Meet Sarah Rain Hammond

Welcome to the Roar Meet the Artist Series for 2026! At the start of the year we sat down with our roster of artists and asked them a lot ( A LOT!) of questions and they were lovely enough to take the time to answer as many as they wanted so you the reader could get to know them and their practice better.

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Hi Sarah, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with me and chat about all things art, career, business, and you! So, let's get started. 

Hi, i’m Sarah Rain Hammond, I’m based out of Durham, North Carolina, USA, but proud to hail from the Deep South of the United States. I’ve been a professional illustrator and designer for about 7 years now but an artist since my teens.

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Roar: When did you know you wanted to be an artist?

Honestly, I can't pinpoint an exact moment…but I do remember telling kids on the playground that I wanted to be an artist when I grew up, even when they warned me I'd “never make a lot of money!” By the time I left high school, it was just a given that I was going to pursue art. It's always felt less like a decision and more like something I've simply always known.

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Tell us about the journey to get to where you are today?

My mother, grandmother, and uncle have all been practicing artists at some point in their lives, so the idea of creating art was always present in my life from a young age. It was never a surprise that I was going to pursue art, haha. I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Mississippi in 2016.

Originally, I wanted to be a mixed media and oil painting portrait artist. I was always drawn to funky portraits heavy with symbolism. When I got out of college though, paint was expensive and renting didn't allow me a lot of space, so I shifted to illustration. I started with pen and ink and eventually taught myself digital illustration. It's been many years since then, and I'm grateful my path went this way.

When I imagine the room of people who've shaped my career, it's genuinely filled with friends and family. I've been incredibly lucky to have people close to me who don't just support my work but want to critically engage with it…to understand what my drawings mean and where they come from. On the academic side, I had a printmaking TA in college named Elise who pushed me to lean into symbolism before I even fully understood what I was trying to say. She could see a direction in my work before I could. I still have a book on religious symbolism I never returned to her—I’m sorry Elise!!

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Roar: Show us your working space! Do you have a studio, or do you WFH? (See photos below)

For the past couple of years I've been working out of a studio one-bedroom, which means my studio is essentially everywhere..the sofa, the desk, the bed. I primarily gravitate to the sofa since it has the best window view and it puts me right next to my record player. In the past year I've been experimenting with walking on a treadmill while I draw at my desk... it's not going great, haha, but drawing is such a sedentary activity that I'm always looking for ways to keep moving.

The exciting news is that come May, I'll finally have a dedicated home studio space. I've genuinely made peace with working in a compact setup ( there's something kind of cozy about it) but I'm really looking forward to having room to spread out and see what that does for the work. I’ll finally have space to paint again also!

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Roar: Tell us a little more about how you work

My process is pretty straightforward, though it's taken a couple of years to figure out what actually works for me. I used to sketch every idea out on paper first and then scan it into my iPad, but I eventually found that it broke my flow more than it helped. Now I start with a word brain dump on paper to get the ideas out, then move straight to loose sketching on the iPad. The technology of the newest Apple Pencil has gotten to a point where the stylus approach feels completely natural, so moving from paper to screen feels completely seamless now.

My work is fully digital at this point (primarily in Procreate), but I have a real love for gouache and ink that I'd love to find my way back to. The goal one day is to find a natural blend between those traditional materials and my digital process, I think there's something really exciting in that combination that I haven't fully explored yet.

That said, the most important part of my process happens before any sketching. The research and development phase is where I spend real time sitting with the themes, pulling references, mood boarding, and letting images surface that spark something internally. That groundwork is what everything else builds on, and rushing it is the fastest way to end up with something that feels flat.

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Roar: Tell us a little bit about the tools you use to create your work; how it works, how they help you work, and just a little about the process etc. 

People think I'm a little crazy when I tell them this, but for illustration I work strictly in Procreate on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil. I love the flexibility of it, and in a lot of ways it still feels like drawing in the most tactile sense of the word. Over the years I've built up a solid collection of brush packs that make the setup feel really personal and comfortable to work in. The lasso tool is easily one of my most used features in the entire program tbh.Once I'm wrapping up, I'll import into Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop for any finishing, exporting, or text work.

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Roar: How do you prepare for your working day?

Full transparency: I'm an artist with a full-time day job! I work as Head of Design for a university arts presenter, so I'm fortunate that my 9 to 5 keeps me creatively engaged throughout the day. After work, the ideal wind-down is a walk with my dog Mori and my fiancé before dinner. It’s after that when the illustration kicks in. Most of my work happens in the late evenings and on weekends which is just the reality of the current routine and honestly, I've gotten pretty comfortable with it.

