hudson publication “The Flower Room: Timeless Interiors Inspired by Nature”. Written by well-known Australian contemporary interior designer, Charlotte Coote, the book combines two of Kim’s specialties - flowing florals and intricate interiors. Kim’s illustrations, drawn with a combination of pigment ink and watercolours, capture famous botanical-inspired rooms in all their opulent detail.
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| An artwork by Rachel Kim. Image: Supplied |
“I love working as a book illustrator because it really does take a village to make a book,” says Kim. It’s a fair comment, given the time, energy and collective work required to bring an author’s vision to life. Months in the making, Kim’s next illustrated book, a Thames & Hudson title on gardening, will be released next year. As a 56 flower compilation, this is Kim’s largest illustration project to date. “I'm so lucky to be working with a bunch of talented ladies and very thankful for the opportunity,” she says.
Born in Korea, but raised across both Korea and Australia, Kim was exposed to the arts from a young age. Growing up, she remembers going to many shows, exhibitions and concerts with her parents during school holidays. A professional violinist, Kim also undertook violin lessons throughout her youth, going on to study at the Queensland Conservatorium. She recounts how her violin teacher, who is still her mentor today, encouraged her to keep trying when she was feeling like giving up, particularly around audition times. “I take a lot from that experience from a young age,” she says. “That tenacity, that's, I think, what keeps me going with my art as well”.
Kim shows no signs of slowing down. In the coming months, she is looking forward to having more time to produce her own work. While Kim’s previous independent collections of watercolour paintings “Souvenir” and “Floriography” (both launched in 2024) explored travel memorabilia and birth month flowers respectively, Kim is still brainstorming what to do next. Travel scenery, ocean landscapes, flora and fauna, however, may be on the cards. Whatever it is, expect art that joyously reimagines life’s everyday moments.
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