Personal Project: Independent Fashion Illustration

Today is the last day of London fashion week, and the first day of a new exciting personal project for me.   For the next six months, inter-London fashion weeks, I'm going to be focussing on a new series of exciting, contemporary fashion illustration. 

I'll be visiting independent fashion designers in their London studios to get an insight into their inspirations and design process.  This exclusive and personal insight into their collections will allow me to work with these designers to create illustrations that capture their original vision and depict the important details and textures which form their signature style.

I'll be visiting studios with my fashionary sketchbook in hand, to take notes and keep a visual record of the shapes and important details. I'll then take these back to my studio and work these into finished illustrations.  

Since this is a personal project, I'm hoping to take more time to develop ideas, experiment and work at a bigger scale than normal.

Follow me on Instagram to see my ongoing sketches, work-in-progress and illustrations. I'll be be using the hashtag #londonfashionpeek. As I go, I'll also be writing introductions about each of the designers, to give you some background to the project.

If you're a fashion designer and would like to get involved, get in touch. 

x, Willa

Links of London PR dinner - illustrated table settings

Last month I was contacted by Links of London to create some inky portraits for their #linksoflondontime dinner; a luxurious dining event at The National Portrait Gallery to celebrate Links' latest watch collection.

I was asked to draw portraits for 13 attendees, which would be used on their table settings.  I also hand lettered their names. A lovely idea.  Here's a few of my favourites.

The guests were pretty pleased with their portraits and some even shared them on Instagram.  It was fun to see them being posted throughout the evening, I felt like I was there! Thanks to everyone for the lovely pictures.

Fashion Illustrations for River Island X Zoë Jordan

Once in a while a great commission comes along. And this is one! Fashion illustration commissions don't come along that often, so when River Island got in touch to ask if I could create fashion illustrations for their latest designer collaboration with Zoë Jordan, I was delighted. 

The actual collection is top secret (of course!) until it launches with a short film during London Fashion Week at the British Fashion Council's Fashion Film event.  So, River Island wanted to use illustration to whet people's appetites.   I created three illustrations that give a flavour of the collection but don't too much away.  Of course it meant that I was given a privileged access to the new collection and to the official photography.  Squee! 

You'll see my artwork being distributed as part of the PR campaign and they've already been spotted in a number of online magazines including Vogue.  

The Zoë Jordan X River Island Design Forum collection will be available in store and online at Riverisland.com in September. 

Hosting illustrator events with Yo Illo Talks

Something I don't talk about much here is the work I do with Yo Illo.  For those that don't know, Yo Illo is an illustrator's meetup in London.  It's a monthly meetup where illustrators can get away from their lonely studio and meet up with their peers, colleagues and partner's in crime.  It's been a vital part of my journey as an illustrator.

It's been running for almost 5 years, steered by the steadfast captain, Rob Barrett and over the last few years I've become more involved by running Yo Illo Berlin and co-ordinating some of our events.

This month became an exciting turning point for Yo Illo as we hosted our first ever Yo Illo Talks!  It's something we'd been thinking about for a while, so we were really excited when we were offered a space by digital agency ustwo to host our talks.

Our first event saw talented and successful illustrators, Kerry Lemon and Vic Lee coming along to talk about their large scale and mural work. Both Vic and Kerry have been coming along to Yo Illo for a couple of years, so it's rewarding to be able to hear what they've been up to in detail and to discuss their strategies and process.  

It was a real success.  In part because of the generosity of ustwo (so much pizza and beer!) but mainly because of the wonderful people that came along.  It made me feel blessed to realise how much YoIllo has developed a community over the last few years.  There were a lot of regular faces of course, but lots of new faces too and it gave me a fuzzy feeling inside to note that no-one was sitting on their own.  Illustration can be a solitary career, often occupied by introverts and worriers.  It's sometimes difficult to put yourself out there; especially when you're starting out.  I'm glad that YoIllo offers a place where we can feel at home.

Here's some pictures by the ever lovely Rob Cartwright. If you'd like to see more, then head over to the Yo Illo facebook page.

Illustrations inspired by ballet

Instagram is a great place for inspiration. Recently, I've been following Hyshil Sander (@hyshil), an illustrator and designer who's been working for the Dutch National Opera and Ballet (nationaleoperaballet). The photos are gorgeous!

So much pink tulle! 

Suitably inspired; between commissions I've been trying out some ballerina inspired sketches, creating pink watercolour textures, and made this illustration. 

