Exercise 1

Thinking about your research and practise.

  • How do you describe and locate your practice?

I would describe my practise as: as an Illustrator, drawing and painting for children’s illustrations including surface pattern design, inspired by nature, animals and botanicals, colour and texture, and how colour can make you feel.

I enjoy creating cute characters, nature scenes and flowers, that create there own worlds a little bit fantasy, but would love to focus on Eco content.

My practise is located in my spare room in Essex, I enjoy going into London to see exhibitions and work by artists, illustrators and anything else that I’m interested in.

  • What are the characteristics of your personal creative voice? 

My artistic voice is creating illustrations using mixed media mainly watercolour, watercolour pencils, acrylic ink, gouache paint and surface pattern design.

My style is not fine art, it is illustrative, realistic yet characterful, pastel and bright colours giving a painterly texture and focusing on small details.

My inspiration comes from a variety of illustrators and artists:-

Illustrators:-

Beatrice Blue, Lorna Scobie, Beatrice Alemagna, Victoria Semykina, Oliver Jeffers, Emma Block and Melissa Lakey.

Artists:-

David Hockney and Van Gogh

  • What kinds of projects are you interested in?

Illustrating children’s books

Editorial illustration

Folktale week on Instagram

Using prompts to come up with visuals

My work process is to start out with a spider diagram then the following:-

Mood board, Key words, Create a brief, Look at similar illustrators, Research, Think about colour tests or limited colour palettes, Sketchbook work ideas, Thumbnails, Compositions, any text or Typography research, Illustrating and art work, painting, pattern designs, annotations and feedback, mock ups, annotations 2nd draft, final art work, In Design work, mock ups of book, annotations 3rd draft, final piece.

  • When is a piece of work successful?

When I am happy with it, when it meets the brief and the client is happy with it.

  • What kinds of learning or creative challenges do you respond to?  

I enjoy creating new covers for books (illustrating new designs for old classics)

Things like Folktale week or Mer May on Instagram

Fun drawing and painting challenges.

  • How do audiences or feedback shape your approach?

I give myself time to receive the feedback good or critical, think about it, could it be different? But overall if I am happy with it I won’t change it. But most of the time if I’m not sure I will try a new approach even if I return to my original again. I am open to feedback.

  • What are your motivations and ambitions?

My motivation is to help children understand life through pictures, through a less harsh means, through colour, texture and characters. To help the environment, and if that is to help the younger generation learn about these topics through illustrated books then that’s what I will do.