Artist 83: Joana Faria

Fist five illustrations are created for Amelia's magazine.

A multi-talented creative for you now. Fresh and vibrant work pours out of illustrator and art director Joana Faria. Joana's work has a great cosmopolitan feel with her elegant fashion forms projecting both grace and humour, at once bringing back that sense of 50's chic that is prevalent currently but also having a unique flavour all of her own. Her work is not locked to any period but also has a richness to it as well. Its great to have a style that works and that can be used in multifarious ways. Her style is firmly rooted in fashion illustration and uses the deft elegance that is the trademark of really stylish work. She skilfully employs a choice of palette that not only gives her work a similar tonal range that unites it but allows her to have a good basis from which to explore. Finding something which works and then building from it is the hallmark of a great working practice and will stand her in great stead in the future. Wishing her the best of luck in the future in all she does it's Joana Faria!

Who are you: 

Joana Faria - Born in Brazil, raised in London, currently living in Portugal.

I am a self taught illustrator and have been drawing ever since I can remember. I love books, old photographs, art galleries and fine point markers. Trips to Paris are on my list of favorite things too.

What do you do:
I am a freelance illustrator but also work as an art director at an advertising agency in Lisbon.

How did you start:

I've been drawning all my life. Back in Brazil, I spent most of my childhood days drawing girls in big elaborate dresses and flowers in their hair. Some years later, my family and I moved to England and so I grew up in London, where I went to university and studied Photography at Goldsmiths College.

After uni, I went on to work as a creative in advertising. Little by little I started to drift away from illustration which made me so sad. So after a few years I made a personal decision to force myself back into drawing. I started small. Doing little scribbles here and there, whenever I had the time. I printed some t-shirts with my designs and gave them away as presents, which was fun and started doing a lot of illustration for friends and family. The more I drew, the more I loved it and the more I felt comfortable with it. I created a blog, went on twitter to meet other illustrators and started taking part in competitions and collaborations. I did a lot of assignments for Amelia's Magazine, especially during London Fashion Week, which gave me a huge confidence boost. I was published in Amelia's book of Fashion Illustration and was asked to do live fashion illustration at the launch, which I never thought I'd be able to do. The rest, as they say, is history. 

I'm currently involved in a couple of very exciting projects. It involves another book on Fashion Illustration, a website and also a Children's book, which has been a major dream of mine. It has been an very good year so far, I have to admit.

A Personal statement about you or your work:

I take inspiration from everywhere: books, photographs, a dress, a certain color, a pattern... I feel that everything is beautiful and worthy of observation. Drawing makes me incredibly happy and I am a firm believer that when you put love into your work, it really shows. 

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Artist 66: Lesley Barnes

For Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration

A massive treat today, as we are featuring Lesley Barnes from the frozen lands of Scotland! Lesley is a wonderful illustrator and IR contributor with a fascinating and truly unique style. Animator Lesley has a wonderful way of bringing us inspirational patterns with elements from so many different and complex sources its impossible to define, with the dark stark clarity of ancient Greek pottery colliding with intense colour and pattern reminiscent of tribal art mixed with Turkish or even Russian design elements. One thing is truly certain, its a visual pleasure ride that grabs the viewer and forces them to look! Digital and at the same time natural and carefree there is a certain fantasy about her work that lends a fairy-tail mystery. Lesley has a real sense of fun with her use of colour and brings a powerful mix of just the right amount of vivid hues with her trademark stark solid black, that is not only instantly recognisable but also charming and affecting. Her characters are like little tin soldiers that are so full of life you expect to see motion and this is one of the defining features of all the work submitted to IR by animator/ illustrators. Motion is a really difficult thing to bring into an illustration and Lesley does it naturally and with ease. Her delicate work will have you instantly smitten, so lets have a big warm IR welcome to Lesley Barnes!


Who are you:
Hi my name is lesley and I am a lover of red socks, plaid scarves, brass buttons, choppy waters, an old fashioned murder mystery, high ceilings, large keys.and most of all a cunning smile!...

What do you do:
I am an illustrator/animator who is imspired by pattern, colour, kings, magic.......and animals with strange proportions.

How did you start:
I actually studied english lit at uni, which probably inspired me to become an animator so I could tell stories...but I have tried to increase my illustration work as I have loved drawing since I was a wee lassie.

A Personal statement about you or your work: 
Hopefully my illustrations can just give your day a touch of magic! 

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Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration Launch Retrospective!

It's time for another look at the fantastic launch of Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration. Featured here on IR and packed full of our contributors and friends this awesome book deserved a truly fabulous party, and that is what we got! It was a wonderful community atmosphere provided by Forward PR and featuring perhaps the most epic baking conceivable by the truly awesome Lily Vanilli. It was an extraordinary night where fashion and illustration got up close and personal in deepest darkest Shoreditch.

The venue, 123 Bethnal Green Road, was an intimate affair and with delicious free beverages and music from the phenomenal 6 Day Riot, The Pipettes and the mystery DJ, Will from the Mystery Jets!

It was great to have a night of high fashion, high hair and high times, and it was great to put names to some of the awesome talent hosted here on IR. So a massive shout out to the dynamo that was Amelia, who didn't rest for a second despite her precarious but rather stunning Nina Dolcetti platforms!

