nicole illustration

21.3.13

Women Warriors!

Really awesome lady knights Abby, Julia and Roxie are putting together a super hardcore WOMEN WARRIORS zine for MoCCA in NYC and they invited me to contribute!!! YAAAAY! This is my contribution:

Based on Woman Warrior, Yennenga

The contributor's list is phenomenal(!) and intimidatingly good. I've seen some other people's stuff and it is jaw-dropping.

I really love being involved in fun collaborative projects like this! It makes me feel less removed from what I perceive to be the fun illustration party of living somewhere like New York and illustrationing it up while hanging out with super cool and super friendly fellow illustration souls.... Zines like this bring me closer you you guys :')

( ◉㉨◉)

Also, I made my first ever seamless repeating pattern in about 10minutes. I will definitely be doing more with patterns in future!

Oh yeah, my computer is still dead as a doornail, but THIS WILL NOT DEFEAT ME!

10.3.13

Plait

I had this idea that I want to turn into something (add colour, develop the 'plot', etc), but for now I'm just going to leave these drawings right here.

1, 2, 3, 4...

I've also got some (simple) ideas for patterns that I'd like to try soon! Courtney had a go at a repeating pattern the other day and it was pretty sweet so now I've got the pattern-making itch!

Unfortunately, the other day my laptop wouldn't turn on and it started to smoke and stink like brimstone, which I'm told means there's a problem. Dan took it completely apart for the second time in its sad little life...and then a third time (luckily I was not at home to witness this horror). Now it's apparently fixed (though mostly exhausted of power after its ordeal), but I need to get a new adaptor and can't use it until that arrives... Whoever said being a freelance illustrator wasn't frightfully exciting and wrought with all sorts of perilous adventures never met me! *soft weeping in the background*

No matter. Mark my words, I shall not be defeated by this minor setback...!

25.2.13

Lady Knights

Some friends are putting together a WOMEN WARRIORS zine that I'm super stoked (and also terribly intimidated) to contribute to!! The above are a few sketches for it (does anyone watch Voyager? Those B'Lanna drawings were mostly just for fun though...).

25.1.13

O Brave New World, That has such people in't...

"Don't you wish you were free, Lenina?"

"Fat; having lost here youth; with bad teeth, and a blotched complexion, and that figure (Ford!) - you simply couldn't look at her without feeling sick..."

"His back was horizontally streaked with crimson, and from weal to weal ran thin trickles of blood."

1.12.12

Have A Rockin' Holiday Season

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

It's the BEST time of the year! So full of mirth and (internal) warmth (or it should be). I love picking the perfect gifts for people, I love giving gifts, I love Christmas food, I even love the Christmas kitsch!

....But when it comes to my holiday mailers, I wanted to go in a slightly less traditional direction.

I grew up with Christmas and that's what I know and love, but I hope you all have a ROCKIN' season whatever you celebrate.

12.11.12

Coti

I've been reading some not-so-well-known folklore recently just trying to find interesting new stories. I bought a book of Welsh Fairy Tales and was looking for good books on African Fairy Tales (I've found one now) when I came across the Eland Myth.

20.10.12

Mystics & The Occult

And now the time has come to reveal the second piece I will have on show as part of Light Grey Art Lab's Tarot, Mystics & The Occult exhibition.

This one is a diptych. In the modern sense of the word (so wiki tells me).

Each of the Tarot cards (78 pieces illustrated by 78 different artists) is available to buy right now as a poster - like my 8 of Pentacles. Or you can get a deck with all 78 cards! And pieces (like above) which are part of the Mystics section of the show are also available for purchase at the Light Grey Art Lab SHOP.

If you aren't able to check out the show in person (like me :( boo!), then have a good look through everybody's cards and extras. A lot of very talented people have done a fantastic job on their contributions to the show. I wish I could have a poster of each piece!

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Also(!) last week Wednesday, my studio (Morgan Arcade Studios) had its first Open Day as part of the Cardiff Design Festival and it was really fun. Precedent brought over a group of bodystormers and lots of great talks about illustration and design were had. Check out this lovely blog post written and photographed by Amy Davies for the Cardiff Arcades Project. Such great photos of our beautiful studiooooo!