Kelly Belter on stamps, vintage matchbooks, and coins — the joys of illustration in the smallest of places

When it comes to drawing, illustrator Kelly Belter likes to think of herself as somewhat of a collector. Life’s smaller, subtler details and the most mundane moments can often become “objects to be gathered, then arranged into thoughtful pairings at a later date”, she tells us. Recently, the illustrator has been translating these day-to-day observations into satisfying stamps. In her publication Small Pleasures and her new Risograph calendar, even the smallest of formats become sites for her joyful drawings.

Kelly creates her colourful work out of her independent printmaking studio in Seoul. She mostly experiments with Risograph printing, which means that she always approaches her illustrations from a printmaker’s perspective — carefully constructing one layer of colour at a time when drawing. “Arranging textures and colour blocks like a puzzle is incredibly satisfying, and using a limited palette helps me condense and simplify detailed scenes,” she says. “I also create a lot of my own brushes from scanned textures to bring the spontaneity of printmaking into all forms of my work — whether that’s digital or printed.”

For Kelly’s vibrant array of prints and publications, she finds her inspiration from creatives with a playful approach to their medium, like the book artist Hedi Kyle and designer Karel Martens. As an avid collector of the tinier things, Kelly’s design work is also influenced by illustrations she finds in in small spaces: “such as stamps, vintage matchbooks, and coins, and the challenge of creating work for those formats”.