Bruna Mebs, Writer & Illustrator
From politicians to pets to pastries, if there’s a certain something or someone you can picture hanging over your mantel in portrait form, Bruna Mebs can make it happen with a flourish of her pen or paintbrush. Her pen and ink, watercolor and pencil illustrations are the nexus of the Easton-based artist’s namesake design and lifestyle brand. According to Mebs, a single piece of artwork can—and should—help to define the feel or look of a room. “I’ve always considered art as home décor items,” she says.
About 4,800 miles separate the home studio where Mebs’ creations currently come to life and the place where she first dabbled in the visual arts. Raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Mebs says she grew up in a family that had a flair for the arts. Her mother enjoyed crafting and sewing; her father and an aunt were involved in graphic design. But it may be her grandmother who had the most influence on Mebs’ inclinations, for better or worse. “She was an art teacher,” explains Mebs, “and she was strict with her feedback. I never thought I was any good!” Tough love aside, Mebs says her family was nothing but supportive when she decided to pursue a career in fashion design after graduating from high school.
It was that decision, along with a fortuitous encounter at a Super Bowl party, that would prompt Mebs to begin a new chapter of her life in the United States. Mebs met her husband-to-be, Edward, at that party at an aunt’s home in New Jersey. They married in 2008, and moved to the Lehigh Valley the following year. Mebs reconnected with her artistic roots as a student at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. Following her graduation in 2012, she found work as a costume designer for various movies and television shows, a job that often kept her away from home. “I would be gone for 10 months of the year,” she says. “It was too much of a crazy lifestyle for me. I had to make a decision.”
Bruna Mebs
Luckily, she had options. During a stint in Los Angeles, she was commissioned to make a series of illustrations for the women’s fashion brand Leota New York. “That was when I realized [illustrating] was something I could focus on, career-wise,” she says. In 2015, she decided to get out of the costume design business and focus on landing independent commissions. But first, she had to find her niche. “In the beginning, I was doing a little bit of everything to see what I liked to do,” says Mebs. People, animals, flowers and architecture sprang from the pages of her sketchpad. She began to beef up her portfolio and post her work on social media sites like Instagram. “Some art directors found my work because of that,” she explains.
Mebs would go on to work with clients from all over the country, including FabFitFun, the subscription service that delivers beauty, fashion and fitness goods to its members, along with wooden watchmaker JORD, and the New Jersey-based Dare 2 Boutique. Her illustrations have also appeared on a number of blogs, such as The Skinny Confidential, KERF and Friend for the Ride. And her gigs aren’t limited to the conventional: Her designs have helped to dress up food menus, flesh out coloring books and lay the groundwork for a different kind of ink job: tattoos. Another curveball, of sorts, when it comes to her commissions? Boats. Mebs says she’s surprised by the number of boats she’s been hired to render in her two-dimensional expertise. But when asked to name her most memorable job of all time, Mebs is at a loss. “Each one is different from the next,” she says.
But, she has pinpointed her favorite medium: good old-fashioned pen and ink. “I really like the simplicity of the black and white,” she says. “I like things that look a little more vintage and antique.” Speaking of vintage, Mebs says she’s inspired by old books and movies (her all-time favorite: Gone with the Wind). But if she had to stick with just one particular subject for the rest of her life? Just park her in front of a garden; she has a soft spot for anything botanical.
Bruna Mebs
Regardless of what the finished product will be, Mebs spends a lot of time bringing each illustration to life. “My days are very long,” she says. “I’m very consumed by the work.” On a typical day, she spends eight hours on her art; during the busy holiday seasons, she’s at it for much longer, in the neighborhood of 12 to 14 hours. And that doesn’t account for the time she devotes to marketing herself and her brand. “[Social media] is a big part of my career because that’s how most of my clients find me,” she says. Mebs is active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube. And then, of course, there’s her website (brunamebs.com) devoted to her art (both commissions and independent collections) and to her lifestyle brand, which she launched in early 2018 when she decided she was ready to branch out. The home furnishings and other items that are offered for sale aren’t made by Mebs, but they’re hand-selected with a certain vibe in mind—think of it as a few of Bruna’s Favorite Things. “I try to get products that are relatable to the art collection I’m releasing that season,” she says. “They’re things that I consider a classic, basic item. I also try to look for things that I would like myself.” But future offerings may have a more personal touch as she makes progress toward enjoining the two worlds. “My goal is to put my artwork more on fabrics, to create more home furnishings,” says Mebs. She says she’ll likely start with paper products—stationery, greeting cards and note-books—and expand from there. “I do think when our homes look good, we feel good and we do good,” explains Mebs.
The website also aims to offer inspiration—via Mebs’ blogs—to anyone looking for tips on everything from decorating on a budget to adopting a vegan diet to making the most of a snow day. “They’re a personal way to expand my tastes and views to other parts of life,” Mebs says. “I’m very grateful to be able to do what I love every day, and I hope I can help others do the same.”
Just in case she has any energy left to expend after she’s done sketching, painting, vlogging, fielding calls from clients and spending time with her husband and her bulldog, Achilles, Mebs has another project percolating: She’s also tinkering away on a book. She says an idea for a novel came to her as she was working on a separate book focused on offering advice to fellow artists. While she’s not toying with the idea of putting down her paintbrush and becoming a full-time author, she recognizes it as a creative itch that must be scratched. “I had to get this out of my head and into the world,” she says. So perhaps one day her customers can have a Bruna Mebs original on the bookshelf as well as above the fireplace.
