The Best of 2011

Well this year has been rather wonderful - the launch of Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration, an illustration for the V&A, final show, graduation, mural work, brother's wedding, winning Company's High Street Edit fashion illustration competition, Shipshape Studio opening and stocking my work, first issue of Lionheart Magazine out (and amazing), Digital Arts tutorial, the arrival baby Crayonette and ahh. I'm really excited for the year ahead and my one resolution is to get myself more organised. This means I need to purchase an inspiring diary, too. Win! I hope your year has been wonderful and here's hoping the next will be amazing.

Digital Arts

I have some exciting news for you this evening!

My work can be found in the showcase section of the latest edition of Digital Art Magazine and I am so proud to see my interview and work in print in the beautiful magazine. Get yourself a copy if you can, the cover feels amazing, it is full of great artists, tutorials and much more! I met the editor and art editor whilst at the launch of Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration. They were lovely and I'm very thankful to them for this opportunity! 

Here are my illustrations of Neil Bennett (editor) and Johann Chan (art editor) from the launch of ACOFI.

Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration

 Have you purchased your copy of the book yet? If not, why not? Now is definitely the time, with l0% off with code: ACOFI LAUNCH. You can also purchase it with Amelia's first book, Amelia's Anthology of Illustration for an amazing £28 for both!! I own both and really do love them. 

And finally, you can buy both of these plus the magazines issues: 7, 8, 9 and 10 for just £50 here! The magazines are so thick and glorious, much like a book in themselves. So all six for this little is such a fabulous offer! Go and treat yourself now! :)

ACOFI launch live illustrations

My Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration's launch illustrations are now up on Amelia's Magazine! Amelia wrote some truly lovely things about me in her post. It made me so happy, so please do take a look! 

A couple of lines that really made me smile: "Never has someone still at university so inspired me. Some people just get it you know? And she’s one of them... This girl has got it going on." Thank you so much Amelia!

The very fabulous cake from Lily Vanilli. It's a beauty and a joy to illustrate!

Ashanti Jason (otherwise known as Adorngirl) had the most fabulous necklace which was a joy to illustrate!

Johann Chan, art editor of Digital Arts was a joy to speak to during the launch.

Emma Davenport was my first subject. Lovely big smile!

Neil Bennett, editor of Digital Arts and I talked about illustration for quite some time, very interesting!

Very lovely blogger Nikki Nakki Lou!

Socialite, Prince Cassius instantly caught my eye at the party so I had to illustrate him!

The very lovely Sarah Williams (known as Sarah Scribbles). It was a delight to meet her!

Charles Ampadu, fashion stylist, looked fabulous too! Had to illustrate him.

I hope everybody likes them!

Experimentation

I've been doing some quick experiments with some old work so thought I would share them! I've mostly been playing around with colour and more bold pieces that I wouldn't normally try. (To be honest, this was mainly a distraction from writing my dissertation - boo!) I'm quite pleased with the results, something to look at again perhaps :)

Illustration of Anna Calvi. The original can be seen on Amelia's Magazine, here.

The original of this Ada Zanditon illustration can be found on Amelia's Magazine and in Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration.
 

And finally the original for this illustration can be found in this Amelia's Magazine article on Foale & Tuffin.

Hope you like them! :)

Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration: Vogue feature!

After the Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration launch last week, Vogue wrote this post about the launch in their Green Style blog.

The post included seven images from inside the book, including one by myself! i can't tell you how exciting it is to be there! Here is the image they used, as well as two of my favourites from the post.

Fifi Bijoux by myself.

Beautiful Soul by Zarina Liew

Partimi by Jennifer Costello

ACOFI launch party!

So last Friday was the long-awaited launch of Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration. I woke early to explore galleries with my mum. It certainly got me in the mood but the reality that I would soon be illustrating live at the launch kicked in.

