Susie Bubble – Page 2 – AmeliasMagazine

Amelia’s Magazine | Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration (ACOFI) Launch Party – In Pictures – Daytime!

Some of the goodies…

Lily Vanilli‘s fabulous scones

Illustrator Joana Faria draws a guest

Dr. Hauschka massages

Illustrator Zarina Liew

Gabby Young and Artist Andrea pose with Andrea’s tour poster illustration

Illustrator Zarina Liew chats to Susie Bubble

Sally Mumby Croft enjoys a Pukka Tea

Illustrator Jenny Robins with a day’s work!

Illustrator Naomi Law

Sally Mumby Croft flashes her leather hotpants…

Fashion writers Michael Ford and Ellen Grace Jones

Illustrator Michelle Urvall Nyrén

Amelia with Vogue’s Jessica Bumpus and stylist Rebekah Roy being photographed by Courtney of Forward PR!

All photography by Matt Bramford

Written by Matt Bramford on Friday February 4th, 2011 5:49 pm

Categories ,ACOFI, ,Amelia, ,Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, ,Anastasia Duck, ,Artist Andrea, ,Dr. Hauschka Bath Care Kit, ,Ellen Grace Jones, ,gabby young, ,Jenny Robins, ,Jessica Bumpus, ,Joana Faria, ,Lily Vanilli, ,Matt Bramford, ,Michael Ford, ,Naomi Law, ,Rebekah Roy, ,Sally Mumby-Croft, ,Susie Bubble, ,The Real Runway, ,vogue, ,Zarina Liew

Amelia’s Magazine | Sketchbook STUDIO at Kingly Court

A couple of weeks ago, medications I was sifting through work emails and idly wondering how my forthcoming weekend was going to shape up; it seemed to be taking on the familiar pleasures of the default setting – drinks, pilule lazing around Shoreditch Park, case catching a gig or two, having a coffee at Columbia Road flower market; the same old same old essentially, and then an email dropped into my inbox that quickly made me revise my plans. It was from Ben, an old friend of Amelia’s Magazine from French-Music Org, and Liz from Brittany Tourism who were both involved in the French music festival des Vieilles Charrues in Brittany, and wanted to know if Amelia’s Magazine was interested in coming along to check it out. Being a champion of all kinds of festivals, both in England and abroad, but at the same time staying true to the ethics of not flying wherever possible, I was pleased to see that the festival encourages all non-flight forms of travel, and had a good deal with Brittany Ferries worked into one of the ticket packages that also includes transfers to and from the festival. I had a quick look at the line-up, which included performances from Phoenix, Midlake, The Raveonettes, Fanfarlo, Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip and Julian Casablancas. Then I checked my ipod and saw that apart from a little Francoise Hardy and Charlotte Gainsbourg, it was woefully lacking in French music and decided that this Gallic version of Glastonbury could be my guide to France’s vibrant music scene, especially seeing that Chapelier Fou, Revolver, Indochine, Fefe and the brilliantly named Sexy Sushi were all headlining. So that was that. All I needed to do was grab my trusty pillow and I was off to France! A few hours later, after a bumpy ferry ride that unfortunately took place on the windiest day of the year, I found myself in the picturesque town of Carhaix, home of the festival, and about 45 minutes inland from the coast.

Sune and Sharin of The Raveonettes give us a shock and awe performance.

Watching The Raveonettes with my friends – wet and bedraggled but happy.

It was straight to the festival and to the front of the crowd to watch The Raveonettes do a typically kinetic set of howling, fuzzy guitar riffs, liberally sprinkled with lots and lots of noise. Just how the audience like it. The Danish duo, made up of Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo are a dark force to reckon with and played an incredibly tight set, featuring songs from their fourth album, In And Out Of Control. I hadn’t see them play before and I came away thinking that the bands waiting in the wings such as Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Crystal Castles and Vivienne Girls still have a long way to go before they steal the crowns off of these two. Later I managed to get in some talk time with Sune who refused the offer of dinner with his bandmates in favour of shooting the breeze over mugs of vodka cranberries for a whole hour. (Interview to come in the next few weeks)

