Swimmers by Isabella Bunnell

More: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr

I am Sara, a portuguese freelance illustrator living in London since November 2013. Drawing was always my favourite activity since I was little and the academic discipline that I dedicated most time to throughout my school years. During my studies in architecture I found illustration to be a true interest and passion. After attending some courses, it was time to go back to University, where I did a Master Degree in Image Design and studied animation, illustration and storytelling, and I explored image narratives, digital culture and digital publishing.

My days start early and I like to keep a routine. I wake up around 7am, sometimes earlier, as mornings are usually the most productive time of the day. I work from home and I am lucky to have a big window across the wall that brings a beautiful morning light into the space. Right now I am dedicating most of my working hours to illustrating two children’s books, for which I am experimenting with different techniques. The beginning of a project always starts with a lot of experimentation and research until I find the right expression for it. I then start studying and developing a coherent group of images.

Paper Sculptures

I have the necessity to work with different mediums, such as drawing, stencil, silhouette papercuts and photography, sewing or digital illustration. Despite this diversity of techniques, my work always starts manually with pencil drawings and sketches that strongly lean towards geometry and clean, simple shapes and forms, with a sharp use of bright colours.

Good Night Poems

I choose the technique depending on the identity of each project. For example, I illustrated a book of poems for children with references to night time and dreams. My approach to this subject was to convey the mood of the poems in a series of patchwork inspired illustrations that are a reference to the cozy and sweetness of family quilts and patchwork blankets, that stay with us from our child memories. It didn’t felt right to “fake” the patchwork with any other technique, so I did real patchwork illustrations, using a sewing machine to sew all the pieces together. I embroidered by hand the character’s expressions and photographed the final pieces. It was very laborious but worth it in the end.

The Farmer and the Wolf

A different example are the illustrations I did for a book called “The Farmer and the Wolf”, based on a popular portuguese tale. It is sort of a hide and seek game, where both the farmer and the wolf are constantly hiding from each other. So I did very sharp digital illustrations to reflect the suspense and story rhythm with a graphic camouflage effect in autumn colours.

The Story of a Story

It is also very important to leave some of my day time to research and reading, and also to revisit or rediscover artists, illustrators and animators from the past. My architecture education at University of Porto has certainly influenced this, given the school’s unique aesthetics of process, form and scale, strongly influenced by modernism. I recently found a catalogue of Soviet Lithuanian Children’s Book Illustration filled with amazing works from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s decades.

Carte de Visite

Lastly, I am finally dedicating time to my personal projects. I have different projects I am developing that have been on the waiting list for too long! For the end, I would like to leave you with a short non-narrative animation I did almost three years ago that reflects my main interests in my personal projects: explore the physical boundaries and narrative structures of books and images.

More: Website | Portfolio | Tumblr | Behance | Vimeo | Instagram

//////

Artist profiles delve into the psyche of the artist talking about daily life, inspiration & art. Read more profiles here. 

Interested in writing one? Contact us 

VR Girl

girlhellohi

I’m an illustrator living in South London and last year I graduated from Kingston. I do most of my work from my bedroom, but me and my house-mates have kind of turned our front room into a studio which is working out pretty well. We all work a lot on computers so we don’t even have to worry about making a mess, it’s good to have a work hub.

Eva

It feels like I kind of reinvent my process for every new project, it always just depends what the brief calls for. A few patterns have been emerging though, especially when I have a fast turnover on a project. I always start in my sketchbook, no matter what, and I’ll usually look through all old sketchbooks first to try and kick off with an idea that’s a little disjointed from the topic, then work my way back.

In terms of things that inspire me, I really like things that are slightly unsettling. I’d like to find a way to make this a little more commercially applicable, I’m really gunning to step up my work in sense of scale and slickness, but somehow keep that mysterious edge that I’m drawn to. I have a blog where I collect images that inspire me, I refer to that a lot when I decide the kind of imagery I want to create, it reminds me of the vibe I like and makes me feel excited to work.

Activia Benz Poster

Smoke Dog

I’ve been making a lot of animation and moving image stuff recently; I really feel like I want to be as diverse as possible to get work. My dream agency to be a part of would be Hugo & Marie in New York as they have such an engaging relationship with their artists, and their clients always seem to give the artists such freedom. I’ve noticed that the agency seems to encourage the artists to work in new ways, Micah Lidberg (one of their illustrators) recently did a highly polished music video with Mario Hugo for Coldplay; I just think it’s amazing that an agency would encourage collaboration between the artists like that. This is something I’m all about; I really think those guys have got it right in every way, from what I’ve seen.

Floating Pyramids (print)

Basketball (print)

The Loop Computer Club (print)

I don’t have much in the way of things to promote but I’m selling prints at the moment through these great guys based in Angel in London, Printer of Dreams. I’ve also just completed a record cover for a release on Brighton based record label, Donkey Pitch, which I’m pretty stoked to show people.

