Artist 99: Michalis Christodoulou

Artist feature time now, with an up and coming illustrator from the world of fashion illustration. Michalis Christodoulou is a London based fashion inspired illustrator who aims to capture the essence of style and female beauty that makes the fashion world tick. He uses inks and watercolours to great effect giving his work a translucent almost ethereal quality. He has a light touch drawing attention to places and letting others fade into the background. His work is at its most successful when he uses his draughtsman's skill to really great effect and incorporates dark strong lines and an almost scratchy rendering. His work is fresh and I'm sure that as he grows he will push it to the next stage, there are some really nice lines and flows in his capture of pose and style. As he builds on this and embellishes his style, he will surely use this to his advantage. I would love to see him move his work forward with his inks as he has a good eye for capturing motion. I really wish him the best of luck as he establishes himself. 

Who are you:

My name is Michalis Christodoulou, I am a London based freelance fashion illustrator. 

What do you do:

My fashion illustrations are hand drawn, using distinctive mixes of inks and watercolours. My current work ranges from editorial and advertising commissions to illustrating collections from the coolest designers and catwalk shows worldwide, for a variety of fashion magazines and fashion blogs. I also illustrate my own garment and accessories designs and have recently been featured in Amelia's Magazine, Ballad Of Magazine and Un nouVeau iDEAL by Filep Motwary.

How did you start:

I started drawing fashion from a very early age and always loved illustrating style, mood, beauty and cool outfits. Having an academic background of both mathematical design and art, gives a certain special edge in my illustration work. I recently started working for online fashion technology and styling, which further inspired me to completely focus professionally on fashion illustration and fashion art.

A Personal statement about you or your work: 

I love my work and it is purely inspired by female beauty, style, mood and cool designers' collections. The ultimate goal is to capture pure style and mood on a daily basis, either in the street or via catwalk shows, parties, collections and portray it the best possible way via features, fashion advertising and collaborations with the hottest fashion labels.

Links:

portfolio

twitter

Tweet

Artist 97: Christopher Morris

This illustration is originally created for Amelia's magazine

It's another wonderful artist now, with bags of talent and some serious skills. It's Christopher Morris, who is really carving a name for himself with his engagingly dark fashion illustrations. He has some really nice stylish set-ups with the classic fashion palette and structure running through his work but he also subverts the viewer and makes them travel down a slightly different path. He has a great ability to pare down the model to pure scaffolding, a Picasso like mural entertaining the idea of a face, bringing only form and flavour to her role. He makes the clothes stand out in a truly original way and this gives him great leverage to make some really stylish images using only the most anaemic of raw materials. Morris builds flavour and depth into fashion illustration and in his other work he unleashes personality, setting it up against a dark tableaux which unnervingly emphasises the character and motive behind his subject as much as their physical presence. A really good style, well thought out is going to bring in the bacon for Christopher, but we think it's worth enjoying for it's own pleasure. A pince of salt in a saccharin world, it's Christopher Morris.

Who are you:
My name is Christopher Morris, I am a recent graduate in BA(Hons) Illustration from Camberwell School of Arts.

What do you do:
I enjoy drawing and currently I am working on a series of portraits of anti-heroes. I am also producing fashion illustrations for None Magazine, Ribbed Magazine and Ballad Of...

How did you start:
I have been drawing from childhood and started higher education at Camberwell first a foundation course and then with a degree in Illustration

A Personal statement about you or your work:
My work is driven by beauty, music, films, anti-heroes, fashion, death, obsessions and the darker side of life

Links:
blog
twitter

Tweet

Artist 87: Matilde Sazio

All the illustrations above is created for Amelia's magazine.

It's artist feature time now and we have a real cracker for you now, Matilde Sazio. Matilde is a dynamic artist whose images burst out at you, so full of colour and life. She has a real eye for her subjects and can capture expressions with the merest hint of a line. The first thing you notice about her work is her stunning palette and how bold she is with colour. Its a real graphic style that has that instant pop art shock value that just grabs you and makes you look. Not content with this she also gives us some really good composition using vivid backgrounds and elements to bring her subject into sharper focus still. Its worth noting that with a such a pared down style it is easy to lose the character as the image becomes more distilled, but Matilde combats this with a very skilful choice of line and she excels in giving us this cheeky smile or sideways glance whilst still presenting her super sharp fashion illustration. Whilst there are many that use a graphical style like this Matilde has her own distinctiveness with a slightly softer line and her trademark bold chromatic work that pulses with opposite tones and sharp high contrast. Using a soft line but harsh colour is a great take on the style and with her good eye for her subject she is sure to win everyone over. With the best of luck for all her future success it's Matilde Sazio!

