Introducing Tea & Crayons - Rachel Clare Price

Name/Location:
My name is Rachel Clare Price, and I live in sunny Newcastle upon Tyne

Describe your style and how you work:
I like to create a delicate and ethereal image. I always start with a pencil, I just love the pureity of graphite - I build up watercolour and ink and scan all elements so I can compose and edit my image digitally.

What/Who inspires you:
I am inspired alot by nature and folklore, I like to create stories that the viewer can interpret. I surround myself with sketchbooks, magazines, books and music when I work so that influences me in a huge way.

Favourite type of illustration to work on:
Editorial and fashion illustration

Proudest moment of your career so far:
A double page spread in Oh Comely magazine (above) - my illustration about lost things was featured as the title image for the feature. I loved creating this, they were really great and gave me alot of freedom, it was really exciting to see it in print and I've had some great feedback from it too.

Ambitions for the next 5 years:
To continue to work as an artist and designer. I'd love to get involved with textile printing and surface pattern, and maybe have my own studio/gallery space/shop (or combination of all 3!) one day

Favourite Tea?
Tetley! Breakfast tea, a classic. Two sugars please

Favourite Crayon Colour?
A blue/turquoise combination

Guilty Pleasure:
Biscuits. Mmmm

If you were an animal you would be:
A cat. So I can sleep all day!

Cake or Curtains?
Cake!

Dogs or Dancing?
Dancing

www.itslikeart.net
twitter.com/rachelclarep

Introducing Tea & Crayons - Abby Wright

Name/Location: 
Hello! My name is Abby Wright and I'm from a lovely village in East Yorkshire :) (the biggest village in England I believe)

Describe your style and how you work: 

I love using my trusty wacom tablet to begin my drawings. I draw straight into photoshop, then once the initial drawing stage is done, I start to bring in the scanned in textures (clothing, paper, anything!) and work up the illustration. I truly love it when it comes to the finalising stages, where the illustration is good but has something missing. This is where I start to add in the fine details that make it perfect.

What/Who inspires you: 
I get a lot of inspiration from other artists, illustrators and crafters, fashion, my family, romance, love, living in Yorkshire and a lot from my boyfriend (It's him in the illustration below - I draw him too much!)

Favourite type of illustration to work on: 
I would say I work best in an editorial style. Recently, however, I have started to fall in love with fashion illustration. I have done many fashion illustrations for Amelia's Magazine. It's what I really love doing!

Proudest moment of your career so far: 
The proudest moment of my career so far (although I'm not even out of University yet- I'm in my final year!) was having my work chosen to be included in a book of fashion illustration (Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration). I couldn't quite believe it and still can't- my work being published?! Exciting! :)

Illustration for Amelia's Magazine.

Ambitions for the next 5 years: 
I'd love to be working for magazines and papers, creating editorial and fashion illustration pieces! Having a job doing something I absolutely love would be a dream come true :) also, having other illustrators know my name and recognise my style would be amazing!

Favourite Tea? 
Yorkshire tea! I like it strong but milky, I'm not fussy at all ;)

Favourite Crayon Colour?
Green! I'm really into my pale/sage greens but also love a deep green. Anything in between will not do. I also love a deep, burnt orange.

Guilty Pleasure: 
Much like Kayleigh, my guilty pleasure is coke. But diet coke, which I've heard is worse. Oh and chocolate! I also spend too much time on the internet ;)

If you were an animal you would be: 
I would want to be a cat! Roaming around, playing, sleeping and eating with no cares in the world? Yes please!

Cake or Curtains? 
Me and my boyfriend haven't got around to putting up curtains in the house yet (just blinds) so I've learnt to live without! Cake, however, I probably couldn't live without.

Illustration for Amelia's Magazine.

Dogs or Dancing? 
Dancing! I love dancing, and getting carried away in a good song! 

Website/Twitter etc..

Website: http://www.abbywrightillustration.co.uk/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbyillustrator

My blog: http://abbywrightillustration.blogspot.com/

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/AbbyIllustration

Introducing Tea & Crayons: Rachel Lewis

Name/Location: 
Rachel Lewis - London

Describe your style and how you work: 
My style is very much a blend of the hand-rendered and digital - all of the components of my pieces are drawn, painted, found or scanned, I then assemble it all using Photoshop or Illustrator and tweak pieces that way. I find this way a lot quicker for commercial pieces and also gives the opportunity for endless experimenting. I love a bit of old fashioned messy collage though, and want to try and start working more analogue.

What/Who inspires you: 
Everyday strangeness and found things; from shopping lists to old postcards. Fashion, advertising, new trends, baking, the future and the past all inspire me. I love the old Bauhaus movements; futurism, vorticism and de stijl, anything graphic and typographic with a strong sense of identity.

Favourite type of illustration to work on: 
Editorial pieces are my favourite because of the often short time constraints and the immediacy of the content; I love commenting on current and social issues, and editorial illustrations will often be commissioned to be published the following week. I love the challenge and deadlines that go with that. I also love working on advertising and marketing campaigns; it's my ambition to be commissioned for a big brand's campaign!

Proudest moment of your career so far: 
There's been a few - being shortlisted for the 2009 Penguin Design Award, and more recently, having an interview and my work published in the Australian fashion & lifestyle magazine, Cleo.

Ambitions for the next 5 years: 
To gain enough commissions to be able to work full time as a freelance illustrator, as well as pursuing collaborations with creative agencies and other fulfilling stuff :)

Favourite Tea? 
Chai, or fruity/herbal - can't stand the normal stuff. I'd much prefer Coffee & Crayons ;)

Favourite Crayon Colour? 
Pink

Guilty Pleasure: 
X-Factor! And also M&S Percy Pigs. Nom nom.

If you were an animal you would be:
A cat... or a lion. Rawr.

Cake or Curtains? 
Cake. Always, always cake. Although, living without curtains wouldn't be nice. And curtains don't make you fat.

Dogs or Dancing? 
Hmmm. Dancing? I love my dog though. Dancing with dogs?

http://www.rachelsayshello.com
Twitter: @rachillustrates