More: Website | Blog | Twitter

Alphabet by Winchester based Illustrator and Designer, Nate Kitch. Kitch is releasing one letter of the alphabet each week on his site here, so check back for more of these brilliant illustrations.

More: Cargo | Twitter

Pretty Vacant by illustrator, Charles Williams.

Cargo

Browse more Featured Work | Find out how to be featured

Boomhanger by Ipswich based artist/designer/illustrator, John Scarratt.

More: Flickr

I live in Toronto, Canada where I’ve been settled for about 3 years now. Originally from the UK, I’m currently residing in a flat I rent just outside of downtown Toronto, near ‘Little Italy’.

I love Toronto, as there’s always loads going on. The events, concerts and festivals in Toronto are as diverse as its inhabitants, and each of the city’s seasons offer very different experiences.

My girlfriend and I were lucky to find our current apartment as not only is it a beautiful house in a nice neighbourhood, but it had also been recently renovated. It has terrifically high ceilings, lets in lots of light and is a great space to live and work. I have converted the spare room into a little studio space where I get to cause a little chaos each day.

Most of my time is dedicated to running my design partnership Core, but I also occasionally take on freelance work at agencies or in-house design departments. I love to lock myself away and work on designs or illustrations for hours on end, and I find that shifting between my business and freelance work is a good way of balancing my dedication to my own work and getting out there and interacting with people. I have a tendency to become a bit of a hermit when I get stuck into projects! I’m definitely most in my element when I’m in the studio working on something creative.

My bread and butter is working on branding projects – creating logos, print collateral, online web assets and interfaces. However, I also like to draw and illustrate, and enjoy doing commissions or personal projects in my spare time. One of the things I love about my work is the variety. I can work for all sorts of clients from different industries and there’s always something new to learn and explore.

I love working from home, although I must admit it took me a long time to get used to it. I used to struggle with disciplining my hours and avoiding distractions, but now I’ve settled into it and look forward to work on a Monday morning.

It took me 25 years before I worked out what I wanted to do with my life, work-wise. Despite having gone to an Art and Design College after I finished high school, I didn’t explore the idea of making a career out of my craft until several years later. I’m very fortunate to be doing what I love, but I think more than anything I have gotten to where I am today through hard work, drive and determination.

I’m always open to new opportunities and to collaboration, so please feel free to get in touch with me at tom@core-agency.com.

More: Website | Core | Facebook | Twitter

//////

‘Where I Make’ invites readers behind the scenes of artists from many disciplines to share photographs and a little insight about where they create their masterpieces. See more from the series here.

What:
The Reconstructionists is a collaboration between illustrator Lisa Congdon and writer Maria Popova. They celebrate beloved female artists, writers, and scientists, as well as notable unsung heroes in this yearlong project of remarkable women who have changed how we see the world.

Why we like it:
Every Monday in 2013, they will publish an illustrated portrait of a woman, along with a quote that captures her spirit and information about her life and legacy. Monday mornings need not be so drab again.

Find out more:
Website | Facebook | Twitter

//////

For more creative delights we’ve Spotted on the web take a look here.

I work from home and have dedicated a room to it – my studio. I tried working for a year in a studio a short walk from home in Gothenburg, but it didn’t work well – I still did more and better work when being at home. I really enjoy working from home as long as the room is separated from the rest of the apartment. When not working I hardly spend time in my studio – on weekends and evenings I close the doors to it to get some distance and let home feel like home.

Important to me is to dress well before entering my studio – I always wear clothes I feel good in and would wear if there were colleagues around. Personally I don’t feel very professional if I’m working in my nightgown, and I never work in my bed. A good start of a work day is to get dressed and go out for a walk; it doesn’t have to be a long one, but at least to get out of the house and get that feeling of taking a walk to work.

I don’t make plans to meet friends during daytime on weekdays. I need everyday, after breakfast (breakfast dates with friends are amazing), to be a tabula rasa that I can fill with whatever pops up. I never really know what will come to my inbox workwise and inspiration & flow are things that are really difficult to schedule. I do however sometimes meet my husband or friends spontaneously during the day if I all of a sudden need a change of environment. An unplanned lunch date can be very refreshing.

Sandra wrote more about how she works and what she’s up to in her own blog. Read all about it.

//////

‘Where I Make’ invites readers behind the scenes of artists from many disciplines to share photographs and a little insight about where they create their masterpieces. See more from the series here.

Who:
Artist and illustrator, Lynnie Zulu is based in London and was recently featured on It’s Nice That. She is represented by the Central Illustration Agency.

Why we like it:
Lynnie Zulu has a distinct, African style of drawing with confident, colourful and bold mark-making.

Hidden treasure:
Posted by Zulu at the end of May last year, this work demonstrates her tribal roots with a contemporary twist.

Where to find out more:
Website | Twitter

//////

Want to take a look at more suggested blogs by artists? Look here.