Artist 29: Fritha Moonbeatle Tigerlilly Quinn

Hello everybody! Its time to introduce the up and coming Fritha Moonbeatle Tigerlilly Quinn! Possessor of not only the best name in the business but some mighty fine guerilla illo skills. Fitting her art around her work obviously hasn't dented her enthusiasm and this is shown with some very free and charming work. Her work has a certain pathos juxtaposed with sugar sweet sentiment, a perfect mix of pastels and cheekiness gives a warmth that belies the cool settings and textured backgrounds. Breezy and fun her work is a real treasure and you can read about her here!

Who are you:

My name is Fritha Moonbeatle Tigerlilly Quinn (for real, Strickland is my surname and the others are my middle names)

I am a 24 year old Welsh illustrator living in Bristol

What do you do:

I work 9-.5.30 in an office as my day job but in my lunch breaks/train commute/evenings and weekends I am an illustrator!

How did you start:

I have always drawn since as far back as I remember that is what I have loved doing. I think my love of drawing and crafts came from moving a lot as a child, learning to 'make' my friends when in situations where real ones were not available ( they were my paper people! with fragile necks sellotaped with tooth picks and a fear of water ). But even now as a adult I think if a day went past that I didn't pick up a pen and do something creative it would feel odd to me..I love just getting lost in an illustration and forgetting about the mundane!

A Personal statement about you or your work:

I think my work is quite childlike as probably a reflection of my personality. I love bright bold colours and quirky text and I love to personalise animals. I would love to work as a childrens book illustrator one day! Really I just like my work to make people smile :)

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Halloween No. 2

By Morena Forza

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Artist 13: Lea Wade

It's Lea Wade, Illustrator and comic genius who captures the spirit and vitality of her subjects with a wicked sense of humour. There is nothing more satisfying than a seeing a lively character with a cheeky realism and Lea is the lass for that. The irrepressible Lea creates superb insightful characters and you can learn a bit more about her, here!

Who are you:
Lea Wade (That's lea as in 'Dairylea' by the way), I can also be seen mooching around the internet under the guises of 'Leamonade' or 'Jammilicious' too.

What do you do:
In a nutshell, I attempt to make a living through utilizing my doodle powers. I produce digital illustrations, designs and characters for anyone in need of such things, from the comfort of my little studio in Bushey.

How did you start:
Unfortunately it's a bit of cliché as I was scribbling away as soon as I could hold a pencil. Although, I was pretty rubbish back then, I couldn't even stay within the lines! But still, I practiced consistantly and I knew the artistic route was the one for me (apart from a small wobble at the age of 10 when I first heard about life drawing classes. I abruptly decided that journalism would be a less embarassing option). I began my professional life as an illustrator 2 years ago during my 3rd year of university and really pulled my socks up when the remnants of my student loan finally ran out.

A Personal statement about you or your work:
Even though I care about the aesthetics of my pieces, my work has always focused on the characters involved, even if they're just in the background I worry about anyone and every creature in the painting. Expressing a character's elusive personality in one frame is my favourite challenge, and the most common, (yet oddest) phrase people say about my guys is "...I can see _something_ in them...". I dismissed this for years as a strange sentence my biased mother would reliably repeat at any oppourtunity, but at my last exhibition I was astonished to hear the same words parroted from an overwhelming amount of people, and curiously they always said it with childlike smiles and eyes lit up. I was pleasantly surprised and I took this to mean that I was doing a pretty good job as a character designer. So that's what my work is about, I don't do much by way of social issues and current events, but if your characters are flat and dull then I'm the go-to girl when you want something with a bit more life.

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