Lighthouse studio

On Tuesday we had the opportunity to visit the Lighthouse Studios in London and see the environment and space that illustrators are working in professionally. I don't know what i expected to see but it was both smaller than I expected and also far more relaxed and inviting. The studio we saw consisted of 8 illustrators working on huge desks with the walls covered in all things arty, bright and inspiring. The back wall had a inboard grid to stick up work, tools and anything they might need which is something I defiantly want for when I set up a studio corner in my home. The atmosphere was friendly but dedicated as they all were working hard with music playing in the background, and we were lucky enough to have the chance to talk to the artists about their working process and what they were currently working on.

Jack Hudsons work is a colourful blend of modern vintage illustration, with soft crayon-like textures and geeky characters on their adventures. I was surprised to find out that his work is digital as it has such a hand-made feel to it. He mocks up ideas in pencil in his sketchbook and scans in his drawings to fill in and colour on Photoshop and Illustrator. He is currently working on some personal work called 'If I were small' with little characters jumping on huge jellies etc for Pick Me Up fair 2014- I will definitely be booking my ticket for that!

Jack Hudson at his desk

Personal work, Jack Hudson

We also had the opportunity to talk to talk to Ciara Phelan, a freelance illustrator and paper craft artist. Ciara works a lot with collage and photo montage and I found it really interesting to hear about her creative process; there is little sketching involved as she mainly works from found imagery and plays around with composition. Her collection of educational and source material books are her go-to for inspiration and she recommended we check out Dover books for copyright free source books, although sadly they are quite expensive. Ciara studied graphic design at Brighton university and moved to London short after to work as a junior designer where she began getting commissions for her collage work which led her to focus on that as a full time freelance illustrator. She has a wide range of clients including Computer Arts magazine and Glamour and her style is bright, fun and lively.

Godesses, Ciara Phelan

I really enjoyed the visit to the studios as it has reawakened some drive and excitement in me to move to London and hopefully become a freelance illustrator in a studio like this eventually. It has been a really great insight as to how illustrators work and where.