iEDM Artist Spotlight: Heather McNeil Shares Her Digital Art Inspirations

Heather McNeil is an iEDM featured artist who mostly creates her works of art digitally. 

"I have always been terrible at traditional painting," Heather said. "I excelled at art but there is still something about a paintbrush that I just can’t get. I cannot tell you how many canvasses ended up in the trash."

Heather said she loves the photo-realism of painting but never could master the medium. Then in high school, she started doing digital art and discovered a new medium of choice - her tablet. 

"I eventually transferred all the techniques I had learned from traditional painting over to different software programs. Only this time, it clicked."

By college, digital painting was her go-to medium for her designs. 

iEDM has transferred Heather's designs to fashion

iEDM offers Heather's favorite designs on hoodie, crop tops, tank tops and more. Her vibrant style falls perfectly into the iEDM brand. 

Heather said her favorite piece made into an all-over print hoodie is Upside Down.

"I actually bought one for myself and I love it. The colors and texture really transferred well," Heather said. 

A late night craving inspired "Waffles"

"I was sitting at home around 1am and suddenly got the worst waffle craving you could imagine," Heather said. 

She didn't have the ingredients to curve her craving so instead, she decided to paint them.

"This was one of my first designs that included neon colors rather than straight realism and only after I finished them did I realize they would be a great hoodie design!"

Heather Watches Animal Documentaries For Inspiration

"My favorite art subject will always be animals, she said "I spend a lot of time watching nature documentaries or hiking before doing animal-themed pieces."

Heather said she is most creative at night, when she should probably be in bed.

"I was up late watching a documentary on Bengal tigers and there was a segment with some beautiful footage of them swimming," she described. "They looked so majestic and happy that I had to paint it." 

That's how her piece "Water Tiger" was born. 

New ideas pop into her head when she is listening to music. She says she pops headphones in and lets her mind create the designs in her head. Then iEDM uses sublimation printing techniques to make her designs into head-turning rave wear. 

"For me, colors and images and music go together hand-in-hand. You cannot have rich, energetic music without equally rich imagery and I think people in the EDM / rave scene can understand that better than most." 

She says some of her favorite EDM artists are Kygo and Avicii because they use flute and harmonica in their tracks. 

Trailer Park Boys designs are in the works

Currently, she is working on a few Trailer Park Boys designs. She just finished up a Bubbles design she is pretty excited about. 

"That was one of my favorite shows and I was so sad to hear about the death of John Dunsworth", she said. "So, be on the lookout for a Lahey sweatshirt in the coming months!"

Heather says her designs are created for fun. 

"Mostly, I want to evoke feelings of well-being and energetic happiness. We don’t see enough of that in the world, especially right now."

Her art is meant to inspire and bring joy. She uses vibrant colors to radiate positivity. 

"Having struggled with depression and PTSD most of my life, I understand the importance of simple, happy moments. Just being able to take a breath and enjoy existence without interruption is one of the best feelings in the world, I think. And that is what I do when I create art."

Thank you Heather for chatting with us about your art! From creative digital designs to colorful animal renditions, we love your work on hoodies, t-shirts and even on tapestries. 

Check out more of Heather McNeil's designs HERE.