Princess Portfolio Work

Last week I had to create some princess samples for a potential job! Which of course I had no problem with because princesses are one of my all time favourite things!!! It ended up being pretty challenging but I absolutely loved it! Because who doesn't love princesses?!

The Wild Wood Exhibition | Gallery at St. Martins | Lincoln

Just a quick post to let you know tomorrow The Wild Wood exhibition begins at the Gallery at St. Martins in Lincoln! It's running from the 3rd - 15th November and there'll be lots of beautiful work by Lincoln University graduates and students on display with prints available to buy including my Autumn Fox illustration (below)

I don't think I'm going to get a chance to see the exhibition myself which I'm gutted about BUT if you happen to be in the area make sure you do go and have a look! There are some really talented artists producing work for these exhibitions run by Cygnet Ink! For more info on the exhibition and future events click here!

The print will also be available in my Etsy shop soon!

Etsy Shop is OPEN!

Helloooo, just writing a quick post to let you all know that my Etsy shop is now officially open! I'm still learning how to do all this Etsy stuff so please be patient with me any helpful feedback is welcome!

I'll be adding some more prints soon, I've just got to decide which prints I actually want to sell. So make sure to check back regularly for any updates!

Here's the link to my shop, hope you stop by!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ArtbyHeatherBurns?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Q&A With Patience Brewster for Artist Apprectiation Month!

Recently, the very talented Patience Brewster, has been inviting artists to get involved in Artist Appreciation Month by answering a few questions about themselves as an artist and their work! So here's my little Q&A, I'm a bit of a rambler when I get going so some of these answers ended up quite long! 

Don't forget to check out the Patience Brewster website, she's an artist and designer who creates the most beautiful and unusual ornaments and figures! You can check out her website HERE! Don't forget to have a look at her beautiful Christmas ornaments too! 

Me as an exceptionally cool kid in an exceptionally 90's outfit

1. As a child, do you recall a significant moment when you felt truly affected or inspired by any particular artwork or artist?
I don't know if there are any specific moments that stand out, but there are a number of things I loved when I was younger that I think really started me on this path of illustration. I've always, for as long as I can remember, watched and loved Disney films! I've been obsessed with them for my entire life and that is still a HUGE influence to me now, I have a growing collection of 'The Art of...' Disney books which are really inspiring. I also adored The Beano and The Dandy comic's when I was little, every Saturday my dad would go to the newsagents and get me a little bar or Galaxy, a box of orange and lime TicTacs and The Beano and Dandy and I'd sit and read them whilst I watched SMTVlive! It was my ritual! I remember for one Christmas or birthday I got a little 'make your own comic' thing and I spent ages coming up with all the characters and stories and I was honestly convinced this little homemade, felt-tip pen comic book was going to be a huge success! As a teenager I became a little interested in Anime because I was obsessed with the Kingdom Hearts franchise and so I pretty much divided my after school and weekend time on either drawing all sorts of fan art and posting on DeviantArt or playing The Sims 2! I've posted a couple of my old (very cringey) pictures from those days below!

Kingdom Hearts Fan Art - 2008

A picture I did in 2009

 I was big into Tim Burton as a teenager too and based my A-Level final project on his kind of style really. And here are a few images of that project..

A-Level Hansel and Gretel Project - 2010

A-Level Hansel and Gretel Project - 2010

I was always convinced I was going to go down the Animation route and initially that's what I was looking at when I was starting to look at universities but when I was looking round..I think it was the University of Lancaster's Art and Design show I saw the Illustration work and decided that that was what I was more drawn to and from that day on I was looking at Illustration courses!


2. As an artist, what do you hope to convey with your work?
I think most of all I want to make people smile. I love pretty things and that's what I really enjoy drawing. I'm quite an easy-going, lighthearted person and I think that comes across in my work. I'm always surprised, when I look at all of my work together, how colourful and bright it all is. It's like looking at a bag of pick'n'mix! I think at the minute I'm at that stage where my work is quite pretty but as I develop I want it to become slightly more magical and mystical and for there to be a hidden story in every image. I think the closest I've got to that feeling so far has been my Little Red illustration, it's definitely the piece I'm proudest of so far and I think it's got such a great atmosphere and depth, that's the standard I want to maintain and eventually exceed!

Little Red - 2015

3. What memorable responses have you had to your work?
This is a tricky one because I haven't really a huge amount of experience in this. I'm relatively new in the illustration world and I've only really started making my mark this year! I'm always so grateful for any kind of acknowledgement of my work from an audience. I was actually really blown away at an exhibition this year for the Little Red piece that I mentioned earlier. I went to the 'Meet the Artist' evening of the exhibition and some one bought the piece as I was there and I got to meet the family and talk to them a little about the piece and there were a few other people that night that were interested in the piece and I was really sort of surprised at the attention I got! It was really lovely to meet these strangers who loved my work! It's always nice to hear you're doing alright, especially in such a competitive field where it's hard to think you're good enough! So when you do hear things like that it's so encouraging! 

4. What is your dream project?
This is an easy peasy question to answer! My absolute dream project would be anything to do with a Disney Princess! Working for Disney has always been such a huge dream of mine and it always will be! Whether I ever get there or not it's always good to have that top thing to aspire to, it's great motivation. Who knows, I'd probably collapse if I ever got the email!

