Amelia's Magazine | Junky Styling.

An illustration featured in the Junky Styling catwalk review by Amelia Gregory.

Check out the full review here.

This illustration is also featured on the Junky Styling website.

Amelia's Magazine | Kee Boutique.

An illustration of a lovely dress for an article in Amelia's Magazine by Hannah Bullivant about Kee Boutique - a vintage and handmade clothes shop in Leeds.

Check out the full article, and lots more pretty dresses, here.

Amelia's Magazine | Invisible Circus.

This is actually the very first illustration I did for Amelia's Magazine, all the way back in January! It is included in an article about the Invisible Circus by the super lovely Helen Martin.

Check out the full article here.

Lovely shiny new website!

For the past week, it would seem I have pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth (or off the face of Twitter at least). In reality, I have been battling with dreamweaver to update my website; it's always been bit of a love/hate relationship, but we seem to have survived the week with our friendship still pretty much in tact. I've never exactly been a whizz when it comes to computers, and I base the basics of my website-creating knowledge on a dreamweaver crash course half-way through third year; whilst attempting to design my initial website, I realised I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, panicked, and zoomed round to see my amazing friend Jamie - basically the best computer genius ever (if you need a website designing, then he's definitely the man for the job) - with a notebook and pen. The rest of my dreamweaver knowledge comes from online tutorials, experimentation and the odd frantic email to Jam when I'm on the verge of throwing my Mac at the wall. As much as I sometimes hate dreamweaver, want to cut it out my life and move far away, I really do enjoy using it - I love the feeling when I actually finally achieve the outcome I have aimed for. Granted, there is probably an incredibly simple way to achieve what has taken me a whole day to work out, but when I get an idea in my head, I create it, no matter how long it takes and no matter how over-complicated I make it.

But finallyyyyy, I am very pleased to announce that my lovely new website is online! Yay! I felt that the old version was way too focussed on children's book illustration - when I created it in my final year of uni, my work was mainly centered around children's book illutsration, so it made sense for my website to reflect that - but now I feel that I typecast myself far too early, and since I have recently been experimenting with other areas of illustration, I wanted to include both that and my hand-drawn typgraphy on my website too. The layout is pretty much the same as my old website, but the portfolio section is now much more up-to-date, AND it has new pretty headers. :]

So please go and take a peek, and let me know what you think of the new design.

Amelia's Magazine | London Fashion Week A/W 2011; Exhibition Stands.

A couple of LFW illustrations I produced a while ago, which are included in Jenny Robins' review of the LFW stands in Amelia's Magazine. Above is an illustration of a couple of Ginta Siceva masks - the intricate laser-cut detail of the masks stunning, and it was a beautiful image to illustrate.

Above is a little illustration of ceramic bird necklace by Jordan Askill - absolutely adore those birds.

Have a peek at the full review of the exhibition stands here.

Quote of the Evening.

- Cassandra, I Capture the Castle.

Amelia's Magazine | Gabby Young.

An illustration of Gabby Young which is featured in an article about Supermarket Sarah's Launch Party at Selfridges earlier this month; as Ester Kneen explains 'Supermarket Sarah at Selfridges gives tourists a sense of what the London vintage and craft scene is all about'

Just gotta say how much I absolutely loved creating this illustration. Gabby Young's style is so inspirational and unique, and it was super fun to try and capture this in my illo.

Have a peek at the review here.

Illustration Rally; Don't give up Japan. ♥

An illustration submitted to Illustration Rally, to help show love and support to Japan following the horrific events on March 11th. Everyone please get involved and show your support for Japan at this awfue time - check out Illustration Rally's Japan Tsunami Appeal for details; submit an illustration, donate artwork or help in any way you can.

Links to the Japan Tsunami Charities;

- Illustration Rally's Tsunami Appeal on JustGiving.

- British Red Cross.

- American Red Cross.

- International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Check out the total devastation caused by the Tsunami in these before and after images of Japan, and you will see how much the country needs our help.

Sending lots of love to Japan. ♥

Time for Tea.

A little illustration which is included in the lovely Katy Byrne's review of Camellia's Teahouse in Soho. With such a vast range of hand-blended recipes, Camellia's sounds like the perfect place to visit if you love tea and pretty tearooms. With so many yummy-sounding recipes, it may also be the perfect place to cure me of my unwanted dislike of tea...

