T&C Inspired: Jessica Gowling

After all the excitement of uncontained, we've finally had a moment or two to catch up on the interweb, and welcome our creative friends to our blog! The lovely Jessica Gowling has shared some of her favourite work with us <3

Name: 

Jessica Gowling

Where are you from: 

Canada, the great white north

Tell us a little bit about your work: 

I am an avid animal lover, and my company name is "nature's my friend," (because we make art together). I am obsessed with textures: fur, scales, and similar repetitive natural patterns have always been some of my favorite things to draw. I suppose I would label my work as "animal portraiture" since I mostly focus on individual creatures; I view them as special beings with their own stories to tell.

Who, what and/or where inspires you: 

Wild animals, line, process, detail, nature, texture, time, voids, fleeting moments, drawing, touch, learning, memory, intimacy, nostalgia, narrative, chance, love, anatomy, letters, postage stamps, and Canadiana collectively motivate my practice.

What’s your favourite tea: 

Green tea is always a go-to but I am currently loving a loose leaf Mango Apricot tea as well.

Links:

BLOG: http://naturesmyfriend.wordpress.com

SHOP: http://www.etsy.com/shop/naturesmyfriend 

TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/jessicagowling

I adore these postcard sets, not just because I am the fan of a creature, but how she's photographed them for her shop too. I want a nice rustic door to put some pretty things on

We love a wolf as well! 

x

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 and Crayons - Kayleigh Bluck

Name/Location: 

My name is Kayleigh Bluck and I am from Northampton.

Describe your style and how you work: 
My style is hand drawn (if you can call that a 'style'). My favourite and trusty materials are watercolour and pencil, however 95% of the time my final illustrations come together on photoshop as it allows for flexibilty and slight alterations. I tend to start with a digital draft using image resources which I then work from. The final hand drawn piece is scanned and put into photoshop where I make any alterations/additions to the piece.


What/Who inspires you: 
This question is so hard! I'm inspired by the seasons, the things my cats do, films, music, visits to London, and of course the work of countless other designers, illustrators, and crafters alike. I simply find inspiration in the things I love.


Favourite type of illustration to work on: 
Editorial is most definitely the one for me. Give me an article/topic and I will find an illustrative solution to my best ability.

Proudest moment of my career so far: 
In all honesty my career is in its infancy, so I would have to say my proudest moment was achieving first class honours in my degree. What better way to start?


Ambitions for the next five years: 
For people to know my name. I want to be the name on people's lips when it comes to editorial illustration, with a fabulous portfolio of published work. I know this won't be easy, that's why I'm giving myself five years!


Favourite tea: 
Just normal tea - two sugars, not too weak, not too strong, made by my mum with a slice of marmite on toast :)

Favourite crayon colour: 
Purple

Guilty pleasure: 
Coca cola. So bad for your teeth, full of sugar and caffeine, but I love the stuff.


If you were an animal you would be: 
A cat because they are my absolute favourites. They lounge around all day, come and go as they please - now that's the life!

Cake or curtains: 
Curtains because I wouldn't want people looking through my windows at night and rooms would look pretty odd without them!


Dogs or dancing: 
Dancing. It never fails to make me happy.


Website/Twitter 
Well this list is quite a long one for me...


Web: www.kayleighbluck.co.uk
Blog: www.love2illustrate.blogspot.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/illustratingkay
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/illustratingkay
Etsy: www.illustratingkay.etsy.com
Folksy: www.folksy.com/shops/illustratingkay