The next day, when I was a little less exhausted from twelve straight hours of travelling, and no sleep, I was able to properly explore the festival and see it through renewed eyes. Truth be told, it was refreshing to find myself at an overseas festival. The crowd were relaxed, extremely friendly (stand next to any random group of strangers and within a few minutes you will be conversing away happily in a garbled mix of Franglais) and the FOOD (and drink)! It doesn’t matter how many boutique festivals are springing up over England, festival des Vieilles Charrues trumps us with champagne bars all over the site (to be sipped insouciantly while you watch French rock gods Indochine) and food tents which can provide you cheese plates and fruits de la mer to go with your choice of wine. It being slightly earlier in the day, I was trying out the regional cider which was so tasty it practically made me weep, and made my way over to watch the Fanfarlo set. Unexpectedly, this was probably my favourite performance of the festival. Having toured constantly for the past year (watch the mini documentary on their website which painfully documents their incessant and exhaustion-inducing schedule), the performances of the songs from their 2009 release Reservoir have taken on a whole new level. Each band member seamlessly flitted between a myriad of different musical instruments; no-one ever held onto a guitar, trumpet, violin, mandolin or musical saw for more than a few minutes before doing some musical-chairs. I’m not sure how well France was aware of Fanfarlo, but the full audience loved every song they played, and noisily demanded an encore – which unfortunately they didn’t get, but then, the band do only have about twelve songs in their back catalogue.

Fanfarlo talk about life on the road and divulge the little known fact of lead singer Simon’s childhood love of ham radios.

Traditional Breton music. Everyone knew the dance moves but me.

Night time gave me a chance to flit between the bands playing. I watched Midlake, the indie Texans who are fast gaining popularity over on this side of the pond, serenade the audience as the sun set, their hazy Americana sound drifting over the breeze and through the fields. Then it was a hop, skip and a jump to watch Sexy Sushi, the raw Parisian rap of Fefe and – I didn’t see this coming – some traditional Breton music involving some old men, a couple of accordions and a lively crowd who were all versed in the dance moves that accompany the traditional folk style. Then the midnight hour was upon us and the audience was heading in droves to watch Phoenix, who are clearly the prodigal sons of France. I’ve heard before that some of the French don’t appreciate the fact that Phoenix record all of their tracks in English, as opposed to their mother tongue, but there was no such bad feeling in the crowd that stood around me that night, sending waves of love and adulation towards the stage which prompted lead singer Thomas Mars to briefly lie on the stage in slightly dazed wonder at this epic night.

It was frustrating to have to leave on Sunday, as I missed performances by Pony Pony Run Run, Julian Casablancas and Etienne De Crecy, but work commitments dictated an early departure. Nonetheless, I had such a great time that I am already planning next years Festival des Vieilles Charrues (which will be the 20th anniversary of the festival). Brittany was the perfect setting for such a chilled festival, and a welcome addition to the festival calendar.

Way back in 2007, click Amelia’s Magazine was one of the first to recognise the raw talent of a young Johnny Flynn, for sale who won us over with the delicately nuanced themes in his poetic and lyrical songwriting. (The fact that he could wield a Gibson guitar like nobodies business also helped make him alright in our books). Fast forward to today and it’s safe to say that the kid done good. Supporting Mumford & Sons in their upcoming October tour, performing at summer festivals all over the country (including this weekends Cambridge Folk Festival) and collaborating with Laura Marling and Anna Calvi, Johnny has more than established himself in the British folk canon. But Johnny is no one trick pony; his new album Been Listening shows a strong appreciation of musical diversity, and gives respectful nods to early 20th Century blues, African music, and even takes inspiration from Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha. His creative streak runs deep, and the animated video for his new single, Barnacled Warship (released August 16th) is a dark dystopia directed by Christian DeVita, lead storyboard artist on Wes Anderson’s ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ as well as Tim Burton’s forthcoming ‘Frankenweenie’.

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.vimeo.com/13201330" rel="noopener">http://www.vimeo.com/13201330</a>

So, as you can imagine, we felt that a catch-up with Johnny was long overdue, and so when we were approached by his team to do a video interview, it was only a matter of fighting over which contributor was the biggest fan (the honour went to the lovely Chloe) and then we were ready to go!

Watch the feature for Barnacled Warship here:

Go to Johnny’s MySpace and website for lots more, including his newly released tour dates.

dougald_hine_by-asli-ozpehlivan
Dougald Hine by Asli Ozpehlivan.

