Carlotta Hey

About the Create! Magazine 10th Anniversary Book: Create! Magazine is honored to celebrate a decade of contemporary art by publishing a look back at previously selected artists: their achievements, career growth, and more since being published. Stay tuned for the book launch in fall 2026, and join our newsletter to stay up to date.

Carlotta Hey, featured in both Create! Magazine and the Create! Magazine10th Anniversary Book, is a Melbourne-based product developer and freelance fashion illustrator working at the intersection of design and visual art. Her practice explores the relationship between texture and form, creating pieces that balance tactile detail with visual expression. Through this approach, she invites viewers to engage with fashion beyond its surface, drawing attention to the construction, movement, and emotion embedded within garments.

Influenced by her early university studies, her work draws on detailed garment sketches and technical drawings, forming the foundation of her distinctive style. This technical grounding allows her to blend precision with creativity, resulting in work that feels both considered and experimental. Often working with layered materials and intricate mark-making, Carlotta builds compositions that highlight both structure and softness, offering a contemporary interpretation of fashion illustration.

Carlotta has exhibited in a range of shows and gained international recognition, with her work collected across Europe and Australia. Her work has also been featured in several magazines, including Art/Edit, Beautiful Bizarre, and the American fashion magazine BASIC.


Artist Statement

Fundamentally, my work is about myself, the sitter, and everything in-between. My work explores the idea of taking a moment for yourself to be still and to process your emotions.

Fashion is a central point in many of my drawings. In fact, I believe that clothes can communicate a message, an idea, or a feeling... as can color.

Color (or rather the limiting of color) also plays a pivotal role in my work. With a muted and limited color palette, the viewer can fully concentrate on the female figure or portrait. I always opt for simplicity in my compositions, e.g., blank backgrounds.

I want to invite the viewer to pause for a while. Sometimes the power lies in the silence. I want to invite the viewer to get absorbed by the figure, hence the monochrome background. It’s only the viewer and her, enjoying stillness, exchanging thoughts.


www.carlottahey.com.au