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Roar: Least favourite subject matter to draw

Fight Scenes

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Roar: Favourite subject matter to draw

Plants, wings, atmospheric light, stars!

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Roar: Tell us about someone who has impacted your career in a positive way?

This one's easy! Cat Barnes from Good Grit Magazine for sure.. She commissioned spreads from me consistently over many years and that relationship gave me so much. It was genuinely my introduction to how illustration briefs work in a real professional context, but what made it special was the creative freedom she extended to me throughout. That kind of trust early on is rare and I really can't overstate how valuable that experience was for shaping the way I work today.

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Roar: How did you handle your worst client experience?

My worst client experience ultimately led me to end the agreement and be honest that I wasn't the right artist for what they needed. The situation involved calls to my personal number at any hour and a consistent pattern of ignoring emails and deadlines. At a certain point I had to make a call about whether the project was worth the toll it was taking. It was a real growing moment in learning that I get to decide what I take on and what I walk away from. I’m lucky that it’s the only time I've ever had to do it!

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Roar: What other artistic mediums motivate you?

I have a deep love for quilts and felt work. The artform carries such a rich and loaded history across cultures and communities while still being rooted in utility. Women have historically been underrepresented in the fine art world, so when you look at these historical quilts with their intricate patterns or direct imagery, there's something really magical about what you're seeing. Creativity finding its way through and because of the female experience.

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Roar: Who is your dream client to work for?

This might sound like a cop-out answer, but I feel like I've already worked with a top dream client. Getting to work on the official tarot card set for Dune was huge for me because illustrating for a major sci-fi series was always something I had in the back of my mind. That said, another dream would be working with a fashion magazine like Vogue or Harper's Bazaar. Magazine illustrations were my favorite thing to flip to/inspiring as a kid, so there's something full-circle about that one.

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Roar: What would your dream commission be and how would you approach / tackle it if it ever came to fruition? 

My dream commission would be a fashion campaign collaboration, but one where I get to bring my more personal artwork style fully into it. I'd love the chance to really step into my own visual world and let that shape the collaboration rather then dialing it back to fit a brief. In terms of approach, I'd start the way I always do with personal work: a full thought dump. Writing out every theme that comes to mind, finding the two directions that feel most alive, mood boarding references across different artforms, and then following whichever thread feels the most compelling. A theme would naturally emerge from that process (it always does).

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Roar: Something you've been itching to draw but have not had an opportunity yet?

I’d love to draw more animals! I feel like they are always side characters in greater pieces for me, but I discovered a love for fur recently.

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Roar: What made you want to be part of Roar?

What drew me to Roar was honestly the candidness and personable approach that comes through in everything they put out. It's genuinely refreshing to see an agency make themselves accessible beyond just showcasing their artists. The advice shared over social media was something I was following early on and it was really pivotal for me!

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Roar: Do you have any words of wisdom, or advice for those in their career?‍

The advice that comes to mind first is to protect your relationship with your art practice outside of making money. It's so easy to lose sight of what brought you to creating in the first place. The want to create started as a passion, and I'm a big believer in making space for personal work at every stage of your career. That's where the real exploration and growth happens because you’re unconstrained by a brief or a deadline, and the best part is that energy almost always finds its way back into your commissioned work too.

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Roar: If you were not an artist, what do you think you would be doing? 

Honestly, I have ZERO idea! Like I said, this always felt like the path for me so imagining an alternative is genuinely hard. My best guess is maybe a hair stylist since I love cutting my own hair although… that's really just another artform so I'm not sure I'd be escaping creativity either. The other option is working at a tiki bar on an island somewhere, and I wouldn't be mad about that.

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Roar: How have the past years been as a working artist, have you found a difference in the type or consistency of work that has been commissioned over the years?

The honest answer is that it's always felt a little scrappy. I graduated in 2016 into what already felt like an oversaturated market, so in many ways that hustle has just been the baseline of my entire career. Some months are great and the inquiries are flowing, and others I find myself pivoting back to developing my personal style and picking up other work to supplement income. I think that inconsistency is just the reality for a lot of working artists, and over the years I've gotten more comfortable riding those waves than fighting them. That said, the majority of work that has come my way has been highly conceptual, usually taking an idea that could have a million interpretations and forming an original take on it, so there's always someone out there looking for that.