In May, search Dougald Hine, visit this co-founder of new literary movement The Dark Mountain Project organised Uncivilisation in Llangollen, Denbighshire. The three day festival of music, writing, thinking and doing was an astounding success, challenging the preconceived notions that our current way of living can be made ‘sustainable’. I caught up with him for a post-festival chat…

How are you feeling now the festival is over?
I’m exhausted and still piecing together what exactly happened, but it feels like it was something big and worthwhile.

Were you pleased with the turnout?
We had 400 people over the weekend, which was as many as the site could handle – and a real mixture of those who already felt deeply connected to Dark Mountain, those who were sceptical but wanting to engage, and those who were just curious to find out more.

Dark Mountain by Emma Raby.

What were you wanting the audience to gain from the experience?
We wanted people to come away with a sense of the conversations going on around Dark Mountain and the spirit of the project.

Explain the dark mountain project in layman’s terms:
Dark Mountain invites people to think about what we do, if it turns out that our way of living can’t be made “sustainable”. It’s also about questioning the stories we tell ourselves about our place in the world, about progress and our ability to control nature. What if the mess that we’re in – ecologically, economically, socially – is rooted in those stories?

How did you get the guest speakers involved?
For me, a great event should be a mixture of people you’ve wanted to see speak or perform for years and people you’ve never heard of, but who turn out to be amazing. It’s hard to choose highlights, but Jay Griffiths and Alastair McIntosh were particularly important voices for me – as were Vinay Gupta and Luke Concannon. There were things which, in hindsight, we might have done better. The main stage was too male-dominated – and we needed more convivial spaces for conversation and participation. But I was pleased with the contrasts between the speakers and the interweaving of ideas and performance. I just wish we could have spread it out over three weeks, rather than having to cram it all into three days.

Were you aiming for a specific ‘sound’ for the festival?
One of the surprises after the manifesto came out was how strong a response we got from musicians and songwriters. Chris T-T and Marmaduke Dando both have songs inspired by Dark Mountain on their new albums, while Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. has been involved from very early on. So the festival sound was shaped by the places where the project has struck a chord. There’s a lot of common ground with some of the powerful folk stuff going on with people like Jon Boden and Chris Wood, who was our ideal choice to close the whole weekend. But there was a real diversity of other sounds, whether it was delicate jazz ballads from Billy Bottle or hilarious death blues from Bleak.

Dark-Ruins-by-Lisa-Stannard
Dark Ruins by Lisa Stannard.

There seemed to be a lot of misunderstanding in the media about the purpose of the festival. Why do you think it was so hard for some people to understand?
Well, firstly, because Dark Mountain is work in progress – it’s a conversation, an exploration, not a single line of argument or a political platform. Most campaigns and movements deliberately try to distill what they’re doing to simple soundbites. That’s not a priority for us, because we’re trying to hold open a space for difficult conversations, for figuring things out together, rather than claiming to have a set of answers. Secondly, the stuff we’re talking about freaks people out. If you try to talk about the possibility that we might not go on getting richer, living longer, having hot and cold running electricity 24-hours-a-day, people think you’re predicting – or even hoping for – some kind of Mad Max scenario.

Are there plans for another festival?
Paul and I are still recovering! But we’ve already been contacted by someone who’s planning a four-day Dark Mountain gathering in Scotland this autumn, which is great.

There-is-no-PLan-B-by-Lisa-Stannard
There is no Plan B by Lisa Stannard.

You can read our original listing for the Dark Mountain Festival here.
In May, information pills Dougald Hine, drugs co-founder of new literary movement The Dark Mountain Project organised Uncivilisation in Llangollen, there Denbighshire. The three day festival of music, writing, thinking and doing was an astounding success, challenging the preconceived notions that our current way of living can be made ‘sustainable’. I caught up with him for a post-festival chat…

How are you feeling now the festival is over?
I’m exhausted and still piecing together what exactly happened, but it feels like it was something big and worthwhile.

Were you pleased with the turnout?
We had 400 people over the weekend, which was as many as the site could handle – and a real mixture of those who already felt deeply connected to Dark Mountain, those who were sceptical but wanting to engage, and those who were just curious to find out more.

What were you wanting the audience to gain from the experience?
We wanted people to come away with a sense of the conversations going on around Dark Mountain and the spirit of the project.

