Hello fellow artists!
Last week we put out a call for some help in contributing to the Illustration Friday blog and the response was huge. Many qualified people expressed their interest in sharing inspiration with our community, so thanks so much for that.
After careful consideration, we added a total of 8 outstanding new members to the Illustration Friday team, and so we wanted to share our updated roster with you. Please have a look at our complete list of contributors below and visit the individual website links to learn more about us.
We look forward to continue sharing with you everything that inspires and educates us in the months and years to come. Thanks for joining us on our journey!
Thomas James, Editor/Creative Director
Thomas is a professional illustrator who creates smart visual concepts for such clients as The New York Times, WIRED, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and many others, some of which have been recognized by the Society of Illustrators and American Illustration. He is also the Editor and Creative Director of Illustration Friday’s partner site, Illustration Age, a former board member of the ICON Illustration Conference, and author of several illustration resources such as the Illustrator’s Survival Kit, 15 Steps to Freelance Illustration, and Inside Illustration Competitions, just to name a few.
Chloe Baldwin
Chloe is a freelance illustrator and designer who makes up one half of the collective, Buttercrumble. She is currently studying a degree in Graphic and Communication Design at The University of Leeds. When she is not drawing, she can be found baking or trawling vintage shops and loves all things quirky and sweet. Her work is inspired by mid-century design, folk art and anything cute.
Rachel Frankel
Rachel is an Oakland-based illustrator and hand-letterer with a love of animals, literature, The National, food, and the Pacific Northwest. She works primarily in graphite, gouache, micron pens, and watercolor. She received a degree in Painting & Drawing and a minor in English & American Literature from San Francisco State University in 2011, and has been working towards a career in illustration ever since. She also happens to be a musician (guitarist and vocalist of Phosphene). You can find her illustration work and personal blog on her website, Speakeasy Illustrations.
Kate Leonard
Hello my name is Kate Leonard and I am the inky illustrator and blogger behind Kate Leonard Illustration, based in Staffordshire UK. Working exclusively with pen and ink, putting nib to paper I create hatched inky illustrative wobbly representations of many things, nature’s findings and its feathered and furry tenants. From there I turn my inky doodles into an assortment of beautiful things but the true passion and joy in this venture is that with a creative mind the possibilities of what you can create are endless. Keep up with the inky journey at my website and blog and watch the creative magic as it unfolds.
Jessica Holden
My name is Jessica Holden, I’ am currently an Illustration student at the University of Cumbria. I have a love of vintage jewellery and design. When I’m away from my work I love going for walks in the countryside and taking lots of pictures. I also love going to the cinema and reading a good book. I have a keen interest in fashion illustrations and collages. I can’t resist cute pets, especially my own bunny rabbit peaches. Find out more about me at my website.
Carla Taylor
Carla is currently an Illustration student at the University of Huddersfield. Keen blogger with a passion for all things creative, she volunteers at a local art school as well as being in full-time education. Her ultimate dream is becoming a freelance illustrator so she can make a living off something she truly loves. Personal work includes a vast amount of projects with particular interests in nature and working in mixed medias, although she loves to experiment with new techniques and themes. Other interests include zumba, music and reading. Her personal work can be viewed at carlataylorillustration.blogspot.co.uk.
Heather Ryerson
Heather Ryerson has worked as a designer and illustrator for the past 8 years. She writes short stories and has a keen interest in book arts and self-publishing. She enjoys reading children’s stories, exercising her citizenship, and dancing to jangly ’60s rock music. Heather splits her time between Portland, Oregon and London, England and has a fine collection of raincoats.
Find out more about Heather’s work on her website.
Oli Rogers
Oli is an illustrator and writer, living and working in East London. As an illustrator he goes by the name of Stegosaurus, and works as a digital painter of all things bizarre and arcane. If you’re after a knife-wielding dinosaur Jesus or a salmon-pink robot dinosaur, he’s your man. His influences include radical ‘80s airbrush art and the esoteric knowledge traditions of the ancient world.
When he puts down the Wacom and gets his hands on the keyboard, Oli is a blogger who writes about the worlds of illustration and unorthodox contemporary art. He is also a copywriter for galleries, and writes fiction and poetry. Oli’s artwork can be seen on his website.
Andy Yates
Andy is a freelance illustrator, and animator. In 2013, he received his BS in Media Arts & Animation from the Art Institute of California – Orange County, and has worked creating 2d assets for the casual games industry, as well as working on various independent animation/illustration projects.
He spends his free-time consuming a plethora of good, and bad(but, oh so good..) TV, comics, movies, Cheez-its, Skittles, beer, and the occasional couch pretzel, after removing any hair of course. He writes about comics, and interviews the artists behind them on his website comicstavern.com. You can learn more about Andy, and see his art on his website ayatesart.com and/or his tumblr: plumdill.tumblr.com.
