Book Case

I love our book case. The colours, the diversity, the amount of books and the inspiration. (We have no room for more, a problem that quickly needs addressing since I have my eyes on at least 3 books!) I've been looking at some of the books I got in Japan today, they're so beautiful. I feel very inspired! Just wanted to show you some photos!

Mat's books! I love how tidy they look, and the mix of black and colour. Ahh lovely.

You may already realise, but this shelf is also full of Mat's books. I love the variety we have!

One of my favourite and most inspirational books is Wall Paper. It has some beautiful designs, including the ones below.

The first is by Rachel Kelly. I love the use of colour - the subtle against the vibrant. It works so well and really drew me in.

This one is by Florence Manlik. I love the different tones and the extremely fine lines. So intricate and detailed.

I was drawn to this piece by Destroy Rockcity because of the colours (I love the limited palette) and the boldness.

 And here are a few books I am lusting after at the moment. As soon as I have more pennies, these will be mine, I promise.

Below are some of the pages from Print & Pattern 2. They look stunning, I can't wait to see the rest! Hurry up pay day!!

And I NEED this series of Penguin Cassics, illustrated by Coralie Bickford-Smith. I've had my eyes on them since I first saw them the year before last. My needs are getting greater. They are just stunning. Not only are the books themselves wonderful, but I think I'd feel so happy having these on my shelves and holding them in my hands. WISH LIST!

Photos & old work!

I'm feeling quite nostalgic this evening. I've been looking through old family photographs and illustrations (from the second year of University, I believe). Just wanted to share some of them (I'm the smallest in every picture - ehe). I love old photographs. We didn't have a digital camera, so all these have been scanned in. I do love seeing them in an album though. I need to do this, it's too easy to view them on a computer. I like to feel them and love enjoying them with others - New Years Resolution perhaps!

 (And a nice recent one - me and all my siblings)

I also found these old illustrations tonight. Yes, they're not my best but this is why I wanted to share them. I was young, working on my technique and excited about experimenting. I like that I can see how my work has developed since this. 

Updates...

Hello everybody! I hope you are all well and looking forward to the weekend! (I'm hoping the weather is sunny, even if it is cold - I really don't like rain). Firstly, you may have noticed I've made some adjustments to the blog layout and colouring. Basically, I wanted it to work well with my website. I like to have everything working together with a consistency. I also think it's a lot cleaner and sharper looking (hopefully it reflects my work more too!)

You may remember me showing you the little packs of work I was sending out a few weeks ago. Well, I was sending them to magazines, companies and a few agents that I really wanted to work with. And I now have some exciting news to share (you may have already seen this over on twitter), I have just signed an agreement with one of these agents!! Yes, I'm very excited and need to keep pinching myself. It's something I've been aiming towards for some time and I've always felt that having an agent would be the best way for me to go. Negotiations, fees & contracts make me nervous and I have no idea how to tackle them.. this along with their impressive list of clients, promotional work and international work drew me to them instantly! I'll let you know who my new agent is once all contracts are signed at their side. I hoped that having a few commissions behind me would give me an advantage, but I think in my heart I didn't believe anyone would want to sign me yet. They've given me an amazing opportunity, boosted my confident and got me excited about the future. (They may have some work in the pipeline already - one of their clients has shown interest!) I hope this is the start of something amazing! 

Apparently it was the above piece that really drew them to me. It's one of my favourites too so I'm really glad they liked it!

 I'll leave you with a little piece (in very early stages) I started the other week. I need to do more work on it and will keep you posted! Have a great weekend!

Company Pages

I now have the images of the pages my illustrations can be seen on in Company High Street Edit. I was really pleased with the way they look on the pages, I hope you will like how they look too!

 

In other news, I had a meeting with a very lovely lady about a new ethical fashion venture today. Sounds very exciting, I will tell you more at a later date.

Company Illustrations!

When I have images (proper ones, not my attempts!) of the magazine pages my illustrations are on, I will share them with you. For now, here are the illustrations! I hope you like them!

Fan Di Fendi - the brief for the fragrance story piece was to draw the girl that embodies the fragrance.

 Victoriana at Pucci A/W11. Company's Fashion Editor says, "I'm also lusting after Victorian lace and ruffle-neck shirts."

Sheepskin at Isabel Marani A/W11. Fashion Director, Oonagh Brennan says: "It has to be the hottest trend in coats this season - the stylish, super-practical sheepskin! From belted feminine styles to give you shape to the cool oversized 'Bel Boy'"

This colour blocking piece was not used in the end, but I'm very pleased with it, so wanted to share! :)

Big brows at Stella McCartney A/W11.

C is for Colour Blocking (by Blugirl)

M is for Mod. "Think tartan, checks, studs and leopard print."

H is for Homespun. (Henry Holland) "Yes, that really is the blanket that used to be on the back of your granny's sofa. But thanks to Henry Holland, it's cool with a capital C.

Fellow Tea & Crayons members Fritha and Natasha also have illustrations in the fragrance feature! :) I hope you like them, thank you for your support everybody and a big thank you to Company Magazine and Art Director, Tanita Montgomery for allowing me to do this! :)

High Street Edit: Out Now!!

In July, I entered Company's High Street Edit fashion illustration competition to be the sole illustrator for their next issue. I worked hard, made it to the final five but was not chosen as the winner. I was ecstatic when the beauty assistant contacted me and asked me to take part in a 'fragrance story' within the issue, and even further so when, on seeing my finished piece, I was contacted by the Art Director and asked if I would like to illustrate the whole issue after all!

I am so happy with the work I have produced and hope it will lead to some more exciting opportunities. Seeing the issue this morning was one of my proudest moments and tomorrow I will share the illustrations with you! I hope you get a chance to see it for yourself - I think they look best in print.

Fashion Africa

 A few months ago, I was commissioned by Jacqueline Shaw (founder of Africa Fashion Guide) to produce illustrations for her soon to be launched book, Fashion Africa. The book, set to engage people, is filled with wonderful African Fashion Design and illustration alike. Definitely worth buying! 

I was so pleased to be asked to be involved, especially when the book has so many other wonderful illustrators. The designers I was asked to illustrate are incredible - bright, bold and exciting- and I hope my illustrations will do them justice. Made - beautiful fairtrade jewellery makers and Afro-Chique - beautiful bold designs created by Janice Morrison were the brands I was paired with. Do have a look at their work! The launch is happening on 9th September and should be wonderful! (the flyer features an illustration by the lovely Natsuki Otani).

 

Jacqueline said of the launch "It is an exciting event that will be a launch with a difference. Featuring a forum of professional speakers discussing the topic ethical fashion Africa and will do as I planned to do with the book and accompanying website - to engage people in this topic and create dialogue with industry professionals and stakeholders to source and produce more in Africa." I'm very proud to be involved!

You may have already seen some of my illustrations during my Degree Show posts - I am very proud of the work and cannot wait to see them in print. I hope you like them too! I also blogged about them during the illustration process. You can see them here, here and here! I know a few of my illustrator friends also have work in the book, and I think the whole book will be just wonderful, so if you are interested, please do buy a copy! Read Joana Faria's blog post about it here.

 

With this designer, Afro-Chique, I chose a fun and bold image to illustrate. I wanted to combine colour, texture and movement together in this image. I used a lot of negative space, allowing the viewer to imagine themselves wearing the clothing.

 

As with all my fashion illustrations, it was important that the design stood out from everything else, so I produced the images on very neutral backdrops. I'm really happy with the way they turned out and can't wait to see them in print amongst beautiful words, designs and other illustrations.