Explain the dark mountain project in layman’s terms:
Dark Mountain invites people to think about what we do, if it turns out that our way of living can’t be made “sustainable”. It’s also about questioning the stories we tell ourselves about our place in the world, about progress and our ability to control nature. What if the mess that we’re in – ecologically, economically, socially – is rooted in those stories?

How easy was it to handle being a speaker and the organiser?
It wasn’t easy – I was living on four hours sleep a night, at the limit physically and emotionally, after the most intense few months of my life. Looking back, we really needed a larger team around the festival, but that’s hard when you’re doing something for the first time. We’ve had a lot of people getting in touch since who want to help organise future events.

How did you get the guest speakers involved?
For me, a great event should be a mixture of people you’ve wanted to see speak or perform for years and people you’ve never heard of, but who turn out to be amazing. It’s hard to choose highlights, but Jay Griffiths and Alastair McIntosh were particularly important voices for me – as were Vinay Gupta and Luke Concannon.

There were things which, in hindsight, we might have done better. The main stage was too male-dominated – and we needed more convivial spaces for conversation and participation. But I was pleased with the contrasts between the speakers and the interweaving of ideas and performance. I just wish we could have spread it out over three weeks, rather than having to cram it all into three days.

Were you aiming for a specific ‘sound’ for the festival?
One of the surprises after the manifesto came out was how strong a response we got from musicians and songwriters. Chris T-T and Marmaduke Dando both have songs inspired by Dark Mountain on their new albums, while Get Cape has been involved from very early on. So the festival sound was shaped by the places where the project has struck a chord. There’s a lot of common ground with some of the powerful folk stuff going on with people like Jon Boden and Chris Wood, who was our ideal choice to close the whole weekend. But there was a real diversity of other sounds, whether it was delicate jazz ballads from Billy Bottle or hilarious death blues from Bleak.

Secondly, the stuff we’re talking about freaks people out. If you try to talk about the possibility that we might not go on getting richer, living longer, having hot and cold running electricity 24-hours-a-day, people think you’re predicting – or even hoping for – some kind of Mad Max scenario.

Are there plans for another festival?
Paul and I are still recovering! But we’ve already been contacted by someone who’s planning a four-day Dark Mountain gathering in Scotland this autumn, which is great.
In May, generic Dougald Hine, co-founder of new literary movement The Dark Mountain Project organised Uncivilisation in Llangollen, Denbighshire. The three day festival of music, writing, thinking and doing was an astounding success, challenging the preconceived notions that our current way of living can be made ‘sustainable’. I caught up with him for a post-festival chat…

Were you aiming for a specific ‘sound’ for the festival?
One of the surprises after the manifesto came out was how strong a response we got from musicians and songwriters. Chris T-T and Marmaduke Dando both have songs inspired by Dark Mountain on their new albums, while Get Cape has been involved from very early on. So the festival sound was shaped by the places where the project has struck a chord. There’s a lot of common ground with some of the powerful folk stuff going on with people like Jon Boden and Chris Wood, who was our ideal choice to close the whole weekend. But there was a real diversity of other sounds, whether it was delicate jazz ballads from Billy Bottle or hilarious death blues from Bleak.

You might remember Sketchbook magazine from the last time it ‘popped up’ on Carnaby Street. From a bright blue shop in the Newburgh Quarter, help the magazine fusing fashion, troche illustration and culture hosted a series of talks, cheapest live music and lectures, with blogging legend Susie Bubble and our very own Amelia bringing their views to the table.

But this time, the magazine team are back with a different agenda. Occupying a shop space in Kingly Court from the 19th to 30th July, Sketchbook STUDIO is like a fashionable laboratory, where young artists, photographers, designers and stylists all get to practice and showcase their work.

At the heart of the studio are 25 young artists, who have each been invited to work on different projects – with the final work to be auctioned off to charity at the end of the week. In the background, photographers and stylists have been encouraged to shoot fashion editorial and looks books. It’s a springboard for emerging creative talent – much like the magazine itself, with the third issue being created ‘live’ as the pop up takes place.

“I wanted to create something a bit like Studio 54 – a creative community,” says Wafa Alobaidat, Sketchbook’s editor and creator. “But this is a lot more open and collaborative than a fashionable clique. Everyone’s welcome!”