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Roar: How has AI impacted your career (if at all) and have you changed your approach to the way you work because of it? 

Honestly, AI has created an atmosphere where I feel like I need to be faster which is a bit ironic given that it's always marketed as a time-saving tool. What I've noticed in practice is that tighter expectations around turnaround times mean I have less room to really sit with the brainstorming process. There's more pressure to get to the best idea the quickest way rather than letting ideas develop naturally. And I'd be naive to pretend I haven't lost potential work to AI's ability to generate something in a time crunch. It's just the reality of where things are right now.

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Roar: What would you want to say to anyone who thinks that AI is a harmless tool esp. if they are a commercial "artist"

Any tool that requires the unpaid, non-consented work of other people to function isn't a harmless one. Beyond the ethics of it, I think there's a real creative cost that doesn't get talked about enough. AI gravitates toward the most generic interpretation of an idea because that's what it's been built on, and the more it gets used as a creative shortcut, the more we risk flattening what visual culture looks like. As artists, I think we have a responsibility to keep original human thought in the conversation and to push back on the idea that faster and easier is always better.

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‍Roar: Do you have another job other than the work you do as a commercial artist and do you think this helps or hinders your professional practice?

Yes! As I mentioned, I work as Head of Design for a university arts presenter. I freelanced for a year and a half a couple of years ago, and during a slower period I made the decision that something stable and consistent would be better for my mental health. What I've found is that having another outlet actually protects my relationship with illustration. I get to approach projects from a place of joy and curiosity rather than survival which makes a real difference in the work.

The downside is that I'm essentially working double to keep both dreams alive, and I battle burnout more often than I'd like to admit. My bandwidth is lower than it could be, and I have a lot of projects, hopes, and dreams for where my art could go. The goal is to get back to freelancing full time one day. If you're out there balancing a full-time job while building a creative practice, I see you and my heart genuinely goes out to you. <3

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Roar: Share some artists that you think we should know about

A few artists I really love and think everyone should be following: Lou Benesch, Park Inju , and my friend Claire Whitehurst.

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What draws me to all three is that they each have a deeply personalized visual language that is completely their own. Lou Benesch is honestly a benchmark for what it looks like to have a style so distinct and developed that commercial work gets pulled into your world rather than the other way around. Park Inju uses color in a way that stops me every time, those super bright pastels alongside really indulgent imagery is a combination that feels totally singular.

Claire is a friend from my undergrad days and someone I've had the privilege of watching grow from the very early stages. She is the definition of creative play and exploration in the best possible way. Watching her dissect and work through creative language, exploring themes abstractly in a way that you can still deeply feel in the end result, is something special. I visited her studio last year and she is not only hilarious but you can see how completely free she is in the way she moves through mediums. That kind of freedom is rare and it shows in the work.

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Roar: What's your earliest art memory of why you wanted to become an artist? 

My earliest memory of thinking 'oh, I could actually do this' was in grade school. We were given an assignment where you pick a postcard and extend the edges of the illustration outward using colored pencils. At some point the teacher called the class over to look at how I was executing it, and I just remember this feeling of 'this feels easy and nice.' That was probably the first time I connected doing something well with doing something I genuinely enjoyed.

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Roar: What is your favourite way to decompress from your work and can you tell us a little bit about your version of work/life balance?

I always say that when I'm feeling creatively stuck it means I need to go outside and make a new memory. For me that looks like biking on the greenway with friends, catching live music, or even just a neighborhood walk with Mori. Getting out and experiencing something new is genuinely the fastest reset I know.

Work life balance is something I'll admit I'm not great at. With a full time job and an active creative practice, there's always something pulling for my time and energy. I tend to live by a 'work hard, play hard' approach which works for me, but I'll be the first to say it's not for everyone. It's something I'm always trying to improve.

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Roar: How many drinks do you have on your desk at one time?

I have to have at least 3 drinks present on my desk at all times. They usually include: an iced matcha, water, and a juice of choice. It’s important to have the trio!!!

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Roar: Have you ever felt imposter syndrome, and what do you do to fight those thoughts? 

I'm going through a bout of it right now!! What helps me most is reminding myself that this feeling is pretty much inescapable for most creative people and that it doesn't actually mean anything is wrong. The only real answer I've found is to keep drawing, keep creating, and come back to the reason I started in the first place. I do this for me first and foremost, and when I can hold onto that, the noise quiets down a little.

