Hello! My name is Aniko! All of my life, I knew that one day, I am going to be a successful artist, but many life circumstances tried to push me off course and tried to make me do other things for a living. My parents always wanted me to have a well-paid job, and as a teenager, I listened to them, although it was hard for me to reject my dreams of just being a free spirit and make beautiful things for others.
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Over six years ago, I graduated as an interior designer and architect's assistant, and straight after that, I moved to London, UK. I only used my educational skills during my studies, and I worked in a few interior design and architecture companies. It never fascinated me, so as soon as I graduated, I never came back to my primary profession. Ever!
Apart from creating unique art, I had a craze about Photoshop and photo manipulations, which I had practiced as a hobby since I was 14. Surprisingly, this exact hobby got me my very first job in London and kept me employed for the next five years. Parallel to that, I had established my small business from home and discovered such art mediums as polymer clay and sculpting. First, as a hobby and then with a much more professional attitude, sculpting very quickly took over my whole life and became visible to other crafters in social media. But it wasn't enough to survive on, and even if I was already a world-known artist and had quite a big following of my fellow crafters, it never reflected on my wallet. I had to be a "Boring Day Job girl" during the day and an artist in the evenings and weekends!
Then, in May 2015 came out a post about my personalized journals here on Bored Panda. Literally in 1 day, I gained thousands and thousands of new likes, e-mails, questions, requests, interviews, reposts on other viral websites and in 1-2 week's time I was booked for the next 6 months upfront to make clay book covers and jewelry for all those wonderful people who saw me on Bored Panda and appreciated my work.
I quit my day job in a Fashion Studio almost instantly after this successful publication and never looked back. This is what I've been waiting for all that time! I worked in a fashion studio as a photo retoucher before, and you may say that this is an amazing job in itself, but all I can say is that my dreams laid elsewhere... in making BEAUTIFUL and most importantly MEANINGFUL THINGS for other people and give my love and blessings to them this way! You can't even imagine how happy it makes me receive photos of people who received my book cover ideas as a gift, and to hear stories of my clients who often say that tears of happiness appear on their eyes when they unwrap their packages and discover their ordered items inside!
All of the pictures below are the artworks I made after Bored Panda promoted my art (2015 and early 2016, except the frog and owl ones). I am eternally grateful to the Bored Panda team for giving me this chance. This is priceless! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Fox's Family Journal
"Mother's Love" journal was made for the Giraffe Conservation Organisation
I even made a tutorial on how to make a journal like this yourself.
"The Baby Dragon" journal is a very cute little thing and I actually have a tutorial available on making a journal like that yourself!
Owl book cover
My frog journals are one of the most favourite style for my clients, so I have made quite a few of them
Dragon book cover
"Pegasus" journal was ordered by a mother as a gift to her 14 years old daughter who loves unicorns and pegasus
She cried with happiness when she received it!
"The White Shepherd Dog" journal was made for a family who has over 3 dogs of this breed and they are very much into magic and fantasy
Snow Owl Journal
"The Spirit Of The Forest" kindle cover was one of my very first covers and I was very glad to widen up my range of products by making it
Flowers blossom journal
"Family Picnic" journal was ordered by a mother of the family, who's daughter was just about to give birth to her second child
I also love to create jewelry. “The Cutie Fox” pendant is a piece from my Indigo Forest collection
Creating animals is my favourite thing and I love to enhance their cuteness, their shiny eyes and make natural furry textures
"Forbidden Forests" bracelet was such a fun piece to work on and it took me 14 hours non stop to make
"Garuda The Bird Of God" necklace is a very meaningful to me and it is my personal favorite to wear
“Indigo Rabbit” necklace
Video tutorial on how to make an elephant journal (3 parts)
You can see more works on Etsy
Aniko's journey as an artist showcases the power of passion and creativity. Her dedication to making beautiful and meaningful creations connects deeply with her audience. Similarly, discovering the joys and unique personalities of animals can also bring happiness and purpose to our lives.
If you're looking for some heart-warming inspirations, explore the delightful companionship and cuteness of ducks by checking out these adorable pictures that can brighten up any day.