Beauty Illustrations for Tesco digital

I'm regularly asked to create illustrations for Tesco's @beautyattesco Instagram account.  It's always fun; they have some pretty weird requests sometimes.  Here's a couple of recent illustrations.  

Fashion Illustration Gif

This month I'm working on a series of evening live-drawing events with Links of London, which leaves my days free to work on some new personal projects.  I've been practising with gifs and moving image for a while, so I thought I'd start a collection.

I also took the chance to create something a little more painterly. So I bought myself a new set of watercolours (a much needed upgrade) and got my hands dirty.

Storyboard Illustration for events

A recent commission; I was asked to create a concept illustration for an event's company.  They wanted an artwork to use in a pitch, which would visualise the event space.

The brief was to focus on white, classical, Venetian furnishings with fresh flowers, white candles and space for gifting tables.

New Work - You & Your Wedding Magazine

I'm really pleased to share this new work I did for You & Your Wedding magazine.  I was asked to create a series of drawings for their bridal fashion awards supplement.  

The supplement included 8 fashion illustrations that I created for them last year, that have been reused, but this year there was an additional 13 illustrations depicting the winners.  It's my first commission for architectural drawings and I'm really pleased how they turned out.

Here's some of my favourite illustrations.  

You can see the rest of the illustrations here.

I was also pleased to be featured at the front as a contributor to the magazine.  A commission of two firsts.

Live Drawing with Folli Follie

Before Christmas, I was invited to do some fashion reportage with the jewellery and accessories brand, Folli Follie.  I was in-store providing some quick fashion illustrations for their customers.

Here some fab pictures at the Regent Street event by the wonderful Rob Cartwright. 

Willa, x

Photography Illustration Collaboration

Last year, during a quiet period, I made it my mission to try some new things and meet new people through collaborations.  One of the biggest challenges for me, was my collab with talented still life photographer, Johanna Parkin and the wonderful florist, Geraldine Casey.
Together we created this lovely series of photographs.

We wanted to create a series of images which would blur between reality and illustration. Hoping that it would be difficult to see what was real and what was not. The illustrations on the vases blend into the paper at the base and back.
The process was quite complicated; trying to get the illustration to line up with the angle of the camera.  That was before we even added the flowers!

There was weeks of preparation to create three large panels and paint three vases.  I found it quickest and easiest to work wth letraset promakers, which gave a beautiful watercolour texture on the ceramic.  Sadly, though, it meant that the vases weren't watertight.  They look great in the pictures but are sadly not much use for holding flowers day-to-day.

The day of photoshoot was one of London's warmest days, which meant that the florist had problems of her own, as the flowers misbehaved. 

 Johanna needs to be a perfectionist. It's amazing what the camera shows up.  I've got a new admiration for the amount of work involved in still-life photography.

Sadly, we ended up not using all three pieces, as the third and most complcated piece didn't hang together in the set.   Experimenting in this way was a great way of finding your limits.
I love doing collaborations like this, with new people and with interesting projects (especially when it gets me away from my desk and into the real world).
Let me know what you think.
x, Willa

2014 Year Round Up

I'm feeling pretty good about 2014.  I feel more grounded in my work.  While I'm not earning any more than I did last year (one of my goals), I'm happy to have survived conquered my first year of being a full-time illustrator.

My 2014 run-down

I went full-time
I gave up my part-time job in January 2014.  It was the worst possible time.  January-March is always my slowest period and 2014 was no different.  I started the year with no work and a dwindling bank account.  Not great, but it's part of being freelance I guess. 
It gave me some time to sort out my processes and I worked on some wonderful collaborations.

First my collaboration with Photographer Lorna Milburn and Make Up Artist Sam Norman, where I created the illustrations and head piece for a fashion shoot.

Later, I worked on another photo shoot with the amazing still life photographer, Johanna Parkin

Of course later in the year work started to pick up and by the end of the year, I was back to normal.
Here's some of my favourites:

My first book (illustrated) was launched:

  
These cute b&w illustrations for Keri Scarves:

These bold fashion illustrations for American Express:

This step-by-step of male grooming for Vän Magazine

Food illustrations for Tesco's Online Magazine.

I started an illustrators' meetup in Berlin
I've been travelling backwards and forwards to Berlin for the last year or so, but never enough time to really make friends or get to know anyone.  In the summer I officially started a German branch of Yo Illo out there. It's been a great way to get to know people and understand how different the illustration industry is out there.

I did a lot of live drawing events.
This was a huge success for me this year.  I was asked to do some live-drawing work for H&M, so I invested in getting some great photographs from the event, which I knew that I could use for promotion.  It worked! I worked for H&M, Links of London, Folli Follie, The Grand National and Microsoft to create some great personalised illustrations.

