My breakthrough moment: Sophy Hollington

In this series we ask leading creatives to talk about what projects or events kickstarted their careers. Here, illustrator Sophy Hollington shares how she turned a childhood fear of asteroids into a folklore zine that’s gone on to shape her artistic practice

Back in 2016, Tan & Loose Press got in touch with me while I was still working part-time in London. I was getting work in, but just not enough to sustain myself, and I didn’t quite have the confidence yet to quit a job and be an illustrator full-time. I’d wanted to do a zine for ages though.

Before this I’d been working as a risograph print technician for Ditto Press and Hato Press, and I did that for five years. I decided I needed to stop, because doing something that was so close to what I wanted to do, but not quite doing it, made it really difficult to focus on my own work. Despite spending all the time working in printmaking in riso, creating books and zines, I’d never made my own one. It felt too much like a busman’s holiday. So I’d made the decision to stop doing that and work in shops, to free up my brain and give me the push to focus on myself and my own work. When Tan & Loose – who run their riso press from a garage in LA – got in touch it felt quite magical.