On the day we visit DJ Sarah Young has hit the decks, sound-tracking a fashion shoot in full swing on the ground floor. One floor up, the magazine team are blogging and tweeting to their heart’s content, and trying to get things ready for the new issue. A stylist sifts through rails of clothes provided by vintage emporium Rokit’s ‘Designer’s Guild’, an exclusive collection of vintage designs reworked by up-and-coming designers.

Downstairs in the basement is the artist’s hub, where illustrators are hard at work sketching. Fashion designer Omer Asim drapes a mannequin with fabric, whilst visitors play with a video art installation and help themselves to cupcakes. It’s manic, but seems to be just another day in the life of the Sketchbook team!

Members of the public are also welcomed inside to take a peek, (and quite a few shoppers stray from buying as the DJ kicks in) and meet the team. They can even become part of the Sketchbook experience themselves, with the ‘Sketch a Smedley’ event on the 30th. Rails of luxury knitwear label John Smedley will be on hand to try on, and budding models will be sketched live by illustrators.

Clearly the studio has brought a buzz to Carnaby. But what’s next for the Sketchbook team?

“That’s a secret!” laughs Wafa as we finish our tour of the Studio. “But we’ve got more live projects in the pipeline, so you haven’t heard the last from us yet!”

Sketchbook Studio ends today. To see the magazine when it launches, visit here.

You can also read our review of the previous Sketchbook pop-up and Amelia’s talk here.

Written by Lauren Smith on Friday July 30th, 2010 3:31 pm

Categories ,Amelia, ,Anna Young, ,Carnaby Street, ,Culture, ,Designer’s Guild, ,fashion, ,illustration, ,John Smedley, ,london, ,Newburgh Quarter, ,Osman Ahmed, ,Rokit, ,Sketchbook Magazine, ,Sketchbook STUDIO, ,Studio 54, ,Susie Bubble, ,Wafa Alobaldat

Amelia’s Magazine | Port Eliot Festival 2014 Review: Books, Food, Comedy, Craft & Fashion

Port Eliot Festival by Maia Fjord.

I’ve been meaning to take in Port Eliot festival for several years but it has always been just that little bit too far away. This summer we were able to attend, thanks to a holiday in Cornwall with family.

Once more we were blessed with a weekend of near perfect sunshine, ideal for wild and muddy swimming in the adjacent river, and the grassy banks were packed when we arrived on Friday afternoon. It’s a relatively small festival, which meant that we could pop up our tent quite close to the action. Beyond the main tented areas we traversed overgrown rhododendron paths, frolicked in a full sized maze and emerged with a spectacular view of the impressive aqueduct beneath which a couple of stand up paddle boarders were dwarfed.

Port Eliot is not your average festival; here the usual music takes a back seat to other offerings: literary, foodie, comedic, crafty and fashionable. Thanks to some well placed connections it has built a bit of a reputation as the fashionistas’ festival, and despite the distance from London the big names return year after year. It was telling that (in comparison to my adventures at Green Earth Awakening) all the people I ran into on the site were friends I know from working in fashion.

I liked the mix of activities, but it took awhile to get used to the workings of this festival, where queueing is a prerequisite for popular talks and workshops (I am very bad at queues, and never more so now that I have a toddler in tow). My partner tried to hear Martin Parr speak on several occasions (about his new film, which was also showing) before we finally tracked him down on the Sunday at the Dovegrey Reader tent, where the audience could sit out on the grass (and knitting is de rigeur). Lucky then that Martin Parr was speaking so many times! And obviously taking the opportunity to snap away at this most middle class of festivals. The favourite thing I took from his talk was his admission that he takes huge amount of photos, because most of them are crap. I have always believed it’s all in the edit so it was good to hear that Martin thinks so too.

I didn’t have so much luck joining an Anthropologie workshop, having arrived at the allocated time to book a class, only to find they were already full. Instead I learnt how to crochet (at last!) with Ros Badger at The Badger Sett.

Plenty of authors were on hand to talk about and then sign books but I only caught small parts of many talks due to toddler demands. Viv Albertine talked very engagingly about her new book Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys which I am desperate to read (Luella Bartley spotted in the audience), and I enjoyed listening to Richard Benson talk about rural life and his new book The Valley, but not so much Gruff Rhys on his US adventures (he didn’t engage). Susie Bubble was front row for a chat with fashion designer Simone Rocha and I bought a signed copy of Babette Cole’s new children’s book, inspired by her lodger, pictured above in dreadlocks and bunny ears.

