Jess Rose Bird Masterclass for the V&A Dundee
In alignment with their latest exhibition, "The Art of the Fashion Show", Jess hosted an experimental fashion illustration workshop.
A Mighty Mural, by Hannah Bailey
Hannah Bailey was commissioned to illustrate some gigantic murals by the Star of the Republic Museum, Texas. Read on to find out how she approached this mammoth task, complete with life sized chickens!
"I was absolutely delighted to be asked to illustrate a set of murals for the Star of the Republic Museum, Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas - a big moment in my career in more ways than one! This was my first mural and a whopper, my illustrations covering the length of 2 x 14m long walls inside the family gallery.
It was a huge challenge to scale up my work, calling for my rusty maths skills, a big scanner, huge brushes and some giant tracing paper. I loved the chance to create big textures and splash the ink around. To give an idea of the proportions - the chickens in the mural are lifesize!
To make sense of the huge space, I broke it down into lots of scenes, and joined them all up. From one end to the other, the mural shows a 19th century Texas landscape, moving from farmers cottages and livestock to a market town with stores, carts and stalls, and an old well. I wanted to capture the essence of the townspeople through their bits and bobs - as if they had put down their things and gone inside for lunch.
Thank you to the Star of the Republic Museum and Gallagher Design for inviting me to be a part of this project, to the Artworks and Tom at Mendola for all your hard work."
JULIA ALLUM – HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Commissioned by the team at Harvard Business Review for a special issue on How to Collaborate Better, Julia developed a collection of concept-driven illustrations in her distinctive minimalist style. With her trademark use of scale and visual metaphor, Julia’s illustrations explore the different aspects of collaboration with clarity and wit.
Andrew Hutchinson for Yorkshire Tea
British nature and wildlife illustrator Andrew Hutchinson gives the Yorkshire Tea packaging a refresh.
Back in 2011, Andrew Hutchinson painted an idyllic rural Yorkshire scene which has adorned the Yorkshire Tea box ever since. With a refresh of the brand taking place across 2025 and 2026, branding agency Turner Duckworth commissioned Andrew to refine the popular image by adding and altering some of its elements to fine tune the packaging for two product variants. We asked Andrew about the variety of tiny paintings he created for the refresh and the creative decisions made along the way.
How did this project come about?
I produced the existing Yorkshire Tea box illustration back in 2011 when the company decided they wanted to redesign their box without losing the very strong overall Yorkshire Tea look. Turner Duckworth approached me via my agency, IllustrationX, in 2024 regarding the refresh.
What was the brief?
The brief for this job was to refresh the existing design without spoiling an already popular image. Because of this, any alterations had to be made very subtly. The idea was to give each of the variations of Yorkshire Tea – Decaf, Hard Water and the Original – its own unique identity. A selection of small additions, themed around the branding colour of each tea variation – red for Original, blue for Decaf and green for Hard Water – would be painted, which could be sensitively inserted into the design. For Decaf, blue bells, a blue rucksack and flask and a blue tit were chosen; for the Hard Water, green ivy and a green tractor tie in with the colour theme. Variations were made in the foreground of each box by replacing the lamb with a different one on the Decaf and with rabbits for the Hard Water. Only a couple of tiny alterations were made to the Original box – a cricket ball and a robin. Customers do study these images very closely and I think part of the idea was to give them some new elements to look for.
What was it like to receive this brief?
I was very proud to be asked to work on this design again. Working with Yorkshire Tea has certainly been a career highlight.
What media and tools did you use?
I only use a brush and paint – no computers! The paints I use are acrylic and I paint on a hot press watercolour board. Once completed, my wife Louise scanned the artwork and sent it directly to the designers as digital files.
How was the content of the images decided upon?
The landscape of the box has remained the same as the original and was based on a variety of areas of Yorkshire selected to create a single non-specific Yorkshire landscape. For this job, the designers gave a very clear brief of the alterations they wanted to make and had a list of suggested elements to incorporate but were equally open to any suggestions or comments that I had, particularly about the wildlife elements. One of the elements they were particularly keen to incorporate was a tractor in each image, reflecting the relevant brand colour. Another aspect that the designers were keen to change was the cricket pitch. So, while the original box has a village cricket match in progress, the Hard Water design has dog walkers and hikers crossing the pitch and on the Decaf box there is a tractor mower doing some pitch maintenance.
The tone is relaxing, like having a cup of tea. How did you conjure this feeling?
The lighting and colour had to remain consistent from the original box and across the three designs, so any additions obviously had to tie in with this. I hope the warmth of the colours and intimacy of the design creates this comfortable feel.
Tell us about the little stoat?
The stoat was not particular to these designs but has appeared on all my Yorkshire Tea boxes – my signature if you like. I always try to include some animals in the artwork and stoats love dry-stone walls. It was a bit of a last-minute addition on the original design and could have been painted out but, as it was, the designers loved it and it stayed. All the artwork I produced for the additions was done on white for the designers to incorporate into the images digitally.