Not only that but there were party bags. Exclusive Moleskines, Dr Hauschka products and the delicate little Tatty Devine necklace it was probably the coolest party bag for illustrators and fashionistas alike.

We had an amazing time surrounded by a surreal amount of talented interesting people, plus ones and style gurus!

So to all those we met, you were ace and we hope to see you up on the Rally soon! To all those we missed we'll get you next time ;)

And finally a massive and well deserved thank you to the belle of the ball, here's to Amelia!

Photos Courtesy of Amelia's Magazine.

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Book Feature: Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration

It's our great pleasure now to feature this amazing book from Amelia of Amelia's magazine which many of you not only know as the place to find the latest in ethical fashion design but also as many of our readers and contributors have also been featured in her magazine. The book binds together thirty illustrators under the banner of fashion illustration and showcases not only their talent but the talent of a gamut of wonderful fashion designers.

Amelia herself says of the book that it is "A clarion call to listen to and to support all those who inspire change in this world"

And with her beautifully bound book featuring nearly fifty of the best in ethical fashion she can really be comfortable that her showcase is as excellently populated as it is designed. Many of the illustrators featured in the compendium are also regulars here on the rally and its a really positive community that she has given a great deal of support to.

The book itself is beautifully laid out from it's stunning pearlised front cover all the way through to its boxout features laid against vibrant patterns, its as tactile as it is visual. It's great to be able to bring you this feature shortly before her official launch and we will be the first to wish her the best of luck and get behind this driven exciting project.

So a big thanks to Amelia for this fresh and vibrant book, and a big nod to everybody out there that made it happen. With pleasure, it's Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration.

Katherine Tromans

Aniela Murphy

Natsuki Otani

Yelena Bryksenkova

Krister Selin

Zarina Liew

Lesley Barnes

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Artist 60: Jessica Stokes

For Amelia's magazine

Another special artist for you guys now. It's Jess Stokes, recently graduated and finding her feet with a fresh detailed style that relies on sheer hard work and determination, and a lot of pens! There is more to this talented illustrator than her distinctive style, she has a superb level of observational skill that allows her to play with the dynamics of her piece as she constructs it. With work like hers that has such a level of effort to create she still manages to inject a sense of life and potential. There is a tension present in her images as if something is about to happen. There is a sense of unnatural calm with her cityscapes of long shadow and deep perspective. Her work is like a visual interview, finding out all the information an eye needs and presenting it in the most open and honest way possible. Heavily constructed work can sometimes lose its suspense or lightness but Jessica strikes a clever balance that I'm sure will deliver for her time and again. Please read about her here!


Who are you:

I am Jessica Stokes, a Batchelors of Illustration graduate fresh out of Camberwell College Of Arts, London. Having studied in the colourful South East London town of Camberwell, I continue to live and work there, currently undertaking a Membership and Publication internship at the Association Of Illustrators.

What do you do:

Since graduation and being launched into the big wide world, I like to keep my creative rhythm flowing by involving myself in several areas of interest. In the last few months I have produced illustrations for fashion articles on Amelia's Magazine blog, as christening gifts and as wares at Christmas markets. My other passion lies in arts journalism, having written art related articles for Amelias Magazine as acting Art Editor for a work placement. More recently I have had the opportunity to write exhibition reviews, book reviews and interviews for the Association of Illustrators and Varoom magazine.

How did you start:

Drawing has always been at the heart of what I do. Whether that be my inaugural steps into art at nursery with a clammy fistful of felt-tips and paper, creating illustrated wall hangings and handmade books with freehand machine embroidery for my textiles course at college, to studying for an Illustration degree and finally finding my feet and my illustrative signature that I hope will serve me well as a freelance illustrator. 

A Personal statement about you or your work: 

My most recent illustrations tell a story of the world around me, the idiosyncrasies and energy of the capital city. My work falls into several main themes – pen and ink, intricate detail and architecture, flatness and pattern. I love to take time over my art, with only my black Mitsubishi Uni-Pin pen in one hand and a pad of paper in the other, I work in as much detail until I am satisfied. There is no telling from one illustration to another when this will be.

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Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration

 

 

Illustrations by Andrea Peterson, June Sees, Natsuki Otani, Jo Cheung, Erica Sharp, Jenny Robins, Kellie Black

News time now! This week we bring you news and sneak peeks of Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration. Amelia runs Amelia's magazine which showcases the cutting edge in ethical fashion and some of our contributors are regulars illustrating the latest trends and keeping up with the breathless world of fashion.

An unstoppable force Amelia has compiled this wonderful book with wonderful fashion designers including,

Ada Zanditon, Beautiful Soul, Christopher Raeburn, Dem Collective, Edun, Fifi Bijoux, From Somewhere, Goodone, Henrietta Ludgate, Joanna Cave, Lu Flux, Minna, Nina Dolcetti, Partimi, Prophetik, Romina Karamanea and Ute Decker to name but a few.

Its always a pleasure to see our illustrators at the forefront of the creative industries and Amelia is a real champion for our discipline so its with great appreciation that we proudly support her book.

The perfect gift for that ethical fashionista we all know and are slightly jealous of, please pick up a copy here!

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