Read the full article, on The Young Creatives' website, here.

This illustration, along with Katie's review, is also featured in Amelia's Magazine. Have a little read here.

Illustration Rally; Bjork.

A portrait of Bjork, for the current portrait rally on Illustration Rally.

Amelia's Magazine | London Fashion Week A/W 2011; Michael Van Der Ham.

An illustration created for Amelia's Magazine for Amelia Gregory's review of the Michael Van Der Ham show. I loved illustrating the gorgeous, vibrant turqoise colour of the outfit, just one of many 'velvet outfits in a range of jewel brights' featured in the show.

Read the full review, including lots of lovely illustrations, here.

A little very early morning quote.

- KW, Where the Wild Things Are.

A couple of features.

Over the past week, I have been lucky enough to have my work featured on three lovely websites, so super big smiles and a big thank you to everyone involved. :]

Ballard Of..., a lovely magazine filled to the brim with work by new and emerging artists, wrote a cute little feature about my children's book I'm a little bit scared of.... Check out the full feature on their website here, or buy a copy of the book for yourself in my very new and shiny Etsy shop.

Fuel Your Illustration and Illustration Rally also both featured a spotlight on my work and an interview with me about my ilustrations. Check out the articles, and have a little read about my love of cutting and sticking, and my wallpaper-sample stealing adventures, here and here.

I also wanted to give a little mention to the lovely miss Stephanie Martin, who is a third year illustration student at my old uni - AUCB. She recently included my children's book in a post about her favourite children's books, which made me super happy, and she has also been lovely enough to tell me how much she likes it. Her collage-based illustrations are beautiful, and her blog is definitely worth a peek.

That's pretty much it for now. Just a little reminder that I now have an Etsy shop - check it out for prints, postcards and other treats, and also a Facebook page - I like you, and I'd like it very much if you liked me too. :]

Amelia's Magazine | London Fashion Week A/W 2011; Ashish.

This illustration is included in Amelia Gregory's review of the Ashish show in Amelia's Magazine. Apparently, Ashish describes this collection as 'an ode to the “archetypal poor little rich girl”, the kind you might find slumming it in Dalston courtesy of mum and dad, decked out in posh clothes that have seen better days.' As Amelia explains, this statement translated into a collection filled with 'lots of his signature sequinned garments, oversized tartans, ripped jeans and moth eaten jumpers.' After looking at the photographs included in the review, I have to say this is definitely one of my favourite LFW collections - I especially love the cobwebs sprawling across the models' knees.

Interestingly, my boy's mum had a look through my fashion illustrations and commented on how all the models I draw seem to have quite a childlike appearance to them. I hadn't really noticed it myself until it was pointed out to me, but know I can see exactly what she means. I think perhaps my work in children's book illustration has given me a tendancy to produce child friendly illustrations, as I am so used to creating work for a younger audience. I have been focussing on this whilst creating my last few fashion illos, and attempting to make the models appear less childlike.

Check out the full review of the Ashish show here, along with some beautiful illustrations by Erica Sharpe, whose work I just discovered today. Love it.

Illustration Friday: Stir.

This cheeky little fella is helping his mummy out in the kitchen. He's discovered that cake batter tastes better before it's cooked - even green monster cake batter! :]

Amelia's Magazine | London Fashion Week A/W 2011; Charlie Le Mindu.

Gotta admit I loved drawing the hair in this illo - amazing mohican!

This illustration is featured in Amelia's Magazine in Amelia Gregory's review of the outrageous Charlie Le Mindu show, which was inspired by 'WWII decadence of the German Third Reich'.

Check out lots more lace clad models, Nazi references and nudity, in the full review here.

Amelia's Magazine | London Fashion Week A/W 2011; Osman.

A little illo for a review of the LFW Osman show by Naomi Law in Amelia's Magazine.

There are loads of amazing illustrations included in this review, so go have a peek.

Amelia's Magazine | London Fashion Week A/W 2011; Eun Jeong.

This illustration is included in Georgia Takacs' review of the Eun Jeong show in Amelia's Magazine. As you can probably tell from the detail in both the top and headscarf, I loved recreating the 'utterly architectural print, resembling the Golden Gate Bridge' - in fact, I chose to illustrate this outfit from a selection of photographs, purely because I was inspired by the intricate pattern involved.

Read the full review, also including a beautiful illo by the super lovely Kerri-Ann Hulme, here.

