Amelia's Magazine | Essie Jain.

Check out my illustration of singer/songwriter Essie Jain in Helen Martin's interview in Amelia's Magazine.

The illustration and interview are also included in Helen's blog.

As you've probably noticed from my last few posts, I seem to have been lured into creating a number of portraits recently; first Gabby Young, then an illo of my cutie boyfriend, and finally this illustration of Essie Jain. Since I have always claimed that I 'can't draw people', this is a bit of a shock, even to myself. I am definitely learning from it though; I think this is noticeable if you look at the illustrations in order of creation, for example in this image I paid much more attention to the light and shadow on the face.

If I'm honest, I don't think it's an area of illustration I'll regularly be frequenting - I think I prefer the creativity of creating my own characters - but it's nice to explore as a change every now and again. The experience has also taught me that blonde hair is my nemesis (in drawing terms only, otherwise I'd be in trouble!). Despite what my boyfriend claims - mainly to annoy me - 'blonde' is not yellow, and it's definitely not a single shade of brown. It's difficult to recreate, and in my opinion, it's definitely a colour that should be made into coloured pencil form.