An inspiring place to work..

The bright colours, fancy ribbons, glistening packets. It always feels a bit like Christmas here. I work at Gorvett & Stone, a chocolate shop (and cafe on the side - BEST hot chocolate) supplying Fortnum & Mason and hand-making the most amazing chocolate. Ahh.. it's beautiful, I would recommend it to anyone with a sweet tooth!

I did an illustration of their chocolate fish and sent it in when I applied for the job. They loved it. I can only assume they employed me because of my cafe and selling experience (and charming nature!) and not because of this little 'bribe!'

Pattern Books..

 I think my book shelves need these pattern books. They're on my wish list, along with the others from my last book post, if anyone is keeping their eyes on that list!

I've bought a couple of the V&A Pattern books as presents in the past and they're beautiful - I want the whole collection for myself! Hopefully Christmas will bring me a couple!

A beautiful little commission

After seeing some of my previous work, I was asked by Jo (@stillawake) to produce a very special birthday commission for the father of her beautiful baby! I was delighted to be asked. I was to illustrate him holding his little girl (using a very lovely photo!), a motorbike and a moped, together in panels. I found the bike's a little hard but I knew if I worked hard I would get there eventually! Jo loved the result, as did Martin. I'm so happy they liked the illustrations, I'm really happy with the final piece! I hope you like it too! (What do you think of my bike attempts?!)

 

If you would like to commission a little piece for a birthday, anniversary, Christmas or just because you want to, please do not hesitate to get in touch!

Bath in Fashion

Recently the lovely Hels Martin asked me to illustrate the header for the Bath in Fashion Blog which she will be blogging for. The blog will include all news, interviews and reviews from Bath in Fashion, written beautifully by Helen. I'm looking forward to seeing more. Her writing always inspires me and I'm glad to be able to work with her again.

Wonderful pattern designer, Georgia Coote designed the background which is truly beautiful. I'm happy to be in such a creative team of ladies. I hope you like my design!

Digital Arts Tutorial

Well, as promised, I have taken photographs of my tutorial for you to see! I've also taken a few of other images in the issue that grabbed my attention :)

Love this illustration by Minni Havas on the opening page! Also, nice to see Neil is still using my illustration of him for his editor's picture.

Contributor's page - Where do you draw the line?

Love this illustration by Rob Shields, another masterclass from this issue. His work is stunning and truly fascinating. It's great to read his tutorial.

I was commissioned to write a tutorial outlining the way I compose an illustration rather than the technical tools I use. I was asked to cover compositional elements, colour, placement of the character etc. Hopefully I achieved this and I hope their readers will enjoy reading about the decisions I make when putting together one of my illustrations - in the case one of the illustrations I produced for Company. You can buy yourself a copy in most newsagents (or WHSmiths!)