Artists & Illustrators

Dive in… …to the July issue of Artists & Illustrators, packed full of arty inspiration and practical advice. Now the sun is out, Anna Mason encourages you to schedule regular times in your diary to take your sketchbook, pencils and travel paints with you out into the fresh air and into nature. The combination of both nourishes your emotional wellbeing as she found out after going through a difficult period in her life. Ann Witheridge also encourages you to go outside with your art. The beauty of en plein air landscape painting is that you become part of nature, the birds sit with you, the flowers scent the air and the scenery changes as the day progresses. We may sometimes take nature for granted, but it’s one of the greatest…

REBECCA BRADBURY Contributing to both the magazine and its digital platforms, our Assistant Editor gets to combine her passions for publishing and the visual arts. “One of the best things about my job is being able to chat with artists about what inspires their work – and then share it with you.” ANNA MASON Anna has been working as a professional botanical artist for 15 years. Best known for her vivid, realistic watercolour paintings, she is the founder of Anna Mason’s Online School and has taught to over 45,000 artists worldwide. Take her free class at AnnaMasonArt.com SANDRINE MAUGY Sandrine is a botanical artist, author and illustrator, fellow member of the Society of Botanical Artists, the Association of Illustrators, the Society of Authors and the Société Française d’Illustration Botanique. She is a regular contributer for…

Things we love… Starting out as a butcher at Manchester’s Meat Market, Mark Demsteader hasn’t had the most conventional journey to becoming one of the most popular figurative artists working in Britain today. But this doesn’t stop us admiring his atmospheric and ethereal paintings of the human form rendered with thick, textured marks of raw pigments. You can catch his show-stopping work from 6 to 10 July at the Henley Festival. henley-festival.co.uk Shout out to… THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ARTS The results are in! For the eighth year in a row, London’s Royal College of Arts has been ranked the number one university in the world for art and design by the QS World University Rankings. This helps cement the UK’s status as a top creative hub, and with the college opening a new…

THE BFG IN PICTURES 23 July to 4 October You might think you know The BFG, one of Roald Dahl’s most iconic stories. Yet, before the much-loved children’s book was published, the eponymous gentle giant underwent several guises, as charted in this touring show. Neverbefore-seen drawings by Quentin Blake go on show alongside the final versions, giving an insight into the collaboration between author and illustrator. Grosvenor Museum, Chester. westcheshiremuseums.co.uk MARY FEDDEN: SIMPLE PLEASURES 9 July to 16 October World War II caused Mary Fedden’s artistic career to come to an abrupt halt. Serving as a driver for the NAAFI in 1944, she returned home determined to make up for lost time and began to paint the simple pleasures denied to so many throughout the conflict. This round-up of work shows how she captured subjects such as…

I BEGAN TO RETHINK my career at the start of the pandemic. I studied art and illustration at university, but I ended up working in design and marketing for 10 years. Then when Covid hit, I threw myself into drawing as a way of escaping from the unknown. I soon went from illustrating for comfort to launching my own illustration business. Deep down becoming a professional illustrator was always something I had wanted to do, but I never felt good enough. However, I have grown my confidence by channelling my creativity through Instagram, connecting with like-minded creatives and building up a list of contacts. Now I take on commissions and design bespoke stationery and prints. The Chocolate Gift Company, Domenica Marland, Wardrobe Icons and Kin House are just some of the wonderful…

Oil paint has been the most popular painting medium for 600 years. No other product gives artists the same intensity of colour and varied range of mark-making possibilities, and paying tribute to the medium’s centuries-long reign is Gamblin, the US-based manufacturer that combines the best historical properties of oil paint with the latest technical innovations. In this month’s issue, we’re celebrating Gamblin’s Artists Oils by offering two lucky readers of Artists & Illustrators magazine the chance to each win an expertly curated gift package worth £350. Not only will the bundle contain hue-packed pigments, but it will also feature mediums and tools to diversify your oil painting. Gamblin is on a mission to lead oil painting into the future. All paints are created with the finest grade pigments. Artists can pick between…