Who are you:
My name is Matilde and I am an illustrator, photographer and designer living and freelancing in London.
I studied Art & Design at Chelsea College of Art and Visual Communications at LCC (Postgrad).

What do you do:
Lately I have been illustrating for online magazines such as Amelia's Magazine and Creaturemag as well as being featured on Ballad Of. I relish the challenge of representing a story through pure imagery, whether I am illustrating an up-coming Indie band, a film review, a product, or a topical news story. I am working on a range of ideas for picture books and have also painted bespoke murals for children's bedrooms and designed my own jewellery.

How did you start:
*Scratches head* Drawing witches and the White Rabbit from about four years of age! I loved Alice in Wonderland (still obsessed) and anything mythical or other worldly has always been appealing. From Bedknobs and broomsticks to Edgar Allen Poe to Thumbelina. My imagination thrives on these stories and so it's been my life's ambition to illustrate a children's story book having grown up reading the Grimm brother's fairy tales and of course Hans Christian Anderson. I couldn't imagine a world without illustrations, it would be so dull. I have always been creative whether painting, sculpting, designing jewellery or storytelling but most of the things I created were either for friends or family. It was when I designed a mural for a friend that I realised I could go much further and consider a professional career. I bit the bullet and last November submitted my first illustration to Amelia's Magazine. Prior to that I had no formal education in illustration.

A Personal statement about you or your work:
I have a huge curiosity and love of art and design and I want to use all the mediums possible to push me and test what I can create.
Above all I consider my work to be about storytelling. I want it to have an impact and leave an impression.

Matilde's blog
twitter
Direct link to the portfolio of work for Amelia's Magazine

Tweet

Ballad Of..... Event!

When?
04 March at 19:30 - 05 March at 03:00


Where?
Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes

32-36 Kingsland Rd, E2 8DA

London, United Kingdom

What goes on?

Live Drawing from Rally regulars iamanoctopus, Sandra Dieckmann, Jamie Mills, Murray Somerville and Natsuki Otani.

Epic event that will be kicking all night long with T-shirt based live art allowing you to grab a steaming piece of hot Shoreditch action for your very own, with the artists hard at work through the night bringing everybody some fresh art best enjoyed with hard liquor and live music.

Ear joy to be provided by REVERE, who in their own words "incorporate violin, cello, keys, trumpet and glockenspiel into a guitar-led sound, combining elements of gypsy songs, funeral marches, klezmer, post rock, film scores and gospel producing a dramatic orchestral soundscape, moving from tiny, music-box openings, through heart-wrenching melodies to epic finales."

"[Revere has] a great live reputation, their cacophonous multi-layered sound along with stunning live visuals setting them apart" Q Magazine.

And not forgetting those with more energy than sense, mixing it up till 3 it's Twat Boutique and the Ballad Babes. "Twat Boutique is an eclectic mix of underground party tracks and lost classics."  Twat Boutique join the Ballad of crew for just one night and then they will return to throwing packed out parties at Dalston Superstore! "The Ballad Babes are going to throw out the best in retro pop and new indie." Having been DJs at Camp, Dalston Superstore and Jaguar Shoes previously, They are the perfect fit for all your vintage, new age fun needs!

So, If you would like to attend the event, check out Ballad Of's event info here and contact them to be on the guestlist and see you there! If not, don't you worry, we'll have a full report for your viewing pleasure.

Tweet

Live Drawing Retrospective: Ballad Of at Jaguar Shoes

Remember the days before the icy snows set in? We do! Its a brief retrospective here of a rainy evening in deepest, darkest Shoreditch where only the pointy of shoe and quiffed of hair dare to tread. The warm friendly atmosphere, in the otherwise too cool for school Jaguar shoes was met with great appreciation and some Posca mashup action. Hard at work behind a barrier of sofas and well dressed people, the illustrators created a great piece of ephemera, there for only one night the work of some great IR regulars was themed around the phrase "don't forget to write" and formed a great backdrop to some awesome partying. 

The group was: iamanoctopus, Jamie Mills, Natsuki Otani, Sandra Dieckmann,  Murray Somerville and Thomas Bates.

This new group is looking for more opportunities to bring their brand of live drawing goodness to a wall near you, so if you can think of any places we can be please get in touch with any of the members!

That was Ballad Of at Jaguar Shoes! 

Tweet