Update

2017 has gotten off to a flying start already with lots of work commissioned, completed and waiting for publication, so lots of new updates on my website and here to follow. For now, I finished off the last post with a teaser for something I'd been working on for a fairly long time on and off. If you follow me on social media you would have already seen that this was a little sneak peek of my first children's book! Dedicated to my niece, 'Want to Play?' follows Bear on his journey to find someone to play with. Here's a few spreads:

I focused on some really rich landscapes, full of texture and depth, to become the home of Bear, a little red abstract character made from simplified shapes and flat colours. This created a careful interplay between figurative and abstract to portray Bear's playfulness and energy.

I'm really happy with how the book turned out, landscapes are something I create most in my personal work because I think there can be something quite powerful about them. You can infer so much from a place, emotions, atmosphere, tone, all without showing a smile or frown.

I'd love to create another book and have some ideas floating around so watch this space!

If you would like to purchase my book you can do here: http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/7716267-want-to-play?t=1485257850887

It's begining to look a lot like...

Me again. Ok so rather than go through more work, I am going to admit defeat and just pick up with the present day. I've been super busy working on a few projects and one huge project that has literally taken forever but I really hope will be worth it. All to be revealed just after Christmas. Here's a little teaser though.

With the end of the year fast approaching I thought I'd sum up some highs and lows from the last 12 months. The most significant thing to have happened (although not illustration related) is that my boyfriend and I have bought a house! Moving has been a big change and although definitely a real positive in 2016, it hasn't been without its stresses. Another great thing to happen this year is that I am an aunt and have the cutest niece in the world.

In terms of illustration work, it's really hard to select one project, I've worked with some really great people this year. I think working on the Rouleur illustrations were some of my favourites because it was such a shift from the darker work I'd been doing in 2015. They were also really, really great clients and Lizzie herself requested a print!

I also have to mention Therapy Today's July issue, in all honesty this was one of the hardest commissions I've worked on but ultimately I ended up with some work that I'm really proud of. They too are a really great clients to work with and they give really great art direction.

I worked on some other really great things this year, a few of which I still can't talk about due to client confidentiality but I don't want to overload this post, although drawing Trump on an Elephant for In-Mind Magazine was a personal highlight.

With the good there must always come the bad. Not being paid is never a good thing and something really frustrating to deal with when you've worked your butt off and still are busy trying to finish other commissions, but thankfully that issue is resolved and I'm not going to dwell or name and shame.

So that's all for this post. Let's not end on a bad note though so here's how big Rogue has got.

One, two, miss a few...

Ok so I'm gonna fast forward a little and get to some more recent commissions. The first is a series of illustrations I created for Rouleur, the super nice, super luxury (its printed on super heavyweight paper and I'm a bit of a paper snob so it definitely goes straight to the top of my list), cycling magazine. I was asked to create a total of four illustrations and am actually really happy with all of them. The article was an interview with Lizzie Armitstead, the world champion road and track cyclist. It was a really nice shift again to get to work on a brief that was both upbeat but still full of emotion. Here are the final pieces:

Freedom from Torture

Back last year I was approached by the Charity Freedom from Torture and asked to create a piece to be auctioned off at their 30th Anniversary event. 

Practical Resource for Nurses - Eureka

I was asked by PRN Magazine to create an illustration for their Eureka project, where each illustrator would choose a medical/scientific breakthrough and illustrate it. I chose Charles Darwin on the cusp of developing his seminal work- the theory of evolution. You can see it here: http://www.prnmagazine.com/blog-gr/2015/7/26/eureka-no-4-grace-russell

Tablet Magazine

My next commission was for the Jewish magazine, Tablet Magazine. The article was for a personal essay by Deborah A. Beverly on how converting to Judaism not only changed how she felt spiritually but also changed how she felt about her body. You can read the full article and see my illustration in context here: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/191707/baring-myself-in-the-mikveh

Voyeur Virgin Australia's in-flight magazine and SOFFA

First of the next two commissions was for Voyeur, Virgin Australia's in-flight magazine. The piece was about investing in Australian Art and was a good shift from working on the dark, heavy subject of Therapy Today to something much lighter and colourful. I wanted to really amp up the playfulness to the illustrations too, something the art director had noted she'd liked about my work.

 

 

 

 

SOFFA was next, well I actually worked on these commission pretty much simultaneously and they both required quite a lot of work. SOFFA is a really beautiful, luxury magazine which has everything from recipes to diy, art, literature, so much, but the idea behind the commission was that I was given an extract from influential/prominent literature from the four corners of the globe. Because the client was based in Prague and then most of the text had been translated from its original language to Czech and then back to English, I had to read, re-read and then re-read again but in all I enjoyed the brief and my illustration was also chosen as the front cover.