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Roar: What fictional character do you relate to and why?

I've always related strongly to Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Technically Jane is the oldest, but reading Elizabeth as the one who functionally leads and as the oldest of four kids myself, that dynamic is something I connected with immediately. More than anything she's someone who pursues her own path despite societal pressure, and even in moments where she realizes she's wrong, she sits with that feeling fully rather than brushing past it. I find that I share that same stubborn internal compass and that same tendency to observe everything around me.

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The other one is Arya Stark. My father used to compare me to her often, and for a long time I didn't fully see it. Rewatching Game of Thrones recently, I finally understood what he meant, and it meant a lot to discover that after all these years.

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Roar: If you had to suggest a book (or more than one) that helped you in your career what would it be and why? 

To be honest, I don’t have one! I’ve found I quickly lose interest in books focused on self-help or advice especially when it comes to artistic practice. I think my love for reading exists solely for fictional stories, but I do love podcasts that break down creative topics. One episode in particular from the show Hidden Brain was an interesting listen. It’s called “How To Be More Creative” and discusses how creativity thrives when you tap into unconventional places of inspiration. When I’m stuck brainstorming a concept, I often have this episode come to mind and start searching for other ways to approach the brief.

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Some quickfire random Q’s

‍Roar: Your fave’s:

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‍Book: Books are a fun one because my honest answer is that I've been deep in bad fantasy romances as a guilty pleasure lately, but right now, I'm currently reading the Red Rising trilogy which has been a great change of pace. (more sci-fi, haha) I’d say a long time favorite is Pride and Prejudice, which feels like a fitting answer given my earlier response. Reading it as a young girl felt genuinely transformative. 

Film: For films, my all-time favorites are The Fifth Element, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and Chungking Express. Three very different movies but they all hold a permanent place for me.

TV Show: I've actually been doing a lot of rewatching of favorites lately! For TV, I love the German series Dark, and I think I have some element of it pop up in my mind once a week. It pretty much sums up everything I gravitate toward including sci-fi, complex characters, and details that really reward hyper attention.

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Roar: What fictional character do you relate to and why?

I've always related strongly to Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Technically Jane is the oldest, but reading Elizabeth as the one who functionally leads and as the oldest of four kids myself, that dynamic is something I connected with immediately. More than anything she's someone who pursues her own path despite societal pressure, and even in moments where she realizes she's wrong, she sits with that feeling fully rather than brushing past it. I find that I share that same stubborn internal compass and that same tendency to observe everything around me.

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The other one is Arya Stark. My father used to compare me to her often, and for a long time I didn't fully see it. Rewatching Game of Thrones recently, I finally understood what he meant, and it meant a lot to discover that after all these years.

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What do you listen to when you work? 

Right now I'm on a big Japanese jazz kick. I was struck by how present jazz was everywhere we went there, and it reconnected me to something I grew up around. Growing up in the South, jazz from New Orleans and across the region was just part of the vibe. Now that the weather is warming up I can feel bossa nova creeping its way into the rotation too, haha.

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Roar: Share your favourite recipe (if you cook) or if you're not a cook, maybe your favourite takeout? 

The one dish my fiancé and I keep coming back to every week is a burrata gnocchi that is honestly so simple. You pan bake gnocchi and cherry tomatoes with olive oil and garlic, let that go for about twenty minutes, then fold in burrata and arugula. Finish it with a lemon and balsamic vinaigrette, red pepper flakes, and fresh thyme. That's it! It’s easy AND good.

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Roar: Country you would love to visit 

A Mediterranean tour is very high on the list. Italy, Greece, Croatia, honestly anywhere along that stretch.

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Roar: What is something you feel people should know earlier on in their career? 

What college genuinely underprepares you for is just how much you'll be navigating completely on your own. You're expected to sustain an art practice while also just... figuring out being an adult, and that combination is a lot. Of the people I graduated with, only a handful are practicing full time now, and I think a big part of that is because there's no handbook for a job as open-ended as being an artist. The outside world doesn't hand you a structure the way school does.What I'd tell anyone starting out is to really invest in your relationship with your craft, and to get comfortable with failing a lot. Most of what I know now didn't come from mentors or formal guidance, it came from artists generous enough to share their experience on blogs, YouTube, and Reddit. Be resourceful and don't underestimate how much you can learn from someone talking into a camera about their process.

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Favourite snack?

CHIPS AND SALSA!! I’m a fiend for a crunchy treat delivering a dip into my mouth

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