In The Stars

I've just started illustrating a horoscope for my portfolio, using a sort of new collagey style. First up, Leo:

Red Carpet Review

I seem to have a burgeoning tradition of illustrating actresses from Oscars night. Today I got straight on the case, and here's this year's effort (with two older ones below, just because). I'd be tempted to offer a prize to anyone who can name all the actresses!

Poser

Now that I'm a full time freelancer, I've been trying to make a quick image every morning, using different materials, and drawing whatever comes to mind, as a sort of exercise (no pun intended). Yesterday I had a yoga class at lunchtime, so my morning picture was of me two hours in the future. And I couldn't help laughing when in the actual class we really did do this pose! I might turn it into a bit of a series, with different people doing different poses...

In-scent-ive

(Excuse the pun)! I wasvintending to draw some perfume bottles to add to my portfolio today, but hadn't chosen which ones, then the Emerald Street daily email came through with an article musing on which perfumes different female writers would have worn. So I thought I might as well illustrate the ones they'd picked out...

Floral Tribute

I've been working on these speculative card designs and am quite pleased with them... a bit of texture, a bit scrawlier than usual...

Bleu Blanc Rouge

Three new french-inspired card designs...

And finally...

...the last three pictures in the series started below...

Hearts and flowers

Hmmm, not as romantic a post as the title might suggest, but here are another couple in the same series as the horse below...

Wooden Horse

I've been working on a new series of pictures, using black painted outlines and bright, slightly offset colours. They might be destined for cards or prints... not sure yet, but here's one of them, a Dala horse:

Retro Kit[chen]

Pick Up Line

Last week I went to Pick Me Up at Somerset House. I'd been a few years ago and wasn't overwhelmed by it, but someone at work strongly recommended it and I was so glad I gave it another chance. It was really inspiring, lots of designers and illustrators I hadn't come across before, and a really buzzy atmosphere. Here are some of my faves:

Daniel Clarke

Frann Preston-Gannon

Jean Julien

Maggie Li

Rhona Garvin

Seb Lester

Daniel Frost

Aardvark On Sea

Superboy!

Thought I'd share a new illustration I did today (quite embarrassingly I have a pair of pyjamas not dissimilar to these... although mine didn't come with a cape):

The Skinny

Last month I had a great commission to illustrate an article in Slimming World magazine. Yesterday I was in the supermarket and thought I'd check to see if the new issue was out yet... and it is, so very excitedly bought it, et voilà:

Chilly Chick

Rolling Out The Red Carpet

A few months ago I did some illustrations of some of the Oscar dresses from last year, and then suddenly the 2013 Oscars came around, and I thought I'd do the same again... (prizes for anyone who can guess all the actresses!!) (well, not prizes, but glory).

Stand and deliver

I've been working on some new illustrations for my agency Lemonade to use on their stand at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in March. Here's a preview!

Oscars frocks!

I've been doing some work on my illustration portfolio, and thought it would be nice to show something a bit more fashion-y than usual... here are some Oscars frocks, hopefully the actresses ring a bell!

Rainbow Polish

With all this changeable weather we've been having I've seen more rainbows in the last 2 weeks than ever before, one right over the sea so that you could see the start and end. And that's a roundabout way of introducing a new beauty illustration I've been working on this afternoon!!

Short Cut

I've recently had quite a drastic haircut, from really quite long to pretty short!! It was time for a change, although I'm still not sure if it's a change for the better (!) but anyway, I thought I should update my picture on my blog and website to reflect reality, so here's the new me (plus the initial sketches I chose from):

Neal's Yard Remedies

At the end of last year, I worked on a really lovely project for Neal's Yard Remedies (through my agent Lemonade) - a pattern design for their new mother & baby gift boxes. Since then I've been checking their website and looking in their shops every now and then to see if the products have been launched, and hey presto, the other day I saw that they had been! Very exciting to see them in the flesh, and although the design has been slightly tweaked here and there since my last version (see swatch at the bottom of the post),  I think they look really lovely!