In the beautiful Walled Garden the fashion set held arty sewing workshops and a catwalk show for tweenies. I admired a clever bunting made from colourful hair weaves and the dexterity of The Flower Appreciation Society, ensuring that many ladies at the festival sported beautiful real floral headdresses.

Every time we tried to get to the kids’ Hullabaloo area I got lost in the winding labyrinth of paths. Once there we discovered plentiful crafty workshops, theatre productions, a bouncy castle, puppet shows and comedy. Speaking of which, I managed to contain Snarfle for long enough to hear most of Robin Ince’s genius set.

The main house was home to displays of crocheted tea cosies, cakes, flower arrangements and scarecrows. We didn’t visit the foodie tent but admired the stage set up from afar. Instead we frequented the Hix pop up in the Orangery, with food supplied by Fortnum & Mason. It was a pricey meal but we enjoyed the incongruous silver service. Elsewhere we dined on Cornish seafood, wood fired pizza and local ice cream. Food was a definite highlight!

In the early evenings Snarfle and I headed to the smallest music tent, where he jumped around to the ramshackle and rather brilliant The Odd Folk one night and electro powered drum n bass anthems from sister act Love Nor Money on the next. He is now obsessed with ‘rock guitar’ as well as banjo. Thank goodness his Sheepie doubles as a guitar/banjo/ukelele stand in.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Friday August 8th, 2014 4:00 pm

Categories ,2014, ,Anthropologie, ,Babette Cole, ,books, ,Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys, ,comedy, ,Cornwall, ,craft, ,crochet, ,Dovegrey Reader, ,fashion, ,festival, ,Food, ,Fortnum & Mason, ,Green Earth Awakening, ,Gruff Rhys, ,Hix, ,Hullabaloo, ,knitting, ,Love Nor Money, ,Luella Bartley, ,Maia Fjord, ,Martin Parr, ,Orangery, ,Port Eliot, ,review, ,Richard Benson, ,Robin Ince, ,Ros Badger, ,Sheepie, ,Simone Rocha, ,Snarfle, ,Susie Bubble, ,The Badger Set, ,The Flower Appreciation Society, ,The Odd Folk, ,The Valley, ,viv albertine, ,Walled Garden

Amelia’s Magazine | Inktober Artist: Rachel De Ste. Croix (Precious Little Illustration)

rachel-de-ste-croix-precious-little-inktober-5
Whilst I’d like to call this an Inktober discovery that would not be strictly true, as Rachel De Ste. Croix (otherwise known as Precious Little Illustration) is an illustrator who contributed to my ethical fashion book, Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, 6 whole years ago (where has the time gone?…) Read more here and see her fantastic portrait of Susie Bubble.

It’s a delight to learn what she has been up to more recently, so I am so glad she responded to a call out in my Amelia’s Magazine Facebook group. (why not join and show me your work too?) For Inktober she has set herself a challenge to work quickly, using a limited colour palette and lettering in each image. I love these images she submitted!

rachel-de-ste-croix-precious-little-inktober-4

More about Rachel de Ste. Croix:
Precious Little Illustration is Rachel de Ste. Croix, an illustrator who has worked internationally & lived in the UK, Cambodia and Vietnam. She graduated from the University of Westminster with a degree in Illustration and has been freelancing ever since. Rachel now lives in an unfashionable part of London where she drinks a lot of fancy teas while listening to podcasts. She works primarily in pen and ink, with a good dash of acrylic paint and colouring pencil thrown in, when she isn’t working with PhotoShop. She is heavily inspired by classic illustration from the ‘golden age’, graphic novels, girls’ romance and horror comics, and traditional South-East Asian brush painting.

Rachel is available for comissions – portraits, murals and more! Follow Rachel De Ste. Croix on instagram here, twitter here and Facebook here.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday October 26th, 2016 9:45 am

Categories ,Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, ,Drawlloween, ,Inktober, ,Precious Little Illustration, ,Rachel De Ste. Croix, ,Susie Bubble

Amelia’s Magazine | Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration launch party illustrations: meet Rachel de Ste. Croix

eyeballs
rachel-destecroix-acofi-susie-bubble-portrait
Susie Bubble needs no introduction and I absolutely adore Rachel’s rendition of this infamous fashion blogger. She’s been a great supporter of Amelia’s Magazine so it was an honour to see her at the launch party. You can read her write up here. Thanks Susie!