Amelia's Magazine | London Fashion Week A/W 2011; Jaeger.

An illustration for Amelia's Magazine of an outfit from the autumnal inspired collection in the Jaeger show in LFW. As Amelia Gregory describes 'The collection was a delicious mix of autumnal colours: blocks of cinnamon, caramel, fallen leaf orange, paprika, mustard and moss gathering around punctual navy blues and sensible chocolate brown'.

I have been working on trying to make my fashion illos look more elegant - this one didn't work out exactly as planned, but I think the model appears a little more graceful than in earlier illustrations. I really need to work on elongating the figures, as they always end up looking a little broad and stocky - just trying to keep thinking elegance, elegance, elegance!

Have a little peek at the full review here.

Amelia's Magazine | London Fashion Week A/W 2011; Ashley Isham.

This illustration was created for Naomi Law's review of the Ashley Isham collection - the inspiration for which was 'enchanted forest'. As Naomi explains 'the models wore elaborate headdresses with a taste of the orient; clouds of tulle were pierced by tasseled chopsticks, joined by silk peonies and blossom branches'. In this illo, I aimed to portray the noticeable contrast between the grey-themed outfit and the bright pink floral headdress.

Check out the full review, in the lovely Amelia's Magazine, here.

Amelia's Magazine | London Fashion Week A/W 2011; Samantha Cole.

Although I have adored illustrating the brightly coloured and intricately patterned dresses of certain LFW collections, this black and grey outfit by Samantha Cole was definitely the perfect choice for today. I have been feeling horrid all weekend - yesterday, I felt too apathetic to even pick up a pen, let alone start an illustration - so I woke up today determined to make up for the wasted day, and when a number of very black-themed photographs popped into my inbox, they felt like the perfect place to start. As Amelia Gregory explains in her review of the show, the collection 'was all about black, black, black' - both the pieces themselves, and the 'violent black eye make-up that stretched from lash to eyebrow'; this colour scheme totally matched my mood, and this enticed me into creating a dark and intense image.

Check out the full review of the show in Amelia's Magazine.

The Young Creatives | London Fashion Week A/W 2011; Bernard Chandran.

An illustration created for a LFW review on The Young Creatives website - totally loving the colours in this outfit! Check out the full review, written by Rachel Humphries, here.

Amelia's Magazine | London Fashion Week A/W 2011; Olivia Rubin.

I absolutely LOVED creating this illustration; the pattern on the dress was so pretty - incredibly intricate and delicate - and it was gorgeous to illustrate. The image is featured in Matt Bramford's review of the Olivia Rubin show, which is included in Amelia's Magazine, and as Matt explains, Rubin's 'playful and vibrant prints' were no surprise. From the photos, the show itself looked incredible - and the beautiful super shiny crystal droplet ceiling at Jalous looks so amazing that it is now my aim to see it with my own eyes!

This illustration is one of my favorite LFW illos, although I am now regretting my decision to not include facial features; I think it makes the image look a little blank and lifeless. Last night, I received some amazinggg advice from Amelia about creating fashion illustrations, including the fact that it's always best to include facial features, ad looking back over the illustrations I've produced, I can see why. This whole experience has been a HUGE learning curve for me, and I really appreciate any advice or comments on how I can improve my fashion illos! :]

The full review is well worth a look. As usual, it is complete with lovely illustrations, including a stunning illo by Fritha Strickland, whose beautiful work I just discovered today.

Amelia's Magazine | Upcycled Jewellery.

This illustration was featured today in Amelia's Magazine in Jessica Furseth's review of the silversmithing class at The Papered Parlour. Check out the full article here. :]

Amelia's Magazine | London Fashion Week A/W 2011; Jasper Garvida.

Another few illustrations for Amelia's Magazine - these ones are for the Jasper Garvida review, written by Amelia Gregory. Both these illustrations were some of the first few fashion illustrations I produced, and I'd like to think that my more recent ones (the majority of which aren't posted on my blog yet) show my progression in creating such imagery.

After the initial few drawn illustrations, I re-introduced collage aspects into my work - I'm moderately pleased with how this turned out, but I'm really not happy with the faces of these two models. Although I have loved working to tight deadlines for all the LFW illos - I always seem to produce my best work when I'm under pressure - it does have the disadvantage that I occasionally had to send in images that weren't completely perfected.

Read the full article here.