A drawing of some of my awesome friends. Want to see their blogs? Check out LilyQGirl, Wardrobe Under Construction and Soul Searching Illustrator!
I was feeling a little fatigued with my other current projects and wanted to draw something fun, loose (this is ‘loose’ for me!) and colourful… view large to see details & textures better…
January
I’m not the type to make resolutions (and I don’t entirely love looking back at my past year of work either!) but still felt inspired to start finding my own path rather less hesitantly, and connect with other illustrators as a source of motivation and inspiration; I joined in with Illustration Fridays and got myself a Twitter account. It’s full of awesome people and opportunities, so if you don’t have a twitter feed – get one! Now! And add me, please!
February
I launched my new website and branding – Precious Little.
Through the magic of twitter I hooked up with very lovely the team at Sketchbook Magazine and did a couple of illustrations of blogger Tavi Gevinsson for their Fashion Blogger issue.
March – a busy month!
I have been working for Mogzilla Publishing since Feb 2009 – started as an intern but now work as a design & illustrator for them part-time. I worked on 3 ‘Roobarb & Custard’ books for them, involved at every stage from adapting the original scripts into stories to creating layouts. Didn’t get to illustrate, but hey, who’s complaining?
I also got myself some new business cards and had a twitter exchange with Amelia gregory of Amelia’s Magazine. I created a fair few illustrations for their London Fashion Week articles.
And finally, I exhibited at Showcase London, although the timing – St Patrick’s Day – is not coincidentally better known for drinking than for getting people in to art exhibitions…
April
Visited the Enchanted Palace exhibition & loved it. Go if you like fairytales, as it’s still on. Added element of oddness as I once worked at the palace as a temp visitor host.
I also took on a couple of private commissions in traditional media.
May
Went to Paris! It was very wet and very French. Versailles was awesome though.
In the world of work, I drew elephants for Amelia’s Magazine, and entered the AOI/TFL biking promo competition.
I didn’t win, but I got quite good at drawing bikes!
June
I was in the mood for some girly, fey illustrations of pretty girls and carousel animals…
And my first proper book cover was published! Haywired by Alex Keller, who also worked with me on the Roobarb books. Haywired is great and definitely worth a read if you like steampunk, adventures and dark humour. Its sequel is out in 2011, with further cover designs by me!
July
Featured in Somewhere, Sometime at the East Gallery. I sold some prints and little pocket mirrors currently available on my shiny new etsy.
I also entered a compeition to land myself a spot in Amelia’s Compendium of fashion Illustration.
August
I took part in Sketchbook Mag’s Open Studio and sold my work at auction. Also there was my ex-classmate Jimbob Ward</a, showing off his latest work.
September
A quiet month… more drawings for Amelia’s Magazine and general design tasks for Mogzilla. guess I needed a rest!
October
Featured in Ballad Of
took part in the Secret Tea Party Illustration Swap.
November
Found out that I won my place in Amelia’s Compendium of fashion Illustration! Wahey!
I also hit Portobello Market with some of my prints & trinkets to sell…
December
Worked on a private commission which I haven’t shared here yet, and got my copy of ACOFI! Isn’t it awesome?? Here are some lovely fresh pics…
It uses lovely thick matte paper stock, has a fab pearlised cover. It features 29 other illustrators and 50 ecologically-friendly fashion designers. All this plus a highly cringey interview with me! It would also look lovely on your coffee table or book shelf 😉
And so there we have it; my year in review. On the whole, not too shabby! Who knows what next year will bring? Bored with my London life I am taking myself on the road and going location independent for a few months… it is certain to be crazy exciting so watch this space!
And have a happy 2011, all!
New images produced for the awesome Amelia’s Anthology of Fashion Illustration! you can see them printed in their full glory in the book, along side 29 other talented fashion illustrators’ works. The illustrations themselves are based on the S/S2011 Speedo collection by From Somewhere. How great is that dress? Love it. Probably handy at the seaside, too 😉
Well, I wasn’t anticipating 2 blog posts in one day, but I couldn’t resist sharing these photos of proofs for Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration! It’s currently available to order in time for Christmas for your fashion/illo-loving friends and relations!
Proofs for illos by Antonia Parker, Emma Block and yours truly…
This is one of mine – illustration of an awesome dress by From Somewhere with Speedo – haven’t shared some of the images in the book with the rest of the world yet! Doesn’t the design look fab with the images? Love. It. 😀
Last Saturday I had a stall at the new art market off Portobello Road… it was very cold, but overall a good day! Thanks to everyone who visited or bought my nick-nacks!
Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration is now available for pre-order! It promises to be a beautiful coffee-table book featuring the work of 30 illustrators – including yours truly! – with a focus on ethical and sustainable fashion. Order now to get yours in time for Christmas…
Hi all!
To celebrate a few exciting recent events – 300 followers on Twitter, a lovely spread in Amelia’s Anthology of Fashion Illustration – and the launch of my Etsy storeI have decided to launch a giveaway! Because it pleases me, I’m going with a nautical theme.
One lucky person will get the chance to win:
1:
‘My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean’ pocket mirror in organza bag
2: 
‘Fishy Kiss’ gift-card (with envelope!)
3:
A signed A5 fine-art quality print of a magical narwhal on a carousel. As an added bonus, he grants wishes!
To win, simply leave a comment on this post, link to this post in twitter (remember to include my username @precious_little so that your message shows up on my feed) or on your own blog! The winner will be picked randomly from a ‘hat’ (or, more likely, bowl) of names on 14th November.
If you miss out, and/or would like to buy something else pretty, visit my Precious Little Shop
So I signed up for the Secret Tea Party’s Illustration Swap – and my partner was the blog’s awesome owner, Natasha. And the package arrived this morning! So here’s a glimpse of all the awesome things she sent me…:
Little book-marks, a name-card and mini-print. Love her lovely hand-drawn text 🙂
Cute origami envelopes, a necklace – and those little hand-drawn packets contain emergency teabags!
And handy little postcards & christmas cards for me to send out to the world…
There were also some Moem sweets – but I ate them because I am weak.
Thanks Natasha, you brightened up my weekend 🙂 Here’s my package, to be shortly on its way to you:
xx
I’ve been featured on Ballad Of’s blog. Their magazine is entirely gorgeous, so needless to say I’m happy!
Also – a bonus sketch!
Random sketch idea, inspired by vintage fashion pattern packaging illustrations (and those old Janet & John children’s books. “Janet pets the dog. See the dog run!”). My mum had lots when I was little, and I always loved the pictures:
I used to imagine stories around the characters in the pictures! If you like a bit of reto fashion & vintage dress patterns, you should check out A Dress a Day blog if you haven’t already. So much love!
Some Words with Pictures 