Rachel de Ste. Croix has developed a unique style that suits both childrens’ book illustration and fashion illustration a treat. Working from life she sketches a likeness of her subject and then transfers into into her computer through a painstaking process involving a light box and lots of black felt markers. From there she messes around in photoshop to achieve a beautiful handmade look that in fact makes the most of digital special effects – something which I talked about when I mentioned her in my Digital Arts interview. Here’s her fabulous ACOFI launch party output:

rachel-desctecroix-acofi-neil-bennnett-digitalartsmag-portrait
I love the fact that Neil Bennett of Digital Arts donated his ACOFI tote bag to his stepdaughter, prescription who has been using it to carry her school books, tadalafil much to the envy of her classmates. Check her out in this twitpic: coolest kid in town!

rachel-destecroix-acofi-katie-wright-portrait
Katie Wright writes Style My Wardrobe and she managed to grab a little bit of my time to ask a few questions at the launch – you can read her great write up here.

rachel-destecroix-acofi-sarahBvernon-portrait
Sarah Vernon is best known as SBV of essbeevee, a lovely fashion blog. Here’s her write up.

rachel-destecroix-acofi-tigzrice-portrait
Tigz Rice is actually a friend of Rachel’s – I’ve now had the pleasure of working with more than a couple University of Westminster graduates, who are all super talented. Can’t think why. Maybe it’s because one of my bestest mates the wonderful illustrator Simone Lia teaches there. Or else it’s something in the water.

rachel-destecroix-acofi-amelia-gregory-portrait
I cheekily asked Rachel to illustrate me. Well, she did such an amazing job with everyone else I really didn’t want to be left out. Here I am wearing my Joanna Cave earrings (new season darling) and Beautiful Soul cape-let made out of an upcycled kimono. You can buy similar Beautiful Soul pieces (they’re all different obviously) at the V&A shop.

MattBramford_ACOFI_Rachel de ste croix
Rachel hard at work drawing Susie behind a curtain of hair. Photography by Matt Bramford.

You can follow Rachel de Ste. Croix on twitter on @precious_little and don’t forget you can buy Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration here, with a special 10% if you use the discount code ACOFI LAUNCH up until the 28th February 2011. Here’s Rachel talking in detail about how she creates her illustrations on youtube.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday February 10th, 2011 1:55 pm

Categories ,ACOFI, ,Amelia Gregory, ,Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, ,Beautiful Soul, ,Digital Arts, ,essbeevee, ,Joanna Cave, ,Katie Wright, ,Matt Bramford, ,Neil Bennett, ,Precious Little, ,Rachel De Ste. Croix, ,Sarah Vernon, ,SBV, ,Simone Lia, ,Style Bubble, ,Style My Wardrobe, ,Susie Bubble, ,Tigz Rice, ,Tigzy, ,University of Westminster, ,va

Amelia’s Magazine | Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration launch party photos: meet Liz Johnson-Artur

6 day riot by Natsuki Otani
6 Day Riot‘s Tamara Schlesinger by Natsuki Otani.

There were so many amazing guests at my ACOFI launch who didn’t come down to the afternoon tea party that it seemed only natural to ask some of my ACOFI illustrators who were also not present during the daytime to illustrate a few of them. Which is how I wound up with this merry bunch of pictures.

A couple were unsurprisingly enamoured of 6 Day Riot: Erica Sharp and Natsuki Otani (above) show just how differently illustrators can see things.

6 Day Riot by Erica Sharp.

ACOFI cake by Lesley Barnes
Lesley Barnes felt moved to illustrate the cake, price buy but not on a table, treat oh no. On a head, where I feel it belongs rather nicely.

ACOFI-Launch Tim Adey-by-Yelena-Bryksenkova
Lovely Yelena Bryksenkova (who alas did not make it at the very last minute due to snowy conditions in New York) took up the challenge of illustrating my boyfriend Tim Adey… resplendent in Liberty print shirt and waving aloft a dainty teacup.