I arrived at Bethnal Green Station and set off down Bethnal Green Road. Having never been outside of the centre of London when visiting, this was a bit of a shock to the system. Convinced I was going the wrong way, I jumped on a bus only to hear the announcer mention 'Brick Lane'. I knew I was in the right place and just opposite was the massive 123 Bethnal Green Road building (very handy if you have no idea where you're going).

I entered the hectic shop and knew I was in right place. I met Amelia herself, looking stunning in a Beautiful Soul cape, Joanna Cave earrings and Nina Dolcetti shoes. Matt Bramford was also there to greet me; he was very smiley and sweet, if not a little chaotic (understatement!) He had sent Rachel de Ste. Croix and Joanna Faria to grab a coffee whilst everyone frantically got the place in perfect order for the opening. Luckily I caught them just before they were leaving and went along. They were very lovely and instantly calmed my nerves (in that they were nervous to be live illustrating too). We headed back soon after and found people still running around. It was then that we met Antonia Parker, Michelle Urvall Nyrén, Naomi Law, Andrea Peterson, Jenny Robins and Zarina Liew. It was so fantastic to meet these other illustrators I had talked to and admired through twitter.

Naomi Law and Michelle Urvall Nyrén

Andrea Peterson

Zarina Liew

Antonia Parker

Jenny Robins and Joana Faria drawing away.

 I was amazed by how quickly the afternoon tea party filled up, brimming with wonderful industry professionals. The tea shop looked beautiful, stacked with pukka tea, with scones and a fantastic cake made by Lily Vanilli. I had three cups of tea throughout the afternoon, and they were delicious!

The cake, scones and other delicious treats.

Lots of lovely teacups!

I really enjoyed networking with journalists and producing illustrations (not my best, but fear not they have been suitably rendered at home!) I met the editor and art director of Digital Arts magazine. They were really friendly and we talked for some time about university, illustration and breaking into the world of freelance.

After grabbing a cheap and cheerful bagel down Brick Lane, we returned to change and prepare for the evening party. I found my mum and boyfriend in the Scout Hut (who both loved the people, the dancing and the excitement of the night.) They had spent the time I'd been illustrating exploring London together; very sweet! Once again it soon became packed out. The night had such a great atmosphere; everybody was friendly and approachable and it was a delight to meet so many people from twitter. I met wonderful illustrators such as Lesley Barnes (instantly recognisable thanks to her fab cape!), Natsuki Otani, Faye West, June Chanpoomidole, Jo Chung, Erica Sharp, Krister Selin, Kat Tromans, Gareth A Hopkins, Dee Andrews and many more. They're all so fabulous, so glad I got to meet them! I also met the lovely Hels Martin and her boyfriend Charlie (Curls), who i'd had the pleasure of illustrating last year, It was lovely to finally meet her after working with her on so many articles, I only wish i'd got a photo! It was also lovely to meet Emily of Handmade by Emily, who wrote this lovely feature on my last year.

Myself and Dee Andrews

Myself, Kat Tromans and Krister Selin

Me and my lovely boyfriend

The very sweet Lesley Barnes

My mum and boyfriend:)

One of the biggest highlights for me was meeting Avril Kelly, someone I talk to so often via twitter. I spent a lot of the evening with her and we walked her back to her creepy little bedsit after the party. I think my mum wanted to adopt her, she was incredibly lovely! Also, meeting fellow Tea and Crayon member, Rachel Lewis later in the evening was amazing. The first meet up and definitely not the last for us!  

Rachel Lewis, Avril Kelly, Mat and me

I loved watching 6 Day Riot perform and The Pipettes were fantastic party DJs! Of course the flowing alcohol; Vodka O and Adnams beer (I think these are perhaps to blame for my mother and boyfriend's extra giddiness!) went down very well too. This all made for the most amazing party I could imagine. It was certainly one I will not be forgetting anytime soon! 

I will share my illustrations once they have been published on Amelia's Magazine :) i'm very happy with them! Here are a couple of photos from the next day, as well as a picture of Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration in the Tate next to one of my favourite books: Print and Pattern.