Practicing Flower Illustrations

I've been trying out something one morning a week. I try to do a practice painting before any other work, not just to practice skills but to get into the rhythm of the freelance working day. I cannot tell you how hard it can feel to get into the grove of things when working from home, so engaging my brain with something creative that's not to do with normal freelance activities in the morning seems to do the trick!

I don't know if this is something that I'll keep up as a regular occurrence, but for now I find it fun. I've recently started painting flowers in these mornings, mostly because when I'm out walking or traveling in general, I see beautiful flowers and either take a photo of them or take a note of what they look like. They're so nice that I just want to capture them in a painting.

If you would like to see more morning practices or other illustration practices in general!- I post a lot of my progress on my Instagram :)

Illustrating for Your Cat magazine

So I'm a huge cat lover, I used to have a cat of my own who I loved dearly and I love the species to no end. When I first saw Your Cat magazine I knew it would be a fantastic publication to be a part of- with adorable articles and incredibly helpful tips! So actually getting a chance to illustrate for the magazine was amazing.

I currently illustrate for the short story segment of each monthly edition, creating artwork for each talented writer that is featured. I wanted to share the process that I use to make these illustrations, sharing some of the past segments I have done.

For my first illustration in July 2016 I was asked to illustrate a story for 'Talking to Ghosts' and each story is a double page spread. Firstly I either draft up ideas in my sketchbook or sketch it out in Photoshop, all of which are in black and white unless there is anything else I need to convey in the design before the final painting.

I normally illustrate across two A4 watercolour sheets if a border is needed, if it's separate illustrations across the two pages I'm more likely to put them both on one A4 page and then edit it later in Photoshop.

I draw out the final design with a pencil, ink it out with different thicknesses of fine liners and rub out the pencil lines below to create the final outline of the illustration.

 

For this illustration, as it was to do with ghosts, I wanted to play with purples and blues. More ethereal colours. Using my watercolours, I built up the colours from light to dark.

I was very happy with how the illustration turned out in print! I'm so inspired by every featured writer that I illustrate for in the magazine. If you want to check out future short stories and some more of my illustrations, Your Cat magazine is out every month in most UK retailers! http://www.yourcat.co.uk/

Here are some other editions I have been a part of!

And another example of another feature I did in November about how to care for your cat over winter.