Please join us in celebrating this month’s spotlight surface designer, Rasika Ashwin. We know you’ll find her story inspiring!
Please introduce yourself.
Hi, I’m Rasika Ashwin originally from India but currently residing in America. I’m a freelance artist passionately working on picture books and surface pattern designs, and I take up mural projects under my brand CocoRosha.
I have always been an artist since childhood — a special thanks to my artist aunt. I do also have lots of artists in my family and I’m very grateful to them.
As a kid, I loved selling my hand drawn greeting cards and now I sell my hand made home decor items at flea markets. I always find inspiration in nature and love drawing fun, colorful things for kids.
Art is so much a part of my life that most of my designs I sketch are from my dreams. When I’m not dreaming up ideas for CocoRosha, I work part-time as an art educator to kids at a preschool. I’m a 24×7 artist and any spare hour between freelance work and school I use it up to take a nature walk and some rapid sketching.
Tell us a little bit about your design journey.
I think I got started right after I could hold a pencil in my hand LOL… really I’m a single kid to my parents and I obviously went everywhere with them so wherever we went, I had my paper and pencil, or a paper napkin and pen when we went to our favorite restaurant.
Later my artist aunt picked up on my skill at a very nascent stage and got me into the habit of going to every art competition in our area. Right into the mid-school, I knew very strongly that I want to be an artist just like her. Fast forward to college life, I did my Bachelor’s in Applied Arts with a major of visualization and got my first job in an advertising agency. I worked for 2 years and then started my freelance journey.
Continuing my tradition to set a booth at flea markets, I had one at the college’s summer fest and I sold magnets, doodle diaries, wrapping papers, bookmarks, sarcasm cards, and made my portfolio to pitch to the companies. Post my final jury, I got a fantastic opportunity to work in a massive home appliance company. I had so much fun creating trends and colors for their products. That’s when I got introduced to surface pattern design. The company always outsourced patterns from South Korea and I did take a business trip to see their process. I met the artists behind the wonderful patterns & fell in love with the process. Woah, that was a lightbulb moment for me!
It was only when I moved to America, I started collecting my previous sketches and got into the process of creating repeat patterns. My curious mind and endless surfing online led me to Spoonflower’s weekly challenges and now I have an active shop with around 40 designs and some mini collections w.i.p 🙂
Last Christmas, I bought 4 of my designs and hand crafted head bows and neck bows for my preschoolers. (A big hug to my husband for gifting me the sewing machine LOL..) In the following year, I plan to get more hand crafted products under my wings..YAY, I’m already excited!
What streams of income are you focusing on right now?
I do have 3 income sources currently and plan to grow them while exploring a couple more. My focus right now is on getting more traction from my 2 recently completed mural paintings, hoping to create more business from my Spoonflower shop and by teaching art at the preschool.
What do you like to do besides designing?
I work part-time at a private preschool which I feel I’m very lucky as I get to strike a right balance between my 2 top interests: one, always drawing and two, spending time with the kids which makes me a happy person. Since I plan to design for kids and it can be a forever love, I totally get good ideas being around them which inspires me to draw for living. Also, I feel my drawings make people smile 🙂
Besides being a freelance illustrator, I love being an art educator, I do yoga, I hike and sketch. I think gardening and decorating my home gives me lots of joy.
Do you have a favorite portfolio design or client collaboration?
I got my 1st gig last September, it was a mural painting project for a local restaurant. A friend was starting a restaurant all about eggs of the world and approached me (can’t thank her enough). On a coffee call, we got this idea of painting food stamps as she loves inventing new dishes and we thought when she patents a recipe we could design food stamps and keep updating the restaurant menu.
I had so much fun and learning from this project. Now, when I see my work there, it makes me feel so proud of myself and I think I was so brave to paint on a large canvas. Wow! How did I do it then LOL.. I was only excited and confident when I was painting and it is only possible because I draw daily.
Where do you get inspiration for your art?
Literally everywhere! I find it in nature predominantly and then by observing my funny little friends at the school, listening to other artists and their journey, unusual bold color combinations — the list is endless and it is so difficult to bring every idea on paper so I just experience a few to feel good.
When you look back at your design journey so far, what are you most proud of?
I am consistently worshiping my craft and feel a need to draw or think about creating something most of the time. When I am not in a very crafty mood, I go for nature walks and like to stay connected in my creative zone. As a kid I did spend hours drawing alone and enjoyed my own company. I feel I had a realization that I truly love being an artist and it’s my passion that will always stay with me even in my ups and downs of life.
Who are your favorite artists?
I love Lisa Congdon for her bright and bold use of colors. Jill Labieniec for her hand painted animals with subtle colors. Stacie Bloomfield for her art and teaching skills. David Roberts for his quirky illustrations. Flavia Z Drago for her cute kidlit illustrations. Suzy Ultman for her versatile art. The list again is endless but if I have to answer precisely, any art that has elements of nature and is colorful draws my attention.
If you could offer advice to other designers who are struggling, what would that be?
I think struggle is a messy middle and it is a long learning process which should be enjoyed and one should try to learn from it. Our mistakes are our great teachers. A little laugh here.. but no really I would encourage from the bottom of my heart to all the creative heads that they keep going and explore their creative path. Take a break but bounce back with full force and keep drawing as art has the power to make someone smile 🙂
Where can we find you?
Website: rasikarajput.myportfolio.com
Instagram: @cocorosha_artroom