5. What artists, of any medium, do you admire? (Famous or not!)
I've got a couple of artists whose work I'm completely in love with and are a huge inspiration to me at the minute. First of all there's Brittney Lee who I discovered either while I was doing my A-Levels or when I started University, I can't remember exactly when I found her but I was big into creating illustrations from paper and card at one point and I found her while I was researching that and as I've learned more and more about her and seen more of her work I've just admired her more and more! I couldn't tell you one specific thing about her work I like because I literally love everything about it!! This leads me onto Lorelay Bove who I discovered through following Brittney Lee. I love how textured her work is and how expressive it is! And another one of my favourites at the minute is Abigal L. Dela Cruz (or hyamei)! I found her through Twitter and her work is so beautiful! The way she uses colour is just so clever and I wish I had the same kind of knack for colour as she does, it's definitely something I'm trying to improve on and looking at the way she uses it is a big inspiration to me at the minute!

Brittney Lee  -  Lorelay Bove  -  Abigail L. Dela Cruz (hyamei)

So there you are that is my Q&A! It was really fun doing this and if you have any more questions for me I'm happy to hear them and answer them. If in the future I get enough questions I'll do another blog post to answer them all! In the mean time don't forget to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook for more regular updates!

Thanks again to Patience for getting me involved! :)

Commissions

Here are just a couple of commissions I've done over the last few months. They're a bit different to the other illustration work I do because I get quite fussy over trying to make the people look like who they actually are! If you're interested in a commission feel free to contact me on my email hburnsillustration@gmail.com with any questions or queries you have!

Harry Potter Birthday Present

Last week was my best friends birthday and she is the queen of Harry Potter. She's basically a Harry Potter encyclopedia! So I thought for her present I'd do some Harry Potter portraits and frame them for her and here are the pictures! 

Merida Fanart

A quick pic I did one night last week! :)

Marketstall - Portfolio Illustration

So I'm going to try and get back on track with posting pictures on here! I've just been super duper busy recently with all sorts of work and I'm never sure what I can and can't post! So I'm going to stick a few of my portfolio pieces on here.

This piece was inspired by a friend of mine who has her own florist business! She makes the most lovely arrangements that she sells online and at markets. I visited her last time she was selling at a market in our town and I was telling her how I was stuck for ideas for a new portfolio piece and inspiration struck and I thought I could draw her on her stall! And so I DID! And here's the final product. Although it doesn't quite do her flowers justice she makes some beautiful little watering can bouquets and all sorts you can follow her on Facebook HERE!

For more work examples and info visit my portfolio at Astound! And feel free to contact them or myself with any commission/work enquiries!

Twisted Tales Exhibit Opens Today!!!

Exciting news! Today the Twisted Tales exhibit opens in Nottingham woohoo! The exhibit is running from today until the 12th of July at Malt Cross. Its free entry and open to all so if you're in the area in the next 12 days pop in and have a look around there's some really talented artists being featured and a piece in there by yours truly! Also, prints of all the work are available to buy at the exhibit. I'll be visiting on the 11th and I can't wait to see all the other work that's on show. Here's a little sneak peek of my piece...

Hope you can make it!

(Promotional pic at top is by the very talented Alice McKinley) 

ASTOUNDing News! :)

Well today I can finally announce some really exciting news that I've been dying to shout about for about 2 months! I have been signed to Astound! An agency based in Manhattan, New York! I'm absolutely over the moon to be working with them! And I can't wait to get started. This is a huge accomplishment for me and I'm so grateful that they given me a chance! So stay tuned, I'll be posting some of my portfolio work on here soon. But in the mean time you can check out my portfolio on their website here! And why not have a browse around some of their other artists? They're all really great (and I'm not being biased they really do have loads of fantastic artists) 

For their main homepage click here!

And if you're a potential client feel free to contact either me at hburnsillustration@gmail.com or Astound at contact@astound.us

Lovely Lilac Mermaid

Who doesn't love a mermaid? WHO? I always attempt to draw mermaids in my sketchbook but they rarely turn out right. Here's one that did! I did this for last weeks Colour Collective on Twitter! Which if you're not involved in YOU SHOULD BE! It's so much fun and its open to everyone and anyone no matter what level you're at! It's great to see other peoples work and connect with new people! Its ran by Penny Neville-Lee so go have a look at this weeks colour and join in! :)

Happy Anniversary, Mum and Dad!

Yesterday was my Mum and Dad's 33rd wedding anniversary so to celebrate I did this! It's a timeline of their life together so far from when they met to right now! It took absolutely ages I don't think I've ever worked so hard on something and I don't think I've ever used so many layers on photoshop! I don't know how my computer dealt with it! 

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad! :)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday! He is a HUUUGE fan of The Beatles so I did this picture for him to put by his desk at home! I thought this would be a really easy picture to do but it took 2 solid days of working!! But it was all worth it because my Dad loved it!

Happy Birthday Dad! <3 

100th Blog Post!! WICKED Fanart!

So! This is my 100th blog post! To celebrate I thought I'd do something fun for myself. I've wanted to do something like this for a while; take one of my old drawings and re-do it! And I'm going to pat myself on the back because looking at the comparison I think I've come on quite a bit in 7 years! I've also got a load of Disney pics I need to post but don't know whether to post them one by one or in one big blog post! But they'll be up soon anyway! 

Here's to the next 100 posts!! 

Myrina

I really couldn't think of what to call this picture! I didn't want to call it something lame like Amazon Woman so I gave her the name Myrina,...I'm still not happy with it but I stumped for what else to call it! Anyway I hope you like it! 

Yoga

First off, I apologise to any yoga fanatics out there if her pose is really not right! This was just a little sketch I did last week that I wanted to colour, it was very spur of the moment, accuracy was not in my head at the time! Nevertheless I hope you like it all the same! Possibly my last post for a few weeks as I'm about to start a real, actual, paid for job, project so might be a bit busy but I will post more as soon as I have time! :)

Café de la Mañana

Another personal pic. I need to practice my backgrounds. It's definitely my weak point but I WILLLL get better I promise! Other than that I'm quite pleased with how this has turned out. More to come...