What were the main challenges?
All the additions made to the box, for consistency, had to be painted at the same size as the original artwork; one quarter up. This meant that some of the elements were tiny with the tractors being no bigger than my thumbnail. And, although I am a miniature painter, something like an ivy leaf, a bluebell and even some of the figures were so small I could not have done them without using a large magnifying lens.
What were your favourite elements to paint?
I particularly enjoyed working on the ivy that drapes over the wall of the Hard Water box and was particularly pleased that it sat so well in the picture.
What was the collaborative process like?
All the designers I have worked with over the years on Yorkshire projects have been a pleasure to work with; supportive and open-minded. And once the roughs had been approved were always great at leaving me just to get on with my painting.
And do you enjoy a cuppa while working?
Of course, I drink Yorkshire Tea and always have a brew when I am working. Tea-time usually starts at 10:30 when everything stops for Ken Bruce’s Popmaster quiz.
What’s your verdict on the outcome?
I was delighted with this job and it’s always a special thrill when you see your artwork on the supermarket shelves.
Read more on this project here.
Miranda Sofroniou for The Observe
Miranda created this super fun search and find illustration for The Observer’s Easter ‘Observer’s Needed’ post. Some of the things to spot include: an Easter bonnet, a toadstool, a bumble bee, and a fried egg!
Miranda said "The brief was to create a moment for everyone, young and old, to press pause and enjoy getting lost in the details. I had so much fun making this one, building a busy scene and hiding the ten elements within it."
ADAM ALLSUCH BOARDMAN/ THE NEW ATHENIAN MAGAZINE
While Adam is widely recognised for his Illustrated Histories series, his versatile style lends itself effortlessly to more corporate contexts, as seen in this striking cover for The New Athenian. His focus on people and architecture is reflected in the strong sense of detail across these samples.
Sarah Tanat-Jones – The Observer
Sarah Tanat-Jones illustrated the cover and inside feature for The New Review, Poems for Mother’s Day for The Observer.
From Homer to Sylvia Plath, poets have been moved by parenthood and in this feature Poet laureate Simon Armitage introduces a selection of beautiful poems chosen especially to celebrate the special day.
Creating contemporary and timeless illustrations to accompany the selection, Sarah’s images are striking in their simplicity, showcasing her expressive line work and fluid forms, brought to life with a fresh colour palette, perfectly capturing the spirit of the poems whilst adding her own distinctive voice.
Laurindo Feliciano for BBC Wildlife
Laurindo was commissioned by BBC Wildlife Magazine for an article about the necrobiome - the vast community of insects, microbes and scavengers that transforms death into new life. Rather than approaching the subject in a literal way, Laurindo wanted to create an image that felt poetic and slightly unsettling: a suspended moment where decay, beauty and renewal coexist.
Jhon Boy for EstarB
Jhon Boy recently created the identity and campaign for EstarB, a psychological and emotional support service for young people aged 12 to 25 launched by the Barcelona City Council.
Design studio Clase said that Jhon Boy's illustrations "capture everyday emotional moments through a simple, warm and inclusive visual language. The scenes focus on dialogue, care and connection, translating complex emotional states into approachable images that resonate with a young audience".
"The campaign extends this visual and verbal dialogue into public space across the streets of Barcelona, where the illustrations become the main vehicle to communicate the service."
Jhon Boy is the alias of Jorge Gallardo, a visual artist from Tenerife, Canary Islands. He tries to understand reality through his work, while creating a dialogue between image and viewer.
The style of his works is minimalist and clean and the most important part of Jhon Boy's process is the concept he can transmit with each scene.
Jhon Boy says: “I have always been fascinated with images, the impact they make in our lives is absolutely punishing. I prefer to create some kind scenes and exchange a dialogue between the image and the viewer, reducing everything to human values. On the other hand, my work can be understood in a lot of different ways, I prefer to let people think or see whatever they want to.”
Check out another of Jhon Boy's recent projects, creating gifs of analog crafts for It's Nice That.
Find more of Jhon Boy's illustrations in his portfolio and get in touch with Trina at Phosphor to discuss commissioning Jhon Boy for your next project.
Victoria Fomina – Cico Books
Bringing medieval mysticism to contemporary hands, Victoria Fomina illustrates tarot for CICO Books.
Victoria’s commission for The Green Witchery Tarot combines 78 tarot cards with a 64-page illustrated guidebook, rooted in medieval symbolism and age-old witchcraft insights.
She drew each image by hand - acrylic, ink, pen, and coloured paper, paring detail to distill archetypes like the Lovers, Death, Hermit, and Magician into striking, mysterious forms.
The deck and book are designed to complement contemporary green witchery practices, connecting natural magic with visual clarity.
More info here.