Sarah Stroper: Won 2020 artist award in Miami.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your career as a designer?

I’m a graphic designer, and I started working in 2007 for a company of multimedia services. I was in charge of corporate identity, marketing, advertising, and so. After that, I worked for a local newspaper for two years. This time, I was in charge of marketing and the newspaper’s layout. I decided to expand my knowledge and got a degree in Visual Arts. Then, I worked for another two years at a start-up company, an online t-shirt store. Right now, I’ve been working as a freelancer for three years. I specialised as a t-shirt designer and work for several online shops and other platforms.

What are your inspiration sources?

Most of my work is based on movies, TV series, or video games. Therefore, I try to gather inspiration from all of those, as well as from other t-shirt designers.

What are the steps you follow when working on a new design?

The first thing I do is select a topic for the design. It can be a classic reference, something that is part of the collective memory. Other times, it is a tribute to a movie recently released or a trendy TV show. The most common approach I use for this is thinking of ways to parody the topic. Once I have an idea that I like, I start drawing some first sketches, sometimes on paper, sometimes directly on the computer.

Have you had to deal with cases of plagiarism?

The t-shirt market has been increasingly growing in the last years. Because of that, many users and platforms dedicate themselves to steal designs from other artists, to sell them as if they were their own. It is something extremely hard to prosecute and, unfortunately, it has happened to me very often.

Any advice for other designers interested in selling their works online?

Without a doubt, I would advice them to register their designs right after they’re finished. First thing. Eventually, their designs could be stolen, in one way or another. Seeing others selling your own work without permission is a very unpleasant surprise.

Could you tell us about any recent projects you're working on now?

Well, I have another project, which has to do with t-shirt designs, but for pregnant women and families. I would like to work on more family-friendly designs.