Gemma O’Brien is an Australian artist specialising in lettering, illustration and typography. After completing a Bachelor of Design at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney, Gemma worked as an art director at Animal Logic, Fuel VFX, and Toby & Pete before deciding to fly solo as a commercial illustrator in 2012. Her typographic work takes on a variety of forms, from calligraphic brushwork, illustration and digital type, to large scale hand-painted murals. She splits her time between advertising commissions, gallery shows, speaking engagements, and hosting hand-lettering workshops around the world. Her clients include Playboy Magazine, Nike, Volcom Stone, Kirin, Heineken, QANTAS, and Diet Coke. A number of her projects have received the Award of Typographic Excellence from the New York Type Directors Club, and in 2015 she was recognised as an ADC Young Gun. 

Today we’ll be speaking with her about her recent installation titled MrsEaves 101: The handprinted typography of Gemma O’Brien, which was held at the Laguna College of Art & Design in Laguna Beach, California.