IXD102 – Pocket Profile: Aoife Dooley

Aoife Dooley

Aoife Dooley is an illustrator, author and comedian from Dublin. Her body of works involves a number of mediums, such as illustration, typography, graphic design and sketch comedy. She currently has a web series called ‘Your One Nikita’ which is based on the life of people living on the north side of Dublin, where Aoife herself grew up. Her work is renowned for being incredibly funny, with razor sharp wit and comedy genius. She spoke at Offset, Dublin in 2018, where she gave a presentation about her work.

The project she spoke about began right after she finished college, and it began as a personal project, where she had no intention of it becoming as big as it has become. She was originally only looking for a side project. The web series, ‘Your One Nikita’, is a comic she started in 2015. It used to be called ‘Dublin Hun’. It follows the story of Nikita and her friends on daily adventures through Dublin. The characters is based on people that she knew and grew up with. Dooley found herself with no work after college, with a design portfolio made up of only illustrations, and she was turned away from most design agencies. After the passing of her mother in 2013, she had turned to illustration as a way to escape, and to keep her mind busy and active. During the summer, she set up this project.

She set up a Facebook page around the web series, and it quickly began to go viral, gaining popularity both locally and internationally. Not long after, a representative of the Irish Times approached Dooley and asked if they could write an article on her work. From here, her career sky-rocketed, and she went on to produce two illustrated books.

“The best advice I can probably give is agree to things you can’t do, and do them.”

 

 

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