Valentine’s Day often gets flack for being a “Hallmark holiday,” devised by brands as a marketing ploy. We’ll let you decide on how you feel about celebrating on February 14th—but we can all agree that finding a card for a significant other that isn’t cheesy or cliche should be a cause for celebration in and of itself. So, we challenged some Fiverr sellers to take a fresh approach to the holiday and create original works inspired by their own interpretations of love. Scroll down to see all of their #MadeOnFiverr illustrations and learn a little more about the creative process of the sellers who designed these heartfelt illustrations.
Tell us a little about yourself. Who you are, where you’re from, what you do on Fiverr.
Luvia Montero, aka luviavelandia on Fiverr
I’m Luvia Montero, I’m a 23-year-old artist, illustrator and sometimes a student… oh, and I happen to be a trans woman. I’m from Venezuela, but I’m currently living in Buenos Aires. I make illustrations for a living and for enjoyment. And here on Fiverr, mostly, I make portraits.
My name is Turgut Abasli, I’m from Azerbaijan but now living and studying in Italy. I’m a freelance designer who specializes in graphic design and illustration.
My name is Ana Glažar and I am Croatian artist, living in Venice where I graduated with the degree in Fine Art from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia in 2007.
I am a multidisciplinary artist as I work with illustrations, painting and toy design. My Gig on Fiverr includes the core of the art that I love- deceptively simple, narrative and funny illustrations.
My name is Jone Leal (pronounced like John-eh and not John), I’m a woman from a beautiful country named Venezuela 
(South America) and I work as a freelance Illustrator here on Fiverr.
Melanie Balliarge, aka baillairge on Fiverr Pro
I am a petite Fiverr Pro who lives up north in Montreal, Canada. I lived in the woods as a kid and had the chance to live on a sailboat in the U.S. and Bahamas for a while, so I feel like I was a wild child who spent a lot of time drawing.
My house is a studio we share among other illustrators and graphic novel artists, just beside a very loud Mexican dance hall.
How did you develop your design style? Where do you look for inspiration?
It’s something that I’ve been working on for some time. I’ve developed my process by watching many other artists, hearing how they work, watching online tutorials, and keeping an eye on their process. People I know, who are illustrators themselves, have a great influence on the way I work.
Themes for my illustration (at least for my personal work) come from personal experiences with depression and connection/disconnection with people, sometimes working as a coping mechanism for said themes. Recently, I’ve been trying to focus more on character design, synthesis, and other themes, like love or sympathy.
My style is still a work in progress, something that’s still evolving, but I’m finally starting to feel comfortable with where I’m going. Right now I’m more interested in shapes, how they work, composition, color, keeping it simple and easily readable.
Inspiration comes from many mediums, but mostly from animation (The Secret of Kells and The Song of the Sea, Ghibli movies…), short films, literature and other illustrator works, as Patrycja Podkościelny, Fran Meneses, Willian Santiago or Maria Ines Gul.
My design style came from drawing sketches of characters that were in my head. I’ve also been inspired by a lot of artists, street artists, and illustrators, but if you imagine in your head how it will look your style will come out naturally.
Well, I entered the illustration world at the end of 2015, and since then, I’ve been working hard to find my own style, a point where I could feel happy with my work and let others to feel it too. It wasn’t until the middle of last year that I finally settled on the style you see now, and it keeps evolving, due to a lot of practice. I finally feel my illustrations reflect what I want, and I want other people to feel something when they see them too.
I read and listen to music a lot, I can say most of my inspiration comes from there. It really helps to take the time to read a good book, listen to an amazing album or just watch a movie. Also my everyday life is a big part of my inspiration as well.
My style developed through music and rebirth of DIY culture but also from mid-century illustrations and street art. I guess the inspiration comes mostly from the good vibes, memories, old books, music.
I think of my style as an ongoing project. I take a lot of lessons on my own and try a lot of different approaches to my work so I can surprise myself with a new technique, a new color or a new idea. I like to think everything falls into place by itself, but I admit that I work a lot in the shadows to make it happen.
I like to sit in the library and flip through old books, engravings, old paintings and forgotten printing techniques for the past. I have been working on bits and pieces along the road. Besides books and references, inspiration comes mostly from humans around me. I walk around, sketch people at the park, read a lot about our species compared with others, such as ants and dogs. I love to watch dogs playing or ants building together—so similar to us! I also find inspiration on Instagram, Skillshare, Pinterest, fashion, nature, and Fiverr!
Tell us about some of your favorite projects. Any great Valentines?
Working on Fiverr has been an experience itself. This was the place where I started as a freelance illustrator, and it’s been really amazing. Here, I primarily work making portraits, so I’ve had a lot of experience drawing different people and adapting to each client.
I just made an illustration to the editor’s pick here on Fiverr for Valentine’s Day, and it was a fun project to do because it’s something that’s very present for me right now and has a special meaning behind it.
Also, working on personal illustrations recently has been satisfactory, because, visually, the results I’m getting make me feel really comfortable with my craft.
About the last question, I think this year will be great!
Favorite projects…hmm, I think the custom illustrations that I made for “World AIDS day Art Exhibition” presented at Art Gallery of South Australia, it was a beautiful collaboration with the noble cause and it kind of gave me a direction to follow—illustration!
I think my favorite project was my first character, a seafarer. This was during a period of time when my simple sketches came to life. After, in commercial projects, I started mixing my illustrations with creative ways to problem solve. Of course, another favorite projects is my Valentine’s Day illustration for Fiverr— I like it so much 
I think one my favorite projects was a book cover design I did last November. It was great to see my work on the bookshelves and reading people’s comments about how it made them feel.
When it comes to Valentine’s Day, it’s always heartwarming, I mean, I had this order from last year from an old man (I think 60/70 years old) for his lady, and it was really beautiful to see. Watching people in love doing things for their loved ones is always heartwarming.
Valentines are a very precious gift to receive. I can still recall a certain letter tied with a dried rose that made me cry for hours out of a forbidden love.
What should buyers know before working with you on an illustration?
There’s nothing specific to know about. If someone wants to order from me, I’ll try to give them the best result possible. And even though I work primarily with a children’s book illustration style, I’m open to every project and can adapt for someone who wants something different.
Before working with me, buyers must send me the complete brief so I can realize your imagination as you wish:)
Well, you should know I work from the heart, I love what I do and I always treat my clients with respect and take my work very seriously. For the illustration process, I have this FAQ on my Fiverr page because it seems buyers tend to have the same questions regularly: When it comes to portraits (let’s say for a Valentine) it’s really important that you send good and clear photos of you, as well a description of your traits (eyes, hair color, etc); My deadlines are up to seven days, five days for the illustration and three days for revisions; Things like source and printing files, commercial use, are offered apart from the illustration; Don’t be afraid to write me if you have any doubts, we’re in the same boat after all.
For me it’s important to have freedom and challenge in creativity so I can give the best results to the buyer, maybe that’s a risky thing to say, but anyone who appreciates art knows that’s the most important thing when it comes to the final product.
Listening is a very important part of my work. I have so much fun when someone comes to me with a project which I know nothing about! I am a fast learner and I love to try new things. But sometimes, someone will just fall in love with a picture that was already drawn. My challenge then is to create something so precious and special that all the previous idea is forgotten as soon as the new image is delivered.
Have questions for these featured Fiverr sellers? Ask them in the comments below!
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