I came across Niki Pilkington about a year ago. Her quirky, bright and breezy illustrative style popped out at me & I knew I had to get in touch for a chat. What struck me about Niki is her passion for style, design and colour - her illustrations are so whimsical & fun!

Niki graduated from Ravensbourne Academy of Design & Communication with a First Class Honours Degree in 2009. Since then she's been making waves in the fashion world working with the likes of TOPSHOP, UGG & ELLE. Niki has that rare skill of combining up to the minute colours and trends with a classic illustration style - no wonder she is so in demand!

Below is one of the window displays created for TOPSHOP featuring eccentric sketched models wearing the latest fashion trends within the store. In celebration of London Fashion Week Niki also designed some doll sets which were given away with purchases - each doll could be dressed in the latest fashion - a girl's dream!

Niki uses pencils, pens, fluorescent markers & collage to bring her pieces to life. The 3D element to her work is a quirky way of adding depth to the piece - it almost makes you want to reach out and touch. Perhaps this is why Niki's work is so sought after by fashion houses & stores; that ability to bring design to life is an amazing skill which Niki exudes. 

Things are looking neon-bright for Niki's future as an illustrator - not only is she working with MTV at the moment, (shhh! Top secret!) she's also preparing for an eagerly awaited exhibition named 'Pick Me Up' at Somerset House from 22.03.12 - 01.04.12. 'Pick Me Up showcases the best and most interesting new talent, with 20 designers and illustrators selected to exhibit at ‘Pick Me Up Selects’ the exhibition that runs alongside the fair. A selection panel featuring the most distinguished figures in graphic design including Camilla Parsons, Outline Editions; John O’Reilly, Varoom magazine; Angharad Lewis, Grafik Magazine; Liz Farrelly, writer and the curatorial team at Somerset House, have hand-picked the artists to exhibit everything from watercolour, collage and paper sculpture.'

I'll be following Niki's progress over the next year, so stay tuned!

Over & out - Rebecca

It's always exciting to learn about emerging artists so we were pleased to interview Stuart Whitton as he prepares for his solo exhibition in London in October. We asked Stuart a series of questions to discover more about himself & his stunning work:

1.) Can you tell us a little about how you began drawing?

Drawing is something that I have done and thoroughly enjoyed ever since I can remember. I think that I’ve always been at my happiest with a pencil in my hand, which results in me entering my own world and completely zoning out from my surroundings.

A pivotal point regarding my fascination with drawing occurred fairly early in my childhood where my father drew and painted all of my favourite characters from books, television programmes and dinosaurs on my bedroom wall. I couldn’t believe that he had done them; sadly these were painted over as I grew older but his illustrations really built the passion for creating artwork inside me.

2.) What inspires you and your work?

Form and definition in all their aspects are probably my biggest influences, altering them to my perceptions is how I approach my work and how I know if a piece is worth completing.

3.) Which is your favourite piece of work and why?

Quite a hard question to answer as I tend to fall in and out of love with my pieces, it does tend to be the last piece I have completed. However, I have completed a portrait for my upcoming solo exhibition in October that I am really pleased with. The exhibition was actually named after the piece that can be seen in a recent promotional video I have created.

4.) What effect do you think the Internet has on the art world?

It certainly is the quickest way to show your work to an abundance of people simultaneously and how to potentially capture the attention of those that you may not be able to meet face to face. Although, it isn’t without it’s downfalls and has on occasion led to the usage of copyrighted imagery being exploited in various mediums.

Viewing work online and digitally in general is where our culture is continuing to sway towards but I think most would agree that there is nothing quite like seeing an actual piece ‘in the flesh’.

5.) What advice would you give to someone starting out in drawing?

I would say to keep practicing and to keep pushing your work even if it is completely self-initiated in as many avenues as you can. Speak to people in the industry and if possible meet them. I am still learning and looking what else I can bring into my work, every piece so far has pushed me in alternative ways.