Alice Palace
Alice works as a greeting card publisher, illustrator and designer from her studio in Evesham with her sister Lizzy (the studio manager) and their two dogs, Jemima and Honey (the distractions!). After receiving a first class degree in graphic design at Nottingham Trent University in 2000, Alice began producing illustrations for her own enjoyment, whilst working as a graphic designer and dreaming of running her own business! She was bored of doing work that was always the same and wanted to do something different. Alice Palace was launched in June 2004 and is a small independent British company, specialising in unique design-led hand illustrated eco-friendly greeting cards, wrapping paper, personalised gifts, wedding stationery, and illustration and design projects. She knows how very lucky she is to be able to do something she loves every day to create designs that have a very personal and playful style. Find out more about Alice on her website.
Angie Brown
Angie Brown has a background in fine art and works as a graphic designer, but her heart wants to be an illustrator. Her work has always had a narrative quality and even her mixed media collage paintings have an editorial feel. She began illustrating children’s books last year and draws a lot of animals and architecture. Angie freelances in her spare time and takes on the occasional commissioned painting. She lives in Charleston, S.C., with a cat whose hobbies include chewing on pencils and shredding paper. Angie’s portfolio site can be found at galacticbloom.com and her blog is at galacticbloom.wordpress.com. She also co-writes a blog about a book about a dog at SquareDogRoundWorld.com.
Clíodhna Meldon
Clío is a Visual Communication student from Dublin Ireland. She has a passion for film photography, illustration and boxer dogs. Clío enjoys writing, reading and taking photographs every day. You can see more of her work on her blog.
Jeanine Henderson
Jeanine’s a designer and illustrator based in New York City. She has over nine years experience designing children’s books, which has allowed her to collaborate with and direct many award-winning artists on middle-grade and YA covers. She’s also a freelance illustrator, creating art and hand-lettering for magazines, books, and advertising. Her work is a combination of ink, acrylic and digital, and can be seen at jeaninehenderson.com.
Kristen Nelson
Kristen is a former high school teacher who currently provides technical support and content marketing for a educational technology company. She has a fascination for design and has taken college-level courses for illustration from Pacific University and metalworking from Portland Community College. She has also spent her lifetime learning alternative photography methods from her father, who specializes in a variety of techniques including platinum printing. Finding joy in the experimentation process, her current concentrations involve block-printing, alternative photography, and mixed media. Find out more information on her blog.
Naomi Bardoff
In 2010 Naomi Bardoff graduated from Bard College, where she majored in fine arts and studied watercolor, ink drawing, and book-making. She has also taken classes at the Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. Since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, Naomi has been working on her illustration portfolio, working in offices, and volunteering and taking classes at the San Francisco Center for the Book. In addition to the SFCB blog, she blogs on her art blog, naomese – naomi bardoff’s art blog; and pins to her Pinterest boards. Her own book work can be found on her website.
Rama Hughes
Two truths and a lie about Rama Hughes: He dropped out of school to work on a farm. He wrestled bear cubs while working as a zookeeper. You can see his work at ramahughes.com.
Susan Schwake
Susan Schwake is an artist and art instructor in her own art school, where she has created her own curriculum and offers workshops and retreats most every day of the year with her adjunct teaching staff of three. Her vision to teach and share art on her own terms has grown into artstream studios, which includes a contemporary gallery, and a full media design firm. Susan has curated over 70 shows in her gallery and 50 shows of children’s work in her local area. She exhibits her own work in galleries in New England and Europe. Visit her online at susanschwake.com or artstreamstudios.com.
Tamsin Ainslie
Tamsin Ainslie lives in Northern NSW, Australia with her partner John and daughters Olympia and Matilda. She spends her time illustrating children’s books, designing book covers, drawing, painting, making little books and printmaking. When Tamsin’s not drawing, she’s spending time with her family, surfing, cooking, playing, eating ridiculously delicious food, reading and writing. Find our more about Tamsin on her website.
Wendy Schiller
Wendy Schiller is an animation student from Washington DC. She loves painting in watercolor and combing the internet to see what other folks are up to. When she’s not creating something, she reads comics and drinks tea. Learn more about Wendy on her website.
James Ketsdever
James Ketsdever had permanent ink stains on his hands for most his childhood, replaced by fixer and developer stains when he discovered photography. Now a San Francisco Bay Area graphic designer, illustrator, educator, blogger and hand letterer, his early career was in photojournalism as chief photographer for a Bay Area daily newspaper. In 2001 he joined his wife, also a graphic designer, to form Sara Waters Design Group where he is currently a principal and Senior Designer. His love of illustration, calligraphy and photography began at an early age and all those influences are evident in his evolving illustration style. “I’ve always had a fascination with any art form that combines words and pictures to tell a story.” James has been posting his work to Illustration Friday under the name Foolish Fire, since 2005, which is also the name of his blog/web site.
Natalie Magnuson
Natalie is an illustrator and product designer who has recently relocated to the Southwest. She received her BFA in Illustration from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and has 8 years of experience designing product for the giftware and specialty market. Her freelance work includes editorial and children’s book illustration. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her two cats, Chia and Henry. Find out more about Natalie on her website.
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