Tracey Preston

Hi, my name is Trace, I live in a suburb of Johannesburg South Africa.

I graduated from the Johannesburg Art Foundation in 1996 with a diploma in Graphic Design and Fine Art. After which I joined the advertising industry working for Y&R as an Art Director on a large retail account. In the years that followed I worked in a variety of small and large agencies as both Art Director and Designer spanning print and film advertising. All the while longing to return to my fine art roots and illustrate.

After my daughter was born 20 years ago I grew thin of 18 hour agency days, as I was then the Creative Director for an in-house retail agency with the EHL Group managing the then, largest in-house agency in South Africa. Six separate accounts and 28 staff, (it was madness and I knew I needed to change pace). Not being able to spend valuable time with my then baby, was the trigger for me to transition into freelance work, and as such, opened the doors for me to illustrate for many of the clients I did graphic design work for. It also brought me time to play with my own work, and tinker with children's book illustration, for the two children's books I have written, and hope some day to publish.

Fast forward ten years, I attempted to add another passion to the mix (decor/interiors), and opened an interiors/decor/soft furnishings business. Many of the products I produced you will see in my portfolio.

Sadly, I just didn't have the business acumen or financial investment to leap into a space in which I could produce creatively, and production to be handled by someone else, and I had to close it (Many life lessons here). Returning to freelance graphic design, illustration, and occasionally online design and content creation. (Website builds) and now, the education of our younger two son's, as we homeschool (this is a magnificent journey in it's own right).

I find myself here now, on Domestika, enthralled and inspired by the talents and skills around me, happily investing in courses and growing in my own talents and strengths. Am open again to hire as a freelance illustrator. We are NEVER to old to learn and grow, and at 45, a Mama of four, I am embracing my passion again, and hopefully, will find others who feel they would love me to embrace their projects with an open heart and mind too.