Berks County Sisters Turn Passion of Art into Career

Sisters Bethany and Olivia Moy have known they were going to have their own artist's studio since they were both children.

Bethany Moy, 28, and Olivia Moy, 26, both of Bethel, cofounded The Little Sisters Studio several years ago after they graduated from Academy of Art University.

"Olivia and I, ever since we could hold crayons, we always wanted to draw, and we always wanted to be artists when we grew up,'' Bethany Moy said. "We were having a conversation one day (when we were teenagers), and I remember Olivia saying, 'It would be really neat if we had our own art studio.' And I said, 'Yeah, and we'll call it Little Sisters Studio.' We have an older brother, so I'm a little sister as well.''

After she graduated from art school, Olivia brought it up to her older sister again.

"Out of school, we wanted to work on our own projects, so Olivia said again, 'Hey, why don't we do this?' So we did,'' Bethany Moy said.

The Moy sisters are freelance artists who work on projects for various businesses in the area working on everything from art for DVD covers to illustrations in children's books along with regular commission work, Moy said.

"We've worked with Mike Snavely doing DVD covers for his company, Mission Imperative. He is a creationist who teaches children and adults biblical principles,'' Olivia Moy said. "He started with children's DVDs called Ranger Mike - he's very Indiana Jones-like - and we did four DVD covers for him. We are doing two to four more covers, and another children's book in the fall.''

Children's books have been a passion for the Moy sisters since childhood, and their first project together before going to art school was a children's book called "Apple's New Neighbors.''

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"Right before we went to college, our library was having a benefit auction, and since we were homeschooled, we always used the library for lots of different resources, and we really wanted to give back to them in some way,'' Bethany Moy said. "So, Olivia and I, being artists, really wanted to do something unique, and we both came up with the idea to write and illustrate a children's book to donate to our library. We wrote it, illustrated it and copied it ourselves, and we hand-bound the book.''

The book was printed at Staples, and Bethany, Olivia and their mother, Cyndee, hand-bound it together.

"It was a real . pain,'' Olivia Moy said about hand-binding the book.

"A real labor of love,'' Bethany Moy said, laughing.

After the sisters graduated from art school they revisited their book.

"We went through five years of college, and then said, 'Let's look at the book again,' and it did not look good, so we re-illustrated it,'' Olivia Moy said.

The elder Moy sister agreed that they needed to do a new edition of the book.

"I always loved how Olivia designed the original characters for the book, so I said, `Let's keep as much of the original vibe as possible, but let's do it better now that we have been through college, and got our degrees. 'That is how this project came into being,'' Bethany Moy said.

"Apple's New Neighbors'' is based on a pet horse and two pet goats the family owned when the Moy sisters were children.

The Moys got Apple when they were children, and she had a companion horse with her who later passed away, so Apple was alone for a time, and was not happy, according to Olivia Moy. The sisters wanted to go into 4-H, so they got a goat, who immediately bonded with Apple.

Later, they got a second goat who also bonded with the horse. That is why "Apple's New Neighbors'' is about friendship.

"They've all passed away now, but we've gotten other animals since than that we'd like to work into making a sequel, but we had to put that on the back burner for now because we have so many projects we're just starting now,'' Bethany Moy said. "We wouldn't be looking at starting on (our new book) until the end of the year.''

One of the projects they are currently working on is a short animated film project.

"Bethany and I went to school, not for illustration, but for animation,'' Olivia Moy said.

"Traditional animation like 2D, hand-drawn original Disney-style stuff which is very time intensive, but also very rewarding,'' Bethany Moy said. "It's your drawings, but they're moving. That's really why we went into art.''

Disney's animated films had a big influence on the Moy sisters with both women citing "The Lion King'' as the first film that inspired them artistically when they were both children.

"Later, when we went to school, one of our teachers, David Nethery, was a cleanup animator on `The Lion King,''' Olivia Moy said. "Finding Nemo, even though it isn't hand-drawn, was a big one for me because I saw all the behind the scenes art they did for it, and I thought, 'I want to do that.' That's really what opened my eyes.''

Animated films are a very effective storytelling method, according to the Moy sisters.

"Movies for us always told a story, and that was one of the things we were always drawn to - artwork that really tells a story,'' Bethany Moy said.

"We've always been storytellers, and we always like to be able to tell a story,'' Olivia Moy said. "Everyone has their strength, and I think our strength, and where our passion lies, is to communicate stories with pictures.''

They feel they get their artistic side from their mother.

"She started us, I'd say, with sewing. We had those little Disney cards with holes in them. It was like connect the dots, but for sewing,'' Moy said. "You had a piece of yarn, and you sewed through the card with it. We started with them, and mom was always sewing around us. She made us Easter dresses every year, bedspreads, curtains.''

Cyndee Moy always influenced her children to be creative, and never discouraged their creative endeavors, Moy said.

"Whatever we needed, or whatever we wanted to try, she was always right there with the stuff for it,'' she said. "For my seventh birthday, there was a party for me, and people asked, 'What should I get for Olivia?' and mom told them art supplies. She said, 'Get her a big sleeve of computer paper, and she'll be happy.'''

Bethany Moy agreed that she and Olivia considered art supplies to be the best gift for both of them, especially blank paper.

"That was the best thing. We would get those big reams of computer paper - it didn't have any lines on it, so whatever you drew didn't have lines all through it,'' Bethany Moy said.

As for the future, the Moy sisters hope to get more work doing animated films.

"It would be nice, moving forward, if we could team up with an established veteran in animation,'' Olivia Moy said. "We would like to do lengthier animation projects in the future.''

"For both of us, that would be our main long-term goal,'' Bethany Moy said.