Canberra’s iPad artist getting hundreds of millions of views for her creations
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Canberra’s National Gallery of Australia has exhibited priceless artworks from around the world.
But did you know we have an internationally regarded digital artist living in our midst?
25-year-old is a Lake Ginninderra College graduate who produces internationally viral art and branding from her Belconnen home.
All she needs is an iPad, Apple pencil, and good wifi.
She started creating art for social media in 2018, creating her TikTok account in 2020. After a few videos, one of them went viral, and today she has 2.8 million followers. Her YouTube channel is over 1 million and her Instagram is over 80,000.
Along the way, she has ticked a few bucket list items she didn’t even know she had. Fly to London for Apple’s iPad release, for instance; meeting and creating art for Guy Sebastian and Delta Goodrem; filling up the equivalent of a soccer field with chalk art at the National Gallery and most recently creating art for Apple’s 50th Anniversary, which was displayed on the Opera House. She also has her own Spotify Original Podcast called PengoPod, filmed with Amazon Prime in Sydney as part of the campaign for Paper Girls, has been featured on Apple’s website and has been a judge for the Student Edge iPad Challenge two years in a row.
Oh, and racked up 245 million views for one of her Insta videos.
Homeschooled in her primary years by her artist mother, Hannah has always been creating.
“Obviously, my roots are traditional art methods, specifically in coloured pencil and paper, and I have such a deep love for the patience and time it takes to meticulously create something by hand without the help of drop-filling or fancy digital brushes.”
“However, I absolutely love designing on an iPad for how versatile it is, and the flexibility to take it anywhere. With an iPad, I can be creating art on a plane overseas, in the car, out and about, or just at home (all of which I’ve done). I’m someone who doesn’t like to sit still or plan specific times for creativity; it kind of just happens when it wants to, and I don’t always have a pencil and paper to put down my ideas on paper. I also love the effects you can create on an iPad that are a lot more difficult to create on paper, especially if you change your mind about the direction of a piece halfway through.
Some of her favourite effects include luminance brushes on Procreate, and she’s recently started experimenting in 3D design with the aim of designing an F1 Helmet.
“My next project is creating a F1 helmet for Kimmy Antonelli for his Home race in Monza in September. Ideally, I would love to design a helmet that reflects his roots, and means something to him personally, and then to fly over there to give it to him in person!”
Hannah puts her huge reach down to intention and hard work.
“Originally, I was posting photos of completed artworks to Instagram during high school and college, but I didn’t see a lot of growth. However, when a friend suggested I try TikTok back in late 2018, my whole world was opened up to sharing not just the end product but the process of art making through video.”
“Whilst I don’t think there is a secret formula to going viral, I think the key element that we are all searching for is simply connection. That’s what social media is for, right? That was its original purpose: connection. Whenever I’m designing a video or content piece, I’m always thinking about the connection with my audience and the impact it might have. I’m thinking especially about how it makes someone feel emotionally and why I’m creating something.”
A typical day for Hannah includes running her Canberra-based media team as well as running her social channels, which includes looking at social numbers and analytics to see what’s performing well, trends that are going around, and inspiration for upcoming content ideas. The middle to the end of the day is usually a mix of content shoots for clients, and “A LOT” of editing.
She usually films her own content at night to reduce reflections on her iPad screen. While Hannah is justifiably proud of her success, she concedes burnout is a constant threat.
“Social media is one of the fastest-moving industries in the world and trends change from hour to hour. It’s a lot of work to keep up…And once you reach the spotlight in social media, it can also be very easy to feel like you can’t have time off for fear of letting people down, whether that’s your fans, your friends, your manager or brands that you are collaborating with.”
Another thing she has to guard against is “letting other opinions of my content or myself change my self-worth. In any situation where you are in the spotlight and in the public eye, there will always be people who do not like your personality or what you stand for and will make that known to you through the comments. Letting that get to you is one of the biggest things that will make or break a content creator and impact whether they will be successful.
“Thankfully for my own channel, I don’t get a lot of haters in my comments; however for any creator, when you are sharing your personality and yourself to the world, not everyone likes it.”