Amelia Gregory by Gemma Milly
Gemma Milly – also absent on a prolonged trip to Canada (the poor thing) illustrated the whole of my outfit, from Joanna Cave earrings, through Beautiful Soul cape, via Monsoon dress (ahem) down to Nina Dolcetti shoes. Splendid.

Gemma Milly-Courtney Blackman_ForwardPR
Gemma Milly also did this lovely illustration of Courtney Blackman from Forward PR.

Cleide Carina of Sketchbook at ACOFI launch by Abi Daker
Abigail Daker, stuck over in Cyprus, took on the challenge of capturing Cleide Carina of Sketchbook Mag. Love it!

emma_block_pipettes_ACOFI
You’ve already seen The Pipettes by Emma Block – but hell, it’s so good why not show it again?

Amelia Acofi by Faye West
Faye West as well took up the challenge of rendering me in all my illustratory glory.

Gareth A Hopkins Will From Mystery Jets
Gareth A Hopkins decided to illustrate the heart throb that is Will from the Mystery Jets… I feel he’s caught his tousled nature perfectly. He looks truly Byron-esque!

Jo Cheung Robots in Disguise
Jo Cheung fancied herself a bit of Robots in Disguise action. Love their hair. So changeable. But never ever boring. It’s been a long and beautiful relationship. Theirs, ours. You know.

Kellie-Black-A-Goodone-Goodtime
Kellie Black illustrated one half of Goodone. Having a Goodtime.

Kellie-Black-Alan-&-Martin-Of-Principal-Colour
And then came back to render the lovely men who run Principal Colour. Voila, I introduce to you Alan and Martin Darby, my printers extraordinaire. I’ve been working with them for seven years now and I will never stop telling people just how lovely they are. Let me tell you, Amelia’s Magazine owes an awful lot to them. Hell, they even talk me through existential crises (Alan has found me in tears on more than one occasion)

ACOFI-launch-Liz-Johnson-Artur-byLisaStannard
Lisa Stannard did my parents Bruce and Ursula – who I barely even ran into over the entire night. But I hear they had fun which is all good.

ACOFIlaunch-Amelia+Nicola-by LisaStannard
And then she also did me together with Nicola Woods of Beautiful Soul, she who designed my wonderful shrug.

ACOFI cover by Ani Saunders
Ani Saunders of The Pipettes decided to create her own version of Andrea Peterson’s front cover for ACOFI. Just love it.

HANNAH BULLIVANT by Natasha-Thompson
Natasha-Thompson-ACOFI-ELLIE-LOUGHRAN
Natasha-Thompson-ACOFI-KORAL-WEBB
Natasha Thompson came up trumps with pictures of earth contributor Hannah Bullivant and bloggers Ellie Loughran and Koral Webb. Read Koral’s blog here: much kudos to her for asking her tutors if I can lecture at her University in March. Which I will be.

disney-roller-girl-katie-harnett2
I got wind that Navaz Batliwalla of Disneyrollergirl had made it along to the launch although I didn’t get to meet her myself. I then found out that she “outed” herself just days later… there seems no better time to get her illustrated on the web. Here she is, by Katie Harnett.

cassius-katie-harnett
Who also could not resist a bit of Prince Cassius action. And why the hell not?

Amelia & Matt by Karina Yarv
Finally, Karina Yarv couldn’t resist herself a little bit of the action even though this wasn’t done from a party snap. She doesn’t appear in the book but if I’d met her earlier she almost certainly would have. Just one of many illustrators who have done so much amazing work for Amelia’s Magazine in the past many months

Amazing inspiring stuff, all of it. Thankyou so much, all of you, for being so so brilliant.

6 day riot by Natsuki Otani
6 Day Riot‘s Tamara Schlesinger by Natsuki Otani.

There were so many amazing guests at my ACOFI launch who didn’t come down to the afternoon tea party that it seemed only natural to ask some of the illustrators who were also not present during the daytime to illustrate some of them. Which is how I wound up with this merry bunch of beautiful pictures.

A couple were unsurprisingly enamoured of 6 Day Riot: Natsuki Otani (above) and Erica Sharp (below) show just how differently illustrators can see things.

6 Day Riot by Erica Sharp.

ACOFI cake by Lesley Barnes
Lesley Barnes felt moved to illustrate the cake, medical but not on a table, viagra 100mg oh no. On a head, where I feel it belongs rather nicely.