I threw an illustrators' party in London
I had an awesome time at the Yo Illo party.  It was a huge amount of work though; it nearly killed me in the process.  I could write a whole blog post on that alone.

It's actually pretty difficult to squeeze a whole year into a blog post.  I've realised that I need to go back and write separate posts for some of this stuff.
Oh well,  January is always pretty quiet anyway :)

x, Willa

Merry Christmas Everyone

I hope Santa was good to you all.

.
Willa, x

*Christmas Special* - Personalised Fashion Illustrations available for preorder

A lot of people have asked, so I'm finally doing it! 

This Christmas, for one day only, I'll be offering people the chance to purchase their very own live fashion sketch at the unique price of only £25.  Perfect as a christmas gift for your fashionista friends, or a little treat for yourself.

To make it even more special, you'll be able to watch your fashion sketch being drawn in real time as part of a Live Drawing Event!  I'll be capturing the pictures by tweeting and instagramming, so you can see my process and ask me questions. throughout the day.

This is a special price for this event only.  Places will be limited so book early to avoid disappointment. you can pre-order through the depop app here

What you get: 

On the 8th December, I'll tweet you, to let you know when your artwork is being created, with a link through to a live stream, where you can watch me creating your artwork in real time.  

You'll then recieve a unique, personalised fashion illustration signed and wrapped, posted to your door. The illustrations are created in pencil, ink and watercolour on 300gsm Fabriano watercolour paper. They measure 8’x10’ so will fit into standard frames. A frame is not included.

Artwork will be posted in a hard-backed envelope on Monday 8th December by next-day, signed-for delivery. Please note, that this only guarantees Christmas delivery for those living in Europe, North America and Canada.

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Once you've purchased your illustration on depop, I will contact you and ask you to send me a full length photograph of you (or your friend) wearing a favourite outfit.

Photo guidelines:

- one person per portrait and humans only please!

- a clear, full length picture.

- If you want to be wearing something different, please let me know and I will try to adapt the illustration.

- some clothes work better for illustrations. Black can be a bit boring but textures, prints, sparkles and furs look great.

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I'm really looking forward to the event! If you have any questions let me know.

Willa, x

Live Portraits with The Jockey Club

Another live drawing event! This time with a difference.  

I was asked by The Grand National and The Jockey Club to attend a dinner event and create a series of fashion sketches of people as they mingled and during dinner.  The sketches were to be portraits of the attendees, each wearing a hat, in ode to a day at the races.  Hats were provided by the fabulous Awon Golding and Lizzie McQuade and provided some excellent inspiration and couture shapes for the portraits.

Obviously, I didn’t want to spoil the attendees appetite or make them feel awkward, so I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible.  It’s not an easy task to capture 20 portraits over dinner when people are eating and chatting; especially when you’re trying to keep track of who you have/haven’t drawn already. *yikes.

Here's some photographs (with thanks to The Jockey Club) and some of my favourite portraits from the event.

my tools

A selection of the beautiful hats on offer

The amazing venue

Drawing secretly in the background

New Work - Portrait for Stella magazine

Truthfully, this commission was from back in August, but I'm just getting around to showing it.

I was asked to create my smallest ever commission. A teeny tiny portrait for Stella magazine at a miniscule 26mm wide.  Despite it's small size, it was no simple task to create a good likeness at this size.  I had to use simple, bold lines and strong colour to make it work.  A bit different from my normal style.
In fact, the art director, Jason Morris, had contacted me after seeing this ipad drawing on my website.  He thought that this style would be ideal for this simple, yet fashionable brief.

So, I set out to create an similar illustration, created with ink and watercolour.  And here's what I came up with.  Two options.  The art director had wanted something straight on, but I felt that the angled head would be more interesting for this graphic piece.  I'm pleased that they went with it.

 I also created some hand lettering for the article title.

Unfortunately I missed the image being used in the magazine; shame.

x, Willa

Live Fashion Illustration with Links of London.

Photo from @labelsforlunch instagram Lettering by me.

Last week I was asked by Links of London and Epiphany to attend a blogger event and create some live fashion illustrations of the bloggers.
As always, it was a great night.  The girls were all so lovely and made sure I got plenty of cupcakes to keep me going. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, but I've shared some of the great pictures from instagram below.  Thanks to everyone for your lovely pictures! It's great seeing them being shared and loved.

Photos from @mintyessence @acidbrights @linksoflondon @laurenella1990 @sabrinachakici

x, Willa