At the London Illustration Fair, we ran a competition for aspiring illustrators, designers and creatives to have their artwork chosen as the cover design on a limited edition notebook, to be sold on the Bookblock Editions website. We were inundated with incredible artworks, both internationally and closer to home. Some familiar Editions faces, Claudine O’Sullivan, Rob Flowers and Marylou Faure, had the hard task of choosing the winners – and they certainly selected some illustrated treats.
Sophia Ward was our winner with a quirky, stand out artwork which has beautifully translated to an Editions notebook. Originally from Brighton, Sophia is a London based freelance illustrator and a recent graduate of Illustration and Animation from Kingston University. Sophia’s style is playful and vibrant. She owns the humble pen, layering colours and line with a painterly feel. Sophia’s sketchbooks reveal an intimate observational drawing approach, layering expression, form and shape with a clear influence from the tactility of printmaking.
Website: https://www.sophia-ward.co.uk/
Insta: @sophiawardillustration
Hattie Clark is a freelance illustrator based in Leeds who graduated in 2016 with a BA (Hons) in Graphic Communication from Bath School of Art and Design. She was selected as 1 of 15 Art and Design Graduates for Creative Review’s Talent spotting initiative where her work appeared on over 1000 JCDecaux digital screens across the country. We’re really drawn to her use of characters in her work which are expressive and individual. Her drawings really translate to her fun, hand crafted ceramic works, which we’d love to have in the Bookblock office! Hattie told us: ‘I love to be playful with my work, creating simple, colourful character driven illustrations that maintain a hand-drawn quality. My influences often come from my own interests and experiences. I aim to seek out nonsense and fun in everyday life with the aim of making people smile!’
Website: http://hattieclark.com/
Insta: @hattieclark_
Joel Burden studied Graphic Design at Leeds College of Art. After graduating, his passion quickly shifted into Art and Illustration as a way of better expressing himself. Since the transition, he was commended at D&AD New Blood last summer and recently completed his first published works for Les Echos and Refinery 29. With a real eye for colour and a humour to his work, we really enjoy Joel’s exploration of bold and confident composition, which sits somewhere between digital and analogue, like a digital age Hockney. Joel tells us: ‘I’ve Recently relocated back to Leeds where I plan to further explore my practice, as it’s still early days, and absorb myself in the creative scene. Working towards positive things in the future.’
Website: http://joelburden.com
Insta: @joelburden
Sam Turff is a current Fine Art student at UCA Canterbury. She drew us in with her vibrant, 90s feel designs which have a certain saved by the bell aesthetic. Exploring architectural and interior spaces, she takes us on a journey of layers and worlds within worlds. Sam tells us ‘I’ve always drawn and I love working in pen the most but I’ve been teaching myself how to use illustrator lately and now I produce a lot of digital work too. I’m also a little obsessed with anything pink and yellow.’ We’re looking forward to seeing how Sam’s work progresses as she continues to develop and explore her practice.
Website: https://samturff.myportfolio.com
Insta: @pnk_yllw
Andreea Dobrin Dinu is a Romanian illustrator living in Hamburg where she opened her one-woman graphic studio, SUMMERKID, in 2016. She produces bright works inspired by everyday life, spontaneous sketches and a certain joie de vivre that only a kid knows in summer vacation. Andreea tells us ‘Educated both in Romania and Germany, I bring with me the eastern-european graphical heritage from the pre-computer era and immerse happily in the German graphical universe that I fell in love with. I like inventing visual languages and sharpen them until they become visual “poetry”. My process starts with hand drawings and sometimes ends up completely digital. I work on my humor like a comedian, sometimes ideas for a new drawing can be just text.
My graphic studio is fairly new, I work for some international clients and I am quite active in Romania, even though I don’t live there anymore. The most visible and new project I am working on is Art Safari Bucharest 2017, the largest art fair in Romania which will fill the city with huge banners, buses and buildings with the illustrations I made for them at the beginning of this year. My hope is to work more author graphic projects and illustration allows me to build more impact in this direction.’
Website: http://summerkidworks.com/
Insta: @summerkid_works
We’re delighted to be launching these brilliant additions to our Bookblock Editions range – on sale on our retail website, priced at £15.
