What influences your illustrations ?
My personal work is quite heavily influenced by feminism and taboos . Last year while working for GI Collection and Carmen Liu , I focused a lot of my work on mental health awareness , period poverty and gender identities . Food and drink also influences my illustrations a lot , especially the packaging of retro objects . Being a graphic designer I ’ m a sucker for anything quirky or with a nice design or font , I ’ ve even been known to take a napkin home from Frankie & Bennies with an illustration on before . Sometimes it can even be as simple as a conversation with my GCSE or A level students that influences my illustrations .
What is the most special , unusual , daring , or interesting commission you ’ ve ever received ?
I ’ ve had a couple of timelines for couples or families in the past , illustrating places at special times in their lives . Knowing that it ’ s an original piece of art that someone will treasure for the rest of their life gives you a pretty happy feeling as a designer . The Quay pub in Faversham commissioned me to illustrate a series of animals ( based on their menu ) combined with hops , linking them back to Faversham ’ s heritage , as well as nautical objects to focus on the location of the pub . I loved being able to add ironic humour into these like the pigeons holding a shotgun . My most special commissions so far are those created for the challenge by Every Month Manchester , knowing that I solely raised over £ 850 for them and funded them for over a month is a pretty powerful feeling .
Do you have any artistic heroes ?
Nina Crosford and Laura Callaghan are two illustrators who I discovered during my BA . Their illustration style and content definitely influenced my personal illustrations . One of my biggest artistic heroes from childhood has to be Quentin Blake , maybe subconsciously his sketchy style of work stuck within my creativity . Tomi Ungerer was another hero of mine , who I was lucky enough to have met while I was working at Offset Festival back in 2015 . When I showed him my work he said , “ I like them . Make sure you influence the next generation with those .” I think this was one reason I pursued a pathway into teaching creative subjects while continuing my practice . His ability of visually explaining a message by using one simple line was amazing , and truly inspiring !
Where can we see your work ?
On Instagram @ studio . ess . I also have my favourite projects on my website studio-ess . co I sell on Etsy and can often be found at Folkestone Harbour Arm Market , as well as at the Best of Faversham and HOI Illustrator ’ s Fair .
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