Bio:

Stuart Whitton began to express himself creatively at a young age, by drawing various elements from his imagination and his surroundings.

Using traditional mediums he creates imagery tailored to his perceptions. A careful discretion of detail is utilised to develop a visually appealing relationship between meticulously drawn ethereal illustrations of the human form, objects and typographical elements.

His influences lie in the process of image construction, form, and surreal ambiguity with a preference towards detailed tonal qualities true to the realistic.

The work is a direct representation of his personality and inspiration, which can be identified in the smallest details.

Thanks to Stuart for this interesting insight into his work.

If you'd like more information please visit: www.stuartwhitton.co.uk

Blog: www.stuartwhitton.blogspot.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/stuartwhitton

The Pencil Museum in Keswick celebrated its 30^th Birthday last weekend by holding a special 2-day event to ‘Celebrate Art in Cumbria’. Over 3,000 people from all over the country enjoyed artist workshops and demonstrations, galleries of artist’s drawings, competitions, raffles, children’s activities and lots more.

A fun-packed two days was rounded off by a rousing chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ and the cutting of a cake by David Llewellyn, whose original idea it was to open the museum.

‘We really appreciate the support everyone has shown us by helping us to celebrate our 30th Birthday in such style’ said Alex Farthing, Pencil Museum Manager. We had hoped that people would come and stay for an hour or two and join in some of the free events and demonstrations but people were staying for over 4 hours and even the whole day! We received some wonderful comments in the visitors book...

“My family and I spent the whole day,” wrote Clair Wilson from Keswick. “It was wonderful! We all learnt a great deal and all of the staff were very friendly and helpful.”

“We only came here to buy pencils for our grandchildren, and went to a demonstration by Joanne Kell, BRILLIANT! She inspired us to have a go. A great visit all round.” Joe and Gill Bolton from Cambridge.

“Had a fab 30th Birthday, thank you so much pencil museum, what a beautiful memory!” Olivia Kathryn from Lancashire.

To see pictures of the 30th Birthday celebrations and a video of everyone singing Happy Birthday, including a cheeky monkey, visit the museum on Facebook www.facebook.com/pencilmusuem.

Most people prefer to ease themselves back in when returning to work following the Christmas break, but for Derwent this is one of the busiest times of the year as preparations are made for the Creativeworld Exhibition in Frankfurt at the end of January.

This exhibition is the world’s biggest trade fair for the creative sector and is especially important for Derwent as it provides a meeting place for our 31 distributors from over 70 countries worldwide.

The show includes the whole of the Derwent Sales and Marketing team and involves many months of planning and preparation. Our Product Manager, Sarah Taylor is busy getting all our new products for the up and coming year to the stage where we have samples to show our customers and display on our stand. I am busy speaking to our contractors to ensure our stand is built to our requirements as well as co-ordinating the stock, graphics, decoration, sales presentations etc. Our designers, Rebecca and Kirsty, are busy producing the artwork for the graphics, order forms and any new photography required and our Sales team is busy preparing for important meetings with customers. (Below, Leah our Marketing Manager is dressing the Inktense Blocks display.)

The Derwent stand measures in at 8m x 8m and is decorated lovingly by myself and Leah. We fly to Frankfurt 2 days before the show and have a day and a half setting up. Of course our contractors have already been there before us building the stand.

The main focus of the stand this year was our exciting new Inktense Blocks range and accessories.

For the four days the show is open our sales team our busy attending back to back meetings with our distributors and customers. The main purpose of a meeting is to walk the customers around the stand to show them all our new and exciting products to be launched that year. (Below, the stand is finished ready for customer visits.)

Once the show is over we have a debrief meeting to discuss feedback from customers and we also use this opportunity to discuss ways in which we can adapt and improve the stand for the following year.

This year saw the introduction of artist Linda Stevens (below), who did a fantastic job demonstrating our products to customers.

You may think we then have a year off from planning the show, but preparations start immediately for the following year. We do enjoy it